Ever wonder how journal editors make decisions about work to feature? The Take gives you a glimpse behind the scenes at Mud Season Review. Here, we feature one single poem or flash fiction piece that caught the attention of the editorial team, apart from the signature poetry portfolio or fiction piece in our bi-monthly issues. We hear from the author about the inspiration for his or her work, and we hear from a co-editor about why the poem or flash fiction story stood out.
Abbie Kiefer
International Paper Makes an Announcement
< From the Author
When I was younger, I ran a weekly newspaper in a paper-mill town. The town’s first mill opened in the 1880s and paper-making had been the dominant industry for decades, so the mills had shaped the town’s identity. People felt a real sense of pride and tradition. As the mills declined, they also experienced a deep sense of loss. It was complicated and compelling and all these years later, I’m still thinking about it.
From the Editors
The form of narrowing focus—from town, company, parking lot, to a single employee—effectively paints the cascading impact of a factory shut-down. Kiefer selects the images the journalists from the “news vans” might themselves have recorded. By the end, a reader waits for an inevitable spark to destroy the “pine floors, pine siding, pine lath” of a once “hopeful” home.
-Malisa Garlieb
