For more information about John Davis, please visit his website: http://johndavispoet.wordpress.com/about/

Finalists (chosen from 12 Semi-Finalists) for the Bunchgrass Poetry Prize 2012 also included:

Linda Foster of Grand Rapids, MI, “Scar”
Jade Sylvan of Sommerville, MA, “Future Of” and “I Am Driving Away from You”
Greg Chaimov of Milwaukie, OR, “Home Country” and “Stereopticon”

The winning poem will be featured in the spring issue of basalt. All finalists will have their work considered for publication either at our website or in the spring issue of basalt. All contestants for this year’s Bunchgrass Poetry Prize will receive a one-year complimentary subscription to basalt.

Guidelines for the Bunchgrass Poetry Prize 2013 will appear on our website later this spring. We encourage you to visit our blog at basaltmagazine.com for recent news updates, essays, reviews, and information.

We wish to thank everyone for their participation and hope that you will consider basalt again in the future as both contributors and readers.

Although Basalt is based in and linked to the state of Oregon—taking its name from the igneous rock prevalent in the northwestern U.S.—a number of the pieces in this latest issue seem interested in crossing or expanding borders. While the front and back covers feature photographs of Oregon’s geography, the roughly thirty pages in between discuss the idea of place, both literally and figuratively.

In Harry Martinson’s “Global Nomads,” translated from the Swedish by Lars Nordström, the narrator takes readers through post World War I Europe. But more than a straightforward description of each city’s blemish and beauty, this piece is a musing on travel, on movement in general. While stating in the opening sentence that “No literature is more superficial than a good travelogue,” the narrator later explains the importance of travel itself, saying he is “convinced of the global social task of our feet when it comes to the healing of our psyche.”

For the full article read it here: http://www.newpages.com/literary-magazine-reviews/2012/03-15/#basalt-v6-n1-2011