AUTHOR NOTES

GLASS RAIN—the poetry by Margaret Roxby

“DIAL N O W” is included this week for Friendship Day, August 6, for it is a plea to reconnect with a friend. This poem was composed prior to the proliferation of Wi-Fi communications, back when telephone conversations were dependent on the wires strung from telephone poles across the country, thus the reference in the poem to “long high wires.”

KALEIDOSCOPE –an essay by Kathleen Roxby

“THE ENGLISH ‘TH’ PROBLEM” summarizes the author’s understanding of this leftover from the middle ages as in biblical verbs: helpeth, etc. This piece continues the author’s exploration of what she considers the oddities of the English language.

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—the poetry of Kathleen Roxby

“IL PAGLIACCIO”—for Oscar Wilde,”  originally appeared in the author’s 2001 chapbook, Tangent/Allusion. The poem appears here in honor of International Clown Week (week 1 of August). James Joyce [said] that Wilde made the mistake of becoming ‘court jester to the English’. Oscar Wilde said of himself, “We are the zanies of sorrow. We are clowns whose hearts are broken.”