Editorial
My mother-in-law passed away last week, and to the end of her 89 years there were hurts in her life she said were too painful to talk about. We will never know why she was a teenage bride who divorced, leaving two little girls behind. She finally shared a little about her divorce from my husband’s father but left much more unsaid.
Writers, poets, and artists are different. For them, nuances, difficult decisions, turning points, and observations float, or even erupt, onto pages and canvas. The personal becomes universal when an artist lays bare their emotional and physical world, and, like spark plugs, we connect.
Their explorations lend us language and color to articulate our own experiences. We gain insight. We gain perspective. I’ve had the experience—as you probably have—of reading or looking at a piece of art, and thinking, “Yes! That’s it! That’s how it felt.” Or an aha of, “I hadn’t thought about it like that, but that really nails it.”
In this final issue of 2024, we are humble and proud to bring you more poems (17 of them!), prose pieces, a book review by our resident Jessie Christensen, and beautiful and thought-provoking artwork by Paige Anderson. We present a feast to enjoy, or as we like to say, a peculiar treasure. Submissions are open for 2025. Please go to our guidelines and submission information. We’d love to connect with you.
