Best of Prairie Schooner

Contents: Hilda RazIntroduction Prose Tony Ardizzone - Larabi's Ox Toni Cade Bambara - Maggie of the Green Bottles Lan Samantha Chang - The Eve of the Spirit Festival Ron Hansen - Nebraska Ivan Klima - The Washing Machine Joyce Carol Oates - The Assailant J. C. (Joyce Carol) Oates - First Views of the Enemy Marlene Nourbese Philip - Stop Frame Susan Power - Watermelon Seeds Reynolds Price - An Evening Meal Richard Russo - The Dowry Susan Fromberg Schaeffer - The Old Farmhouse and the Dog-wife Lynne Sharon Schwartz - What I Did for Love Poetry Elizabeth Alexander - Boston Year Sherman Alexie - Wake - Toward Conception A. R. Ammons - Commissary David Baker - Poison Charles Baxter - Astrological Guide Robin Becker - In the Days of Awe Ruth Behar - Shaken After Receiving a Letter from a Miami Poet with a Mean Tongue Who Doesn't Want a Bridge to Cuba Sandra Berris - The Clock Shoe Michael J. Bugeja - Love Talk Charles Bukowski - the laughing heart Scott Cairns - Musee Rafael Campo - Cuban Poetry - The 10,th aids Death in San Francisco Amy Clampitt - Botanical Nomenclature Judith Ortiz Cofer - The Changeling - Claims - The Woman Who Was Left at the Altar Martha Collins - Running Peter Cooley - Husband and Wife Jim Daniels - Letting the Grounds Settle Helene Davis - I Visit the Prosthesis Lady Toi Derricotte - For My First Grade Teacher and Her Special Messenger - Family Secrets Tom Disch - What to Accept Rita Dove - The Other Side of the House Stephen Dunn - Father, Mother, Robert Henley Who Hanged Himself in the Ninth Grade, Et. Al. Cornelius Eady - Walt Whitman Mall - Anger Lynn Emanuel - Dracula - What I Know About the End of the Second World War John Engman - A Bird Flies into the Room and Then Flies Out Again Louise Erdrich - The Return Jane Flanders - Two Sisters Carol Frost - Apple Rind Patricia Goedicke - Cathay Albert Goldbarth - "Jeff" of "Mutt and Jeff" Leans on Air - Repeated Sightings Marilyn Hacker - from Open Windows Rachel Hadas - To a Youngish Professor Who Has Waxed Eloquent Over Certain Students Linda Hogan - Friday Night Jonathan Holden - Such Beauty David Ignatow - For Johannes Edfelt - For Rose Richard Jackson - Hope Phyllis Janowitz - Sardines Mark Jarman - Outside Allison Joseph - Numbers Ted Kooser - As the President Spoke Maxine Kumin - The Riddle of Noah Alice Lee - A History Poem David Lehman - Exact Change Cynthia MacdonaldSinging Miriam's Lament Walter McDonaldLetting Go Judson MitchamNoise and a Few Words Judith MoffettWill Pat MoraCoatlicue's Rules: Advice from an Aztec Goddess Les A. MurrayHearing Impairment Leonard NathanCold Snap Howard NemerovThe Revised Version Kathleen NorrisThe Sky Is Full of Blue and Full of the Mind of God Naomi Shihab NyeNo One Thinks of Tegucigalpa Ed OchesterUnreconstructed Sharon OldsThe Moment Carole Simmons OlesMaria Mitchell in the Great Beyond with Marilyn Monroe Maria's Ghost Addresses Hawthorne Concerning Chapter Five of The Marble Faun, in Which She Appears Mary OliverHoward Alicia OstrikerSurviving Eric PankeyThe Weekend Gardener Linda PastanA Craving for Salt Michael PettitEmployment Alternatives Alberto RiosEdith Piaf Dead Pattiann RogersRolling Naked in the Morning Dew Liz RosenbergCrushed: Chapter Nine Hillel SchwartzAll Be Riders Maureen Seaton & Denise DuhamelExquisite Incumbent Dave SmithThe Pornography Box Gary SotoChisme at Rivera's Studio Marcia SouthwickAgatha's Butterfly Ruth StoneYes, Think Stephanie StricklandOn First Looking into Diringer's The Alphabet: A Key to the History of Mankind Terese SvobodaAs told to me Karen SwensonI Have Lost the Address of My Country Richard TaysonFirst Sex Chase TwichellThree Dreams of Disaster Reetika VaziraniStar Reader--Palm Reader White Elephants Karen VolkmanThe Pregnant Lady Playing Tennis David WagonerPeacock Display Diane WakoskiSailor's Daughter Ronald WallaceThe Hell Mural Bruce WeiglThe Way of Tet James L. WhiteThe Deaf Crone Peter WildLies Between Fires Eleanor WilnerFacing into It David WojahnAfter Contributors