The first poem of Kate Marshall Flaherty’s Radiant, “Welcoming Angels,” begins with: “I will not see cancer as an enemy / nor foreign intruder, / but a passenger pigeon, (not extinct), / flown from a roof box.” This inaugural stanza establishes and previews the defying and sweetly metaphoric poetics that Marshall Flaherty develops throughout her collection, which intimately guides her reader through her journey with cancer. Her poetics is inviting as it is introspective, a spiritual communication between actors in the life present and the life beyond. “Welcoming Angels” continues by characterizing the pigeon as possessing no “pecking order / (no band ‘round his ankle),” simultaneously granting an agency to the cancer as well as the speaker, the creator of a new world. Ultimately, Marshall Flaherty shows how she approaches her journey of cancer with curiosity, transforming this experience into an opportunity to reveal her love for herself and for others within pain.

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Within this surreal air of an early gone summer and a timid autumn, The Trinity Review returns for its 132nd year, and beckons creative souls to join its musings. This year, we are looking for (a) Associate Editors, (b) Design Editor, and (c) Webmaster. Below are details for each position, and how to apply for them. You are free to apply to as many positions as you’d like. Applications are due Friday, October 4th.

The Trinity Review is accepting submissions for its final journal of the year, please send up to 8 pages of work to trinity.review@gmail.com by February 16 2019.