The Spring 2013 issue of Ploughshares, edited by Major Jackson. Ploughshares, a journal of new writing, is guest-edited serially by prominent writers who explore different personal visions, aesthetics, and literary circles.

The poet Major Jackson (Holding Company, Hoops) compiles this eclectic Spring issue, which includes the work of several distinguished writers and newcomers. Featuring poetry by writers like Mark Doty, Martin Espada, Tony Hoagland, Laura Kasischke, Sharon Olds, Carl Phillips, and Tracy K. Smith, the issue is a dazzling tour of the modern poetic landscape in America. There is also a wide variety of fiction, from the story of a high school girl in the South and her relationship with a white teacher ("What Happens Next," by Emily Bernard) to a New York doorman dying of cancer ("The Rubber Game," by Sherri Phillips). The issue also features a Plan B essay by Floyd Skloot ("The Great Dream"), about the mostly thwarted ambitions of the members of his family, and an appreciation of the British writer Barbara Pym ("Patron Saint of Quiet Lives," by Raina Lipsitz).