We started jubilat primarily to publish poems, and we are lucky enough to fill the magazine with amazing work by both emerging and established poets. These days, we get thousands of submissions through our online Submission Manager system (which jubilat helped develop through the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses), and when we do layout we usually have dozens of leftover poems -- a terrific position, as it allows us to give a distinctive shape each issue.
After ten years of publication, it is still challenging to find the right lyric prose and found pieces to complement the poems we run. While poems come to us, we -- the editors and myself, as well as the contributing editors and editors-at-large -- continually need to search for the right prose. We look for work that not only does what poetry does -- i.e., shows how we use language in open-ended ways to act out the wildly, wonderfully mysterious condition we know as living -- but makes us realize how poetry is not some specialized, removed practice but a way of engaging the world as universal and as necessary as the language it comes from.
Lisa Olstein, our first managing editor (and a terrific poet -- her second book, Lost Alphabet, just came out from Copper Canyon Press), happened upon just such a piece, which she called "Today the Sky Belonged to Lola." As Lisa said in an e-mail to me back in February 2007, it came from a website that "outrageously, lovingly documents the lives of Palemale and his partner Lola, the red tailed hawks living in/near Central Park." As you may recall, this was national news back at the time -- the co-op where the two hawks lived were debating removing their nest, sparking a huge public response. Lisa sorted through a year's worth of daily entries to compile what she called "a strange narrative that is part celebrity urban love story, part paparazzi obsession with celebrity urban love story, part who knows what?" Here's a snippet of the pieces, which ran eight pages in jubilat 15 -- perhaps you can decide what it is really about!
Beautiful Lola!
They didn’t visit the falconry circus up at the East Meadow today.
Lola!
The beautiful couple on the Oreo.
Late in the evening he abandoned any attempt to make a catch and retired in the vicinity of Pinetum. Lola went to bed on the Beresford.
Palemale.
Lola over the Model Sailboat Pond.
I wonder if the air feels solid under his chest or does it feel as gentle as it does on my face?
Palemale peers into the Linda #2 window.
Palemale heading uptown.
Palemale and Lola had some visitors today.
Palemale arrived very late in his Turtle Pond tree.
Didn’t see our lady this evening, not even on the Oreo. Her mate was tree-hopping around Cleopatra’s Needle and the MET.
Palemale on the Jackie O. building.
The nest at present.
Lola was seen eating at Delacorte Theater Wednesday around noon.
She disappears inside the window at times.
Lola and her young RTH playmate over the lower section of Fifth Avenue and Central Park last Saturday.
Lola’s playmate again.
Palemale over the Great Lawn in a surprise visit.
Maybe it was pre-arranged earlier in the day that they were going to meet in the same tree to go to sleep together. Or it may have been a last minute decision because the sky cleared up and the moon was out.
Palemale left at 6:53AM and Lola left at 7:05AM.
Palemale leaping off the Linda building on Sunday evening.
It must be very peaceful up there.
Lola and her friend.
Palemale orchestrating the festival of the reddening of the leaves.
This is Palemale & Lola’s adopted child who took the liberty to sit in Palemale’s tree in Turtle Pond.
There was an equal amount of activity near the Model Sailboat Pond and at the usual East Drive places.
Palemale settling into bed.
He sat in this tree most of the morning.
It has been three full days since I saw them.
Palemale.
Some of Palemale & Lola’s fans visit the pond to watch their nest.
Palemale entering his nest on Fifth Avenue where he spent more than a half hour.
Palemale doesn’t need a terrace to enjoy his view.
Lola on the MET’s security camera last Friday Nov 10, 2006
Palemale over the hawk bench.
The adopted child.
Lola (bottom) with her young friend.
Palemale heading uptown.
Palemale before sunrise.
Palemale had an active morning between the East Drive trees, the MET, and the Great Lawn.
Yes they knew something was wrong.
Today the sky belonged to Lola!
Lola over the Model Sailboat Pond.
I can only guess that she slept here Friday night, she also went to bed here Saturday night.
Lola having fun in the cloudless December sky.
Palemale shared in the fun.
Lola making a circle before landing on her nest.
Lola dropping down slowly onto her nest.
Palemale is calling Lola who was several trees away.
The happy couple spending some time in the Beresford before heading into the stiff winds on Friday afternoon.
Palemale.
Palemale again.
Lola.
Palemale led the way and they both headed for the Ramble.
Lola with the MET and Harlem skyline.
Palemale about a half hour after waking up on Monday morning.
Lola coming down Fifth Ave.
Palemale getting ready for bed near the Locust Grove.
From Palemale’s roost he can see Lola going to bed on the Beresford.
Palemale waking up Sunday morning.
Lola awoke about a half hour later than her mate at 7:30AM
Palemale on Lola’s bed for a change.
Palemale kept company with Lola until 4:40PM when he took a swift direct dive to the Locust Grove. Lola remained in her favorite bed.
I thought I saw the whole tree glow when Lola rested her beautiful body on its branches.
Palemale performing the delicate task of scratching his ear.
Lola over Fifth Ave with a fragment of some sky-writer’s message.
