*“Shadow Blue Square” by James W Johnson, acrylic/ink on panel, 20×20, 2014*

Robert Rothman is a California poet featured in the February 2018 Issue #36 of this literary journal, where I serve as Poetry Co-Editor. His poems positively drip with images and sensory details. Plus James Johnson's accompanying artwork selected by our Art Editor, Mark Benton, amplifies the poems so perfectly. It's no surprise I was especially drawn to his poem "Blackberries." Our family of four operated a small market garden in the late 90's, Blackberry Hill Gardens. The property came with a massive patch of cultivated blackberries. For several weeks every midsummer, we bled and swore and wore long sleeves and swatted mosquitoes while we tried to keep up with the harvest. We called it the "Mother Lode," and those berries fetched top dollar, nestled in half pints at the Burlington (VT) Farmers Market. We used our market earnings to take some memorable family vacations. Click here to read Robert's poems.