“The Fifth Element Which Is Fog, Which Is Smoke”
“Martyrs Of The Deportation”

Nicholas Samaras is from Patmos, Greece (the “Island of the Apocalypse”), and was brought in exile to be raised in America. His first book, Hands of the Saddlemaker, won the 1992 Yale Series of Younger Poets Award. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in The New Yorker, Poetry, The New York Times, New Republic, Kenyon Review, and Image. He has lived in Greece, England, Wales, Switzerland, Austria, Yugoslavia, and Jerusalem. He now lives in West Nyack, New York.

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Peter Serchuk
“Counting the Dead”

Peter Serchuk has published poems in Boulevard, Denver Quarterly, North American Review, Texas Review, South Carolina Review, and MARGIE. His poem, “The Naked Women,” was included in the anthology Best American Erotic Poems from 1800 to the Present, published by Scribner (2008). He lives in Los Angeles, California.

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David Shine
“Uncounted”

David Shine is a graduate of Columbia University and N.Y.U. School of Law. His poems have appeared in Poetry East, Georgetown Review, The Bellevue Literary Review, Saranac Review, and Paper Street. He works as a mergers and acquisitions lawyer. He lives in Armonk, New York.

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“Questions on Recruitment”

J.D. Smith has published two collections, Settling for Beauty (2005) and The Hypothetical Landscape (1999), and in 2007 was awarded a Fellowship in Poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts. His first children’s book, The Best Mariachi in the World/​El Mejor Mariachi del Mundo, was published in bilingual, Spanish and English editions in October 2008. His essays and commentary have appeared in publications including American Book Review, the Los Angeles Times, and Pleiades. He lives in Washington, D.C.

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“Armageddon Again”

Paul Sohar pursued his life-long interest in literature full time when he went on disability from his day job in a chemistry lab. He has published poems in Chiron, Grain, Kenyon Review, Main Street Rag, Poem, Poesy, and Rattle, as well as seven books of translations from Hungarian. A volume of his own poetry, Homing Poems, is available from Iniquity Press. He lives in Warren, New Jersey.

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Gina M. Tabasso
“Somewhere a War is Going On”

Gina M. Tabasso holds an M.A. in English and has been published in many literary journals and anthologies. She has three published chapbooks: From Between My Legs, Disrobing, and Front Lines. She works as a corporate communications manager. She lives in Brunswick, Ohio.

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“In The Fifth Year Of War”

Angelo Verga was born in New York City in 1945. He was a founding member of Against the Tide: Poets for Peace. He has had two small poetry books published and his poems have appeared in Massachusetts Review, Rattle, Home Planet News, The Patterson Literary Review, Hanging Loose, and Mudfish. His work appears in a new anthology of 20th century American verse, Birthday Poems (Thunder’s Mouth @​2002, edited by Jason Shinder). He lives in New York City.

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John Vu
“Flight”

John Vu was born in Saigon, Vietnam. He and his family fled Vietnam in 1978, living in refugee camps in Malaysia and the Philippines for nearly two years before moving to Minnesota. He was eight years old. His essay, “Crossing the South China Sea” was anthologized in Topography of War: Asian American Essays, released by the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in 2006. He is currently employed as a researcher. He lives in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

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Sasha West
“Solitude, Communion:”

Sasha West is a lecturer in creative writing at Rice University. She holds graduate degrees from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Houston, where she was managing editor for Gulf Coast. Her work has appeared in American Letters & Commentary, MARGIE, Ninth Letter, and American Poet. She lives in Houston, Texas.

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Kathleen Willard
“Notes Toward a Libretto (fig.3)”

Kathleen Willard is the “military brat” daughter of a West Pointer and Viet Nam veteran. She earned a M.A. in English at Middlebury College and a M.F.A. at Colorado State University. Her poetry has appeared in Matter, Monserrat Review, Flint Hills Review, and other journals. She lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.

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Martin Willitts, Jr.
“Check Point”

Martin Willitts Jr.is the author of a full-length book, The Secret Language of the Universe (March Street Press, 2006), and is editor of a poetry anthology about cancer, Alternatives to Surrender (Plain View Press, 2007). He also has several print and online chapbooks of poetry. His most recent chapbook is The Garden of French Horns (Pudding House Publications, 2008). He lives in Rome, New York.

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Valerie Wohlfeld
“Handkerchief”

Valerie Wohlfeld earned her M.F.A. from Vermont College. Her work has appeared in New England Review, Antioch Review, and Ploughshares. Her collection, Thinking the World Visible, won the 1994 Yale Series of Younger Poets Prize. She lives in Newburyport, Maine.

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Ghassan Zaqtan
“The Song Of The First Patrol”

Ghassan Zaqtan was born near Bethlehem in 1954. He has published several volumes of poetry and a novel, and his poetry has been translated in many journals and magazines. He worked with the Palestinian resistance movement and was editor of Bayader, literary magazine of the Palestine Liberation Organization. He is editor-in-chief of the quarterly poetry journal Al-Shoua’ra and is co-founder and director of the House of Poetry in Ramallah. He earned a teachers’ training degree from Jordan and has worked as a physical education teacher. He lives in Ramallah.