Nina Alonso Hathaway is the publisher of Constellations: A Journal of Poetry and Fiction.  She wrote The Times about the new release of Constellations 3 and told us us about a reading for the launch of this new issue of the literary journal at The Somerville Public Library, Main Branch, 7 p.m., April 23, 2014.

“When I settled on the theme ‘Life Revisions’ for this issue, I was thinking of the bumps and shifts of growth, the winding river’s hidden rocks and waterfalls, the arid spells, the psychological collisions, the surprises and disappointments, the collapse of relationships — that sort of thing.  The Marathon bombing struck innocents on a fine April day, terrorism in Boston, gun battles in Watertown, close to where we live. The week before this event I strolled down that exact segment of Boylston Street to attend a poetry festival at the Boston Public Library with writers in this issue. Here is a poem I picked from our new issue.”

Meditation

Cupped hands blooming on my lap
I re-integrate my island self with the
coastline from which I’m prone to
detach, like a man floating on a raft.
We once belonged to the sea, but now
we draw the wind that sweeps across
the land into our lungs. If we choose
to estrange ourselves from the billions
who breathe with us, we float further
and further away from who we are.
So, I sit, seemingly alone, but in fact
finding my way back across an ocean
to the dry land where my tribe abides

— Lawrence Kessenich
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