Aphros Literary Magazine: The best kept secret at the University

I think that Aphros, Pace University’s Literary and Art magazine, is the best kept secret at Pace.

The 2009 edition is captivating with its glossy, black and white cover drawing of the inside layers of a tree bark by Laura Senkevitch. The magazine’s inside layers of poetry , prose and artwork are equally engaging.

Emma Carbone seizes a moment in time with her poem “Scene in the Subway.” She describes a self-assured woman who “walks on like a celebrity / steady and graceful / all self assurance.” And she ends it with:

     I could never look like that.
     I’d look silly with white hair
     and no eyebrows.
     And maybe she looks silly, too.
     But what pretty shoes.

My favorite poem in this issue is also by Emma Carbone. It’s laced with humor and called “Talking to My Crush: A Poem in Eight Periods.” I think this poem has universal appeal. The character takes you through her classes – English, Math, Spanish, and so on – always noticing but never speaking to the person she has a crush on. Here’s what happens in gym:

     Period Seven: Talking to My
     Crush in Gym Class
     We’re running laps side by side
     Not together because you’ve
     done fifteen
     and I’m still working on one
     I want to start a profound con
     versation
     but I’m too busy trying to keep
     my breath

I also enjoyed the poems written by DJ Hopson, Julyssa Lopez, Charissa Che, Nichole LeFebvre, Lauren Tarver, Lorendra Pinder, and Gareth Robson. Julyssa Lopez’s poem “El Pais De Johana,” which is a sestina though without the usual stanza breaks, and “Cielo, Mar Y Tierra” both have a delicious Latin flavor.

Nichole LeFebvre’s poem “Three Fallen Potatoes on a Narrow Road” is like a painting: “Packed in mud, / their barely open eyes / narrow further to a scowl / as I pass by.”

Charissa Che’s thought-provoking poem “To Kang Seng Chu” is about a family in turmoil. Its ending is strong and compassionate:

     We never had that much in
     common
     But at least we miss the same
     person
     That alone is enough
     It has to be enough
     Grandma is dead
      You’re fading, not completely
      gone
      And I’m beginning to miss you
      too already.

Noteworthy, too, are the fiction pieces in this issue, especially “An Excerpt from ‘By the Sight of the Road’” by Casey Light. “It had to be at least 140 degrees inside the car. The dash was beginning to look like putty and he could smell the vinyl cooking in the backseat.”

There is something mysterious about why the main character is leaving town in a hurry and this three-page excerpt leaves the reader wanting to know more about him. You also get the feeling that you haven’t heard the last from Cindy, the waitress, who has an acute interest in minutiae.

I also enjoyed “Whispers of a Dirty Secret in 2006” by Laura Senkevitch, which gives an unfiltered look at people around us and everyday incidents.

The issue is enhanced by wonderful art – black and white photos by Laura Senkevitch, Jackie Berg, and Nina Freeman, and three drawings by Patrick Carney.

At the end of the issue is a very short bio of each contributor. I’m always pleased to see the scope of majors, such as marketing, communications, psychology, English, environmental studies, fine arts, and even forensic science, represented in Aphros. It’s a fine example of the talent that passes through the doors of Pace University.

Professor Charles North has been the faculty advisor of Aphros since 1981. He is an extremely gifted poet and teacher, and he received the Kenan Award for Teaching Excellence in the spring of 2008.

The first issue of Aphros was published in 1962. In the spring of 2010, the magazine will be publishing its 50th edition. I’m really looking forward to that issue. Poetry, prose, and art are clearly alive and thriving at Pace.

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*Vita Jiménez was editor of Aphros from 1981-1984, graduated from Pace with a BA in English in 1984, and has been one of the judges for the annual poetry awards given out by the Pace English Department. She is a poet and children’s book author. In 2001, she founded Raindrop Publishing, a company specializing in developing books for the early childhood market.