THE POETIC HILL by Karen Lyon
are carefully assigned and everyone’s date of departure is printed on her wrist at birth, all “neat and tidy.” But what happens when things don’t go as planned? Evalee Henders has always been scheduled to depart at age 17, but for some reason, the morning after her “death,” she wakes up, groggy but still very much alive. In Kitty Felde’s “State Whisked out of her home in a body bag, she of the Union,” young is rescued from the crematorium by a group detective Fina Menof rebels who spirit her to their camp outside doza goes in search of a bird who pooped on the domes, which she discovers is nothing the president’s head like the toxic, ruined wasteland she’d been in the Capitol. led to expect. What else, she wonders, has the Directorate been lying about? had just moved here with her sister and her faMeanwhile, her younger sister Gracelyn is ther, a newly-elected representative from Caliconvinced she heard movement in Evie’s room fornia. She has settled into a routine, going to the morning after her supposed departure. A school (where she struggles with fractions) and model citizen, even Gracelyn begins to queswalking Senator Something, a shaggy pooch tion her orderly existence, “the tight schedwho belongs to a Congresswoman. ules, the carefully-monitored food…the comThings get a little unsettled in the Mendoza household when Fina’s grandmother comes to live with them. Her fragrant cooking reminds them of home, but she becomes something of an embarrassment to Fina and her teenage sister—and especially to their father, whose work on a special immigration committee is undermined after Abuelita is interviewed on TV at a protest. Will they all be able to resolve their differences and live amicably together? Will Fina find and rescue the displaced bird? E.J. Wenstrom’s “Departures” follows Packed with lots of inside-DC poop two sisters struggling (sorry), “State of the Union” is a frisky and for autonomy in a controlled, post-apocentertaining read that’s also full of heart, alyptic world. compassion, and valuable lessons in tolerance and understanding. plying and optimizing… I can’t believe I ever Kitty Felde is a journalist who covered bought into all this,” she thinks. But can she Congress for public radio and is currently host break free? And how much will she be willing of the award-winning “Book Club for Kids” to give up in order to find her sister? podcast and creator of the “Fina Mendoza Mys“Departures” is an absorbing, thoughtteries” podcast. www.kittyfelde.com provoking book that questions the choices people make, the choices that are sometimes Dearly Departed made for them, and whether “a life dedicatIf you could live your life without experienced to just avoiding the bad” is really much of ing pain of any sort, would you? That’s one of a life at all. the conundrums posed in E.J. Wenstrom’s new E.J. Wenstrom is a sci-fi writer whose science fiction novel, “Departures,” where, unbook, “Mud,” the first in her Chronicles of the der the domed Quads of the Directorate, everyThird Real War series, won the Royal Palm one’s life is “optimized and perfect.” As one citLiterary Awards’ Book of the Year. www.EJWizen notes, “No one hardly even gets a paper enstrom.com u cut in the Directorate.” Careers and marriages
L.B. Sedlacek is a poet, editor, publisher, author, and poetry reviewer whose poetry, fiction and non-fiction have appeared in numerous journals, zines and newspapers. Her books of verse include “The Blue Eyed Side” (Cyberwit), “Happy Little Clouds” (Guerilla Genesis Press), “The Poet Next Door” (Cyberwit), “The Architect of French Fries” (Presa Press), “Words and Bones” (Finishing Line Press) and, most recently, “Swim” (Alien Buddha Press). She is also the author of a short story collection, “Four Thieves of Vinegar & Other Short Stories,” available from Alien Buddha Press, and she founded and publishes the free resource for poets, “The Poetry Market Ezine.” www.lbsedlacek.com We get up early everyone is still asleep we are on the 3rd floor so We run down the stairs and outside to the tiny postage stamp front And then it’s time to chase squirrels and birds and run by the Shakespeare library again this time we walk behind it And come out by the LOC (library of congress) and run over to the See the US Capitol building we stand right in the street because It’s blocked off with metal barricades and green steel post Barricades we run up the stairs of the Jefferson Building then back Down and stop at the fountain, the Court of Neptune and let the Water splash on us and we move a half block over and jump up The steps to the Supreme Court and we go over to one of the Round baby blue fountains and wish we had a coin to throw in But we went out of the house without any money it’s a walk only A walk with Mom and dog and we just needed a leash, doggie Bags, a cell phone to take pictures and off we went we walk Beside the Supreme Court building and stop to look at all the Flowers and look at the fountain behind the building no one ever Goes behind the building but there’s a relief there too We jog by Florida house and then take the alley behind the house To see someone tried to get in the back gate so we go on Through the alley by the Lutheran church (across from the Shakespeare Library) and we stand back and wait for all the big Dogs to run by before we dart up and head back down the street And back in the house where we head into the kitchen and into The Patio to fix the back gate and then it’s back inside up to 3rd Floor to wake everyone up for the day to get going.
If you would like to have your poem considered for publication, please send it to klyon@literaryhillbookfest.org. (There is no remuneration.) u
September 2021 H 103
