Issue 29

Spring 2022

The 29th issue of Coal Hill Review examines a kaleidoscope of loss and the ways in which people face their realities and reckon with them. From fiction that explores the loss of innocence to nonfiction that records the fracturing of communities as old ways of existing clash with new ideas, and poetry that moves across thresholds and states of being, this issue traverses wide scopes of emotion with clarity and poignancy. Our pieces examine flaws and failures with open arms, and while there may not always be solutions to the ways people harm themselves or others, each work brings forth a cathartic expression of creativity in the face of decay.

Featured Content from Issue 29

Phillip Border

“A Wellspring of Empathy”: A review of You Do Not Have To Be Good by Madeleine Barnes

By | Book Review

Phillip Border reviews You Do Not Have To Be Good, a debut poetry collection by Madeline Barnes.

Issue 29 | Spring 2022

Sunday Drives with My Father

By | Poetry

its knowledge of good and evil coiled on the seat between us.

Issue 29 | Spring 2022

Wasabi and the Crow

By | Poetry

Alone on the beach under an empty sky, it all comes clear. You promised me vastness— and delivered, even before your irrevocable exit.

Issue 29 | Spring 2022

Anticipation

By | Poetry

They rose almost in the dark, went barefoot through the wet grass to gather windfalls before the birds arrived;