https://offcourse.org
ISSN 1556-4975

OffCourse Literary Journal

A journal for poetry, criticism, reviews, stories and essays published by Ricardo and Isabel Nirenberg since 1998.
See our guidelines. Mail queries, comments, and contributions to: inirenberg@albany.edu

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We sadly announce the recent death of Eric Freedman (Newcastle, UK 1941 - Paris 2026), good friend and distinguished historian of the spoliation under the Vichy regime. His poems appeared in Offcourse #24 and #34.

Issue #105, June 2026

"Night Fall", "Music Lesson", and "In Slant Light", poems and pictures by Ruth Bavetta
Poems by Ana Cecilia Blum translated from the Spanish by Alexis Levitin
"My Answer to Sor Juana’s Sonnet as Translated Into English by Rhina Espaillat" and other poems by Rose Mary Boehm
"The Arctic," flash fiction by John Brantingham
"Ghosted Ships" and "Burning Memories In", poems by Garrett R. Bruner
Two Poems by Tony Dawson
Poems by Louis Gallo
"Where does it hurt, exactly" and other poems by J.A. Karpinska
Two Poems by Judy Kronenfeld
Two Poems by Miriam Kotzin
“The Old Man, He Ordered,” “Mixology,” and “My God,” poems by Bruce Morton
"On Spiders and Wasps," an essay by Ricardo Nirenberg
"Lady Hamilton Regrets," a poem by Charles Rammelkamp
"More than a Silence" and other poems by Gordon Scapens
"All Rise" and "Extras", poems by Barry Seiler
"Once I was new," a story by Lilly Stradling
"A Couple of Painters," a story by Robert Wexelblatt
"In Syria" and other poems by Sarah White

Congratulations to Rebecca Foust on the second edition of YOU ARE LEAVING THE AMERICAN SECTOR: Love Poems, Blue Light Press, and to Rose Mary Boehm, whose collection Life Stuff, Kelsay Books, 2023, took a Bronze Medal at the Reader's Choice Book Awards.

Issue #104, March 2026

"Shestov, Gascoyne, and a Spiritual Crisis of Reason," an essay by Daniel Barbiero
"Lady Buddha" and other poems by Rose Mary Boehm
"Not the Final Interview with the Buddha," anachronistic fiction by James Brewer
"Remembering Chris Rea," a poem by Tony Dawson
"Occupants of the Red House," a story by Salvatore Difalco
"Witness to the Execution," a story by Joachim Frank
"The Beginning of November," a poem by George Freek
Poems by Lou Gallo
"Why Offcourse?," an essay by Lois Greene Stone
"We Magicians" and "Some Things can't be Helped", poems by John Grey
Three Poems by Mercedes Lawry
"Calypso," a story by Alexis Levitin
"Two Skies over Salamanca" Part II of an essay by Ricardo L. Nirenberg
"The Trouble with Mornings," a poem by Louis Phillips
"The Ancients" and "Apotheosis," poems by Terry Savoie
"August 6, 2025", and "Innocence", poems by David Siff
"Bulletins of the Broken Hearted" by Ian C. Smith
"Things you can do in 85 seconds," a poem by J. R. Solonche
"Hsi-Wei and the Broken Engagement," a story by Robert Wexelblatt
" Scenes from 'A Girl’s Brief Life: Julia Newberry'," by Sarah White

Congratulations to:

Philip Fried, whose new book has just been published by Salmon Books.
E. M. Schorb: The 2026 Independent Press Award recognized “Gravity Flow: The Jimmy Whistler Stories” by E. M. Schorb in the category of General Fiction as a distinguished favorite.

Issue #103, December 2025

"A Goat at the Intersection" and "Finding Sleep", poems by Sarah Carleton
"Just Now Gold" and "Iguanas", poems by Linda Fischer
"Fragment from the Lost Biblical 'Book of Orpheus'" and other poems by Louis Gallo
"Double-shotgun on Columbus Street: a Fictive Memoir" by Louis Gallo
A Story and a Poem by Lois Greene Stone
"Dream Where I was Strolling Down my Own Leg" and other poems by Mark Jackley
"A Rabbit and a Priest Donate Blood" and "Bedtime", poems by Miriam Kotzin
"Two Skies over Salamanca", an essay by Ricardo Nirenberg
"Psych Ward" and "Dotty and Driftless", poems by Claire Scott
"Phantom figures waiting for the bus", a poem by Ian C. Smith
"Why I Wanted to be an Astronomer" and other poems by J. R. Solonche
"Sunday, Toffee and Monochrome Kisses" and "Separate Dreams", poems by Daniel P. Stokes
"Drink Deep" and other poems by R. L. Swihart
"Common Pipewort", a poem by Jim Tilley

Congratulations to Robert Wexelblatt on "Monologues and Lyrics", cyberwit.net 2025

Issue #102, September 2025

"One Into Another (Sugar Into Stone)", an essay by Daniel Barbiero
Poems by Suzette Bishop
Two Odes by Rose Mary Boehm
"Delicious Decay" and other poems by Tony Dawson
"IS ART STRIKE ART?" A Dialogue between Bern Porter and Joachim Frank
"Invitation Declined", a poem by Joachim Frank
Four Poems on Time, by Louis Gallo
"Coincidentia Opositorum" and "A Note to the Reader", poems by Jack Galmitz
"Those Yamaha Blues" and other poems by John Grey
"For the College Friend who Stopped Writing Poetry" and other poems by Karen Greenbaum-maya
"The Shoemaker's Elves" and "Good Morning", poems by Jacqueline Jules
"Improvisation", "Phases of the Moon", and "Columbia Livia", poems by Larry Kilman
"Before Evening", a poem by Judy Kronenfeld
Poems by Salgado Maranhão with Translations by Alexis Levitin
Chapter 18 of a Memoir by Ricardo Nirenberg
"The Shield", a poem by Charles Rammelkamp
"When Vincent van Gogh, Don McLean, and Mimi Griswold Meet" and other poems by Steven M. Smith
"The Buddha on my Windowsill" and "Gerald Stern", poems by JR Solonche
"What Hath God Wrought", an essay/memoir by Dannis Vannatta
Five Rat Poems by Richard Weaver
"Villeta Variations", a story by Robert Wexelblatt

Congratulations to:

JR Solonche: Collected Short Poems (nominated for the National Book Award) is available from Shanti Arts, Barren Road is available from Serving House, Vanity is forthcoming from Main Street Rag, The Consolations is forthcoming from Kelsay, and Everything is forthcoming from Deerbrook Editions.
R Wexelblatt, on The Book of Misunderstandings, just out at moonrabbitbooks.com

Issue #101, June 2025

"Ode to Elena" and other poems and art by Ruth Bavetta
Two Poems by Allain Blaithin
"Fusion" and "Assumptions", poems by Rose Mary Boehm
"Palimpsest" and other Poems by Tony Dawson
"Genesis" and other Poems by Louis Gallo
How long does it take to count 100? A meditation by Lois Greene Stone
"Father and Daughter Immigrants" and other Poems by John Grey
"Flagellant" and two other poems by Kathleen Hellen
"Cheap to Keep", a story by Robert Klose
"Little Things" and "What I Found", poems by Miriam Kotzin
"Like My Dog" and other Poems by James Penha
"The Fisher of Poets", a poem by Marci Rich in memory of Stuart Friebert
"Compulsory Education" and "William McKinley Walks our Way", poems by Barry Seiler
"Vanishing Point", a prose poem by Ian C. Smith
"The Mayor's Peacocks", a story by Harvey Sutlive
"Moments" and other Poems by Kyle Walsh
"Ode to Noses" and other poems by Sarah White
Rose Mary Boehm reviews Gary Grossman's "Objects in the Mirror may be Closer than they Appear", Arroyo Seco Press, March 2025

Issue #100, March 2025

"Consider the Knee" and "Cast Out", poems by Devon Balwit
"Just Imagine" and "The Sound of Death", poems by Rose Mary Boehm
Poems by Astrid Cabral with translations by Alexis Levitin
"The Understudy", a story by Marco Etheridge
"Scrabble or Death" and "Oh Susann", poems by Vern Fein
"Diversity!", an essay by Joachim Frank
"It's About Time", a dialogue between Joachim Frank and Ricardo Nirenberg
"Minor", "Zen Koan", and "La Dolce Vita", poems by Lou Gallo
An Excerpt from the Novella The Death of Rob’s Aunt Morgan, by Eugene Garber
"Cover Ups", a vignette by Lois Greene Stone
"Overheard at the Cleaners" and other poems by Mark Jackley
"Confession" and "Suite in Old Age", poems by Miriam Kotzin
"January 20, 2025. -Riverside, California", a poem by Judy Kronenfeld
"Accident Report" and "Lycanthropy", poems by Gerry LaFemina
"Watching Tarzan's Secret Treasure" and other poems by Peggy Landsman
"A Quiet Yes" and "Proper Noun", poems by Sheila E. Murphy
“Three Salvos for Cultural Appropriation” by Ricardo Nirenberg
"For my Paroles Officer" and "No Doubt the Same Can Be Said", poems by Louis Phillips
"Climax" and "Ode to the Ampersand", poems by Charles Rammelkamp
"Fragments after Emile Chartier ("Alain"), 1922", by Terry Savoie
"Space Junk" and other poems by Claire Scott
"Driving Stanley Kunitz" and other poems by J.R. Solonche
" Sunday in Seconds", a poem by Tim Suermondt
"The Poet's Chair" and two other poems by David Tovy
"The Rabelais Foundation", a story by Robert Wexelblatt
"An Old Testament Prophet Views Inauguration Day" and other poems by Sarah White
Peter Mladinic reviews John Grey's Subject Matters.

Congratulations to:

Judy Kronenfeld on her recently published APARTNESS: A MEMOIR IN ESSAYS AND POEMS (Inlandia Books, 2025.)
J.R. Solonche on: Night Visit (Dos Madres Press), available now, Collected Short Poems (Shanti Publishing) and Barren Road (Serving House Books), both forthcoming this spring, The Consolations (Kelsay Books) and Everything (Deerbrook Editions), both forthcoming this fall.