BHR Issue 18  Spring 2024 / Transformation & Change NOW ONLINE!

BHR18 cover art image w text LG

(*Cover artist credit: Fiona Capuano)

Welcome to the spring issue of Blue Heron Review (BHR 18 / “Transformation & Change”). To read and enjoy our full issue of poetry and artwork, please visit the BHR 18 page of our website.

CONTRIBUTORS:

Poets:
Carolyn Chilton Casas * Emily Tee * Diana Woodcock * Susan Scheid * Karen Elizabeth Sharpe * Ann Bodling * Jill Michelle * Judy Lorenzen * Melissa Huff * Jo Taylor * Helen Patrice * Cynthia Knorr * Katrina Serwe * Tova Kranz * Jocelyn Boor * Dianna Mackinnon Henning * Patricia Nelson * Lynne Burnett * Stacy Ooi * Kathleen Deyer Bolduc * Jeannie E Roberts * Karen Paul Holmes * Lynne Carol Austin * Kirstin Eventyr * Cheryl Keeler * Sharon Fabriz * Angela Hoffman * Katherine H Maynard * Kathy Whitham * Suzanna C de Baca * Thomas John Hurley * Bobbie Lee Lovell * James P Roberts * Alison Hurwitz * Andrea Potos * Kristen Baum DeBeasi

Artists:
Fiona Capuano (cover artist) * Karen A VandenBos * Kris Gould * Scott Ferry * Kimberly Blaeser

EDITOR’S NOTE:
Welcome to the spring 2024 issue of Blue Heron Review. Our special theme for this issue is Transformation & Change. Poets were invited to reflect on the many different ways in which transformation can impact our lives, whether it be in our relationships with others, with ourselves, the environment, or society as a whole. I hope that you can take some time over the coming days and weeks to sip and savor these heart-centered poems, and perhaps think about the significance of change in your own life. Thank you for being a BHR reader! We appreciate you being here with us.

All kind thoughts,

Cristina M. R. Norcross, Editor
Blue Heron Review
(*founded 2013)

Blue Heron Review Issue 16 / Spring 2023 Now Online!

BHR16 Cover Image Edit2

(Cover artist credit: Thomas A Thomas)

Welcome to our BHR 16 Spring 2023 issue of Blue Heron Review! We hope you enjoy this themed selection of poems — Sanctuaries & Places of Peace. To read the full selection of poems and view the beautiful, fine art photography included, please go to the BHR 16 page of our website. Take your time, allow yourself to leisurely sip and savor this issue. These poems will surround you with the energy of peaceful afternoons in the forest, time spent with loved ones, and the deep well of calm that exists within. Breathe, read, reflect, repeat. Thank you for joining us for this very special issue!

CONTRIBUTORS:

Poets:
M J Iuppa * John Davis * James Crews * Mary Alice Williams * Michael S Glaser * Kai Coggin * Javi Maria Cain * John M Bellinger * Tad Phippen Wente * Gloria Heffernan * B L Bruce * Beate Sigriddaughter * Jo Taylor * Patricia Nelson * Lisa Romano Licht * Andrea Potos * Kristen Baum DeBeasi * Abha Das Sarma * j lewis * Elizabeth McCarthy * Angela Hoffman * Jeannie E Roberts * Jenna Wysong Filbrun * Kathie Giorgio * Jennifer Dodge * Susan Glassmeyer * Mary Anna Scenga Kruch * Steve Bucher * Ginny Lowe Connors * Kathleen Deyer Bolduc * Helen Bournas-Ney * Penny Harter * Chrissy Stegman * Colleen Keating * Daniel Lanzdorf * Gwyneth Wynn-Davies * Ronnie Hess * Lynne Burnett * Carol Alena Aronoff * Diana Raab * Cheryl Byler Keeler * Patricia Carney * Jan Chronister * Joyce Ritchie * Joan Leotta * Michael Minassian

Artists:
Thomas A Thomas (cover artist) * j lewis (featured artist) * Fiona Capuano * Michael Jeske *

Editor’s Note:

It is with great sadness that I must share the news that we have lost a dear member of our Blue Heron Review family. Professor and poet M J Iuppa passed away last month. M J was a regular contributor to Blue Heron, and she was our featured poet for the month of March 2015. She will be greatly missed by the writing community. In honor of M J’s memory, her poem, “Drink This In,” appears as the first poem in our issue.

Send goodness and light out into our world. This will be our saving grace for tomorrow.

Peace,
Cristina M. R. Norcross, Founding Editor
Blue Heron Review

Best of the Net Nominations for Blue Heron Review

Best of the Net BHR logo2

Congratulations to all of our Best of the Net nominees! Every year, it is always so difficult to choose just 6 poems from an array of beautiful selections. I am so proud of all of our BHR contributors. Please know that I take great care in reading and re-reading issues, before making choices. So thankful to have the opportunity to publish such remarkable work by poets from across North America and around the world.

BHR Issue 8 Summer 2017 (release date, end of July 2017)

1. Emily Bowles / “A Scale, My Fate”

2. Gail Tirone / “If Not for Grace”

3. Kristen Baum DeBeasi / “African Violets”

4. Kelsey Dean / “Paper Stars”

***

BHR Issue 9 Winter 2018 (release date, end of February 2018)

1. Prerna Bakshi / “Watching my father make paper boats”

2. Maryann Hurtt / “Born Again”

 

Cristina M. R. Norcross
Founding Editor
Blue Heron Review

Blue Heron Review Issue 8 / Summer 2017 “The Healing Issue” Is Now Available to Read Online!

BHR Issue 8 Summer 2017 cover image

(Cover art by Pd Lietz)

CONTRIBUTORS
Poets:
Nina Bannett, Michael Hettich, Gary Jones, M J Iuppa, Catherine Stearns, Karla Huston, Joan Mazza, Jan Chronister, Charlene Langfur, Rachel Dacus, M A H Hinton, Cathryn Cofell, Guy Thorvaldsen, Emily Bowles, Tricia Knoll, Marguerite G Bouvard, Cliff Wedgbury, Lawrence William Berggoetz, Ruth McArthur, Gail Tirone, Kathy Lohrum Cotton, Claire Joysmith, Sheryl Slocum, Tori Grant Welhouse, Kersten Christianson, Roseann St Aubin, Annie Blake, Priscilla Atkins, Janet McCann, Michael Jack O’Brien, Jessica Moser, Jackie Langetieg, Jim Landwehr, Lynne Burnett, Susan Twiggs, Laura Johnson, Mary Strong Jackson, Diane Sahms-Guarnieri, Jonel Abellanosa, Kevin Shyne, Ronnie Hess, Susie Foster Hale, Jodi Andrews, Lorraine Caputo, Kristen Baum DeBeasi, Sandra Lindow, James Dott, Chelsea Comeau, Joanne M Clarkson, Janet Taliaferro, Prerna Bakshi, Jude Goodwin, Karla Van Vliet, Susan Martell Huebner, Laurel Devitt, Kelsey Dean, Martin Willitts Jr, Bobbie Lee Lovell

Artists:
Pd Lietz (Cover Artist), Jason Iffert, Devi S Laskar, Robina Anstey, Kurt John Huebner, Leilani Carroll, Fiona Capuano, Karen VandenBos, Melodie Past

Welcome to the SUMMER 2017 HEALING ISSUE of Blue Heron Review!

This is our first, themed issue for Blue Heron, and we had a record high number of submissions. So many writers connected with the need for healing in our lives on many different levels. This theme was open to topics of physical healing, emotional healing, the healing of our environment, spiritual healing, etc. Poets from across the US, Canada, and abroad showed up in our in-box with deeply personal, poetic narratives about their own experiences of healing. Each poem in this collection is a sacred offering to our readers. I hope that you will be present for yourself, for these extraordinary artists who have shared their stories, and for the future we hold so dear. Within these creations exists a glorious hope for what our world could be, if we listen to each other with love, compassion, and grace.

Please click on the tab for Blue Heron Review Issue 8 Summer 2017 to read the full collection.

There is much to explore and savor here. I hope that you enjoy reading these poems and viewing the artwork, as much as I have enjoyed creating a space for these beautifully rich offerings!

With kind wishes for summer,
Cristina M. R. Norcross, Founding Editor
Blue Heron Review