Good reading, but nothing very unusual. One thing that is unusual is that four out of the six stories are written in first person pov, something that many readers simply do not like. I don’t mind them and enjoy the level of intimacy it allows, as long as I can relate in some way to the character and am not uncomfortable with it. There is also a manner of reading first person where the reader can separate himself from the narrator and take it as a conversation, thus hearing the "I" as (listening to) the teller. It did seem to me, however, that some of the stories were filled with meaningless details and even with the story being told by a close friend I might find my mind drifting away.
Chronotope by Janet Burroway is an excerpt from a novel, Indian Dancer. This story is of an older woman whose husband is dying, and it follows her through her thoughts and interaction with her stepdaughter and the nurse who comes to help with the process. Moving and insightful.
Woodbine & Asters by JoeAnn Hart is a nice story about a young girl (first person pov) who is visiting her grandmother–not your garden variety grandmother, but one who lived in a hippie commune and who has retained much of the strong bond to the earth. She in fact is trying to stop the state from turning a road in front of her house into a highway. The conflict of the grandmother versus the state is overshadowed by the grandaughter’s resentment of a girl two years older than her who lives with the woman and shares a stronger bond. Nice story, nice resolution.
The Theory of Light and Matter by Andrew Porter is another first person pov, the narrator being a young married woman who reflects on a non-sexual but close relationship she had with a professor where she was a college student. Rather cliche, and the resolution seems little more than the statement that the man had fulfilled a part of her that her husband doesn’t, despite her relative happiness with her marriage. The only surprise here is that the story was written by a man. I know any number of women, including myself, who could have written this story.
The balance of the poetry did not usher up a "wow" piece for me to review, though many did appeal in some way.
The good news: One more book shifts piles.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology