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Witness Magazine

On Learning Your Birth Mother Might Have Watched You Swing

By
Poetry•Vol. 34 No. 2

by Jennifer H. Dracos-Tice

 

Six years old, hair streaming,
you pointed your toes
toward the undersides of maples
branching through powerlines
looping over the school yard. You rose
from your seat, thumped
on the downswing, pulled the chains,
leaned into the next up-swerve.
Did you kick your saddle shoes
into the littered leaves, did you launch
into crinkled air, did she,
did she, see you there?
When the back legs of the swing-set lifted
from their concrete bases as you swung,
did she, the one who gave you up, who watched
(inside the Packard parked across the street?
behind the oak tree just out front?)
did she bite her inside lip,
did she lean and call
don’t slip?

 

 

Jennifer Dracos-TiceJennifer H. Dracos-Tice has poems published or forthcoming in Psaltery & Lyre, Crab Orchard Review, San Pedro River Review, Stirring, Still: The Journal (2016 Judge’s Choice Award), and other publications. A long-time high school English teacher, she lives just outside of Atlanta with her wife and their kids. Jen can be reached at jendracostice@gmail.com.

Twitter: @JenDracosTice
Instagram: @jendt1

 

 

 

Witness blends the features of a literary and an issue-oriented magazine to highlight the role of the modern writer as witness to his or her times. Launched in Detroit in 1987, the magazine is best known for showcasing work that defines its historical moment; special issues have focused on political oppression, religion, the natural world, crime, aging, civil rights, love, ethnic America, and exile. The issues “New Nature Writing,” “The Sixties,” “Sports in America,” and “The Best of Witness, 1987 – 2004” eventually appeared as university press anthologies. In 2007, Witness moved to Black Mountain Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The magazine publishes one print issue and one online issue a year, and increasingly seeks out work that contextualizes the American experience by highlighting issues of global concern.

Spring 2023

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Poetry Editor John B. Oldenborg

Editorial Assistant Charlie Bartlett

Contributing Editors Henry Gunderson, Anne Livingston, Cecil Lycoris, Leah Mell, Marlan Smith, Kelly Stith, Carlos Tkacz, Jo Wallace

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Winter 2020

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Editor-in-chief Jarret Keene & Emily Setina

Managing & Engagement Editor Lindsay Olson

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Assistant Fiction Editor Robert Ren

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Nonfiction Editor Cody Gambino

Poetry Editor Heather Lang-Cassera

Readers Alexis Noel Brooks, Alycia Calvert, Benjamin Stallings, Chelsi Sayti, Claire Mullen, Dylan Cloud, Erin Turner, Flavia Stefani Resende, Jennifer Quintanilla, Jeremy Freeman, Jesse Motte, John Oldenborg, Jonquil Harris, Jordan Sutlive, Justine Baker, Kelly Lindell, Lynda Montgomery, Mir Arif, Percy Kerry, Sara Guiang, Sara Tausendfreund, Sarah Spaulding, Stephanie O’Brien, Stephen Ira, Steven Aiken, Talia Aharoni, Tonya Todd, Vandana Sehrawat, Veronica Klash, Win Frederick

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Winter 2021

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Editor-in-Chief Emily Setina

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Readers Erika Abad, Steven Aiken, Mir Arif, Justine Baker, Alexis Noel Brooks, Soni Brown, Alycia Calvert, Cristina Cisneros, Dylan Cloud, Emily Daniel, Win Frederick, Sara Guiang, Stephen Ira, Eli Jacobs, Veronica Klash, Kelly Lindell, Lynda Montgomery, Jesse Motte, Stephanie O’Brien, John Oldenborg, Jennifer Quintanilla, Mark Ranchez, Flavia Stefani Resende, Chelsi Sayti, Vandana Sehrawat, Sarah Spaulding, Benjamin Stallings, Jordan Sutlive, Sara Tausendfreund, Tonya Todd, Erin Turner

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Editorial Assistant Oona Robertson

Contributing Editors Alycia Calvert, Emma Hardy, Henry Gunderson, Eli Jacobs, Nicole Minton, Ezra Noel, John Oldenborg, Jennifer Quintanilla, Amanda Santana, Marlan Smith, Ben Socolofsky, Sarah Spaulding, Sara Tausendfreund, Olivia Williams, Sara Guiang

Readers Erika Abad, Justine Baker, Charlie Bartlett, Alexis Noel Brooks, Veronica Klash, Alice Letowt, Laurel Miram, Jesse Motte, Mark Ranchez, Benjamin Stallings, Vandana Sehrawat, Tonya Todd

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Editor Robert Ren
Managing Editor Christina Berke
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