Issue #66

A new year has arrived, and with it comes both the familiar and new. The seasons are shifting, and tides creeping forward and receding. Our writers and artists in Issue #66 reflect the uneasiness that comes with change, keeping an expecting eye on what’s to come in the future. In a world that’s increasingly becoming connected and keeping an eye on what’s happening, small ripples that happen in one location can find the aftershocks on the other side of the world. Our featured art, by Sarah-Jane Crowson, opens our eyes up to new opportunities and worlds along with the vibrant works featured throughout the issue.

In our featured poetry for this issue, poet Gospel Chinedu writes, “ He believed in miracles. He / buried a mustard seed in the earth, / & watered it every morning & /night. For days. & months. & / years.” Throughout their three poems, Chinedu’s work dances across the page, utilizing different forms of perspectives in order to make direct points. With poignant images, this feature ushers readers into the new year while remembering what we left behind in previous ones.

Suzanne Siteman’s “Holy Water,” the creative nonfiction piece for this issue, the location is a tropical one. On a vacation with her daughters, Siteman drops the reader into a love and devotion for the ocean and what lives within it. As the speaker reflects on their own upbringing and how her daughters were raised, they write, “I am present but also alive to the memory we are making here and the ways in which we all put ourselves at risk in the world.”

Finally, our fiction selection for Issue #66 is Laura Perkins’ “Final Communion.” It opens with this: “The world is ending….And I don’t believe it. That’s just what we’re all thinking.” Our speaker, like many of us, is placed into an environment where anxiety and tension is at an all-time high. Full of luscious details and a raw vulnerability, this piece is a testament to the era we are all living in right now.

We hope that 2023 brings you kindness, prosperity, and rest.

Best,
Ashley & Rebecca