Pushcart prize XXVIII, 2004: best of the small presses

Introduction / Bill Henderson

Election eve / Evan Connell

F.P. / Myra Jehlen

Sidereal desire / Eleanor Wilner

A jeweler's eye for flaw / Christie Hodgen

Ecclesiastes / Khaled Mattawa

The dystopianist, thinking of his rival is interrupted by a knock on the door / Jonathan Lethem

Gate C22 / Ellen Bass

A measure of acceptance / Floyd Skloot

The girl in the back seat returns to Pittsburgh / Julia Kasdorf

He ain't Jesus / Malinda McCollum

Shrike tree / Lucia Perillo

At five in the afternoon / George Steiner

Baby / Janet Sylvester

Near-extinct birds of the Central Cordillera / Ben Fountain III

Commerce / Michael Waters

The high road / Joan Silber

Song of the Little Zion Baptist Church / Bruce Smith

Idlewild / Paul West

Cain's legacy / Richard Jackson

Losing my religion / Tracy Mayor

When I died / Mark Irwin.

Mines / Susan Straight

Little text / Betty Adcock

Lost cities / Rachel Cohen

These / Jennifer Barber

Before long / Valerie Laken

Ikaria (the night watchers) / Kira Henehan

Three girls / Joyce Carol Oates

Is / Bruce Beasley

Morning glory Harley / Terese Svoboda

Dedication / Andrew Feld

Sauteing the platygast / Dean Paschal

Adept / Dana Levin

What it is / Joan Connor

Bonfires / Rosanna Warren

Literary devices / Richard Powers

Richard Nixon's 1972 Christmas bombing campaign as gospel / Quan Barry

John Muir's Alaskan rhapsody / Edward Hoagland

The dragon / Brigit Pegeen Kelly

Why the sky turns red when the sun goes down / Ryan Harty

Poem for the wheat penny (1909-1958) / Judith Hall

Egg / Shelley Jackson

Roy Orbison's last three notes / BJ Ward.

Children of God / Eric Puchner

Like water / Elizabeth Spires

Bi bi hua / M. Elaine Mar

Queen City, skins / R.T. Smith

Kavita through glass / Emily Ishem Raboteau

Cicada / Dan Chiasson

Irish mountain / Pinckney Benedict

Beautiful Nero / Kevin Prufer

The return of the dark children / Robert Coover

Primer of words / David Baker

The lonely doll / Antonya Nelson

Aubade / Eugene Gloria

Pretty / Margaret Luongo

Five landscapes / Cole Swensen

Likely lake / Mary Robison

Quarter past blue / Robert Thomas

Afterwards / Jane Brox

Poem to some of my recent purchases / Dorothy Barresi.