Issue 3: Spring
Cover art by Mighty Marmot Art © 2023
Editor’s Letter
Dear readers,
As I am rushing to publish this issue, my son is trying to potty train. I tell him I need to go to the office to do work. “This is an important journal day,” I tell him. He nods, “Yep, ‘portant joenal day.” Then he asks me to sit with him next to the window, in the big chairs. I need to work, but he, unconcerned with my deadlines, wants to talk. He points to a book he has and tells me a new story or tries to, at least. What he wants is for me to sit and join him for a time, and so I do. He points to the trees we planted outside and he sees his water can he left outside during last night’s thunderstorm. He tells me he likes hot chocolate he drank yesterday. The memory is, for him, a story worth telling even if he has none at the moment. In my rush to finish this letter and find words that have eluded me all week, I return to my son’s half-question, half-demand, “Sit with me.”
The pieces in this issue have the same question. They ask us—sometimes gently and other times more urgently—to pause, to take a deep breath, to remember and acknowledge the hard stuff. Then, to figure of a way to let those events and moments point us forward. Grow, even if just bit by little bit.
Welcome to Issue 3.
Sincerely,
Hannah Cole Orsag
Editor-in-Chief
As I am rushing to publish this issue, my son is trying to potty train. I tell him I need to go to the office to do work. “This is an important journal day,” I tell him. He nods, “Yep, ‘portant joenal day.” Then he asks me to sit with him next to the window, in the big chairs. I need to work, but he, unconcerned with my deadlines, wants to talk. He points to a book he has and tells me a new story or tries to, at least. What he wants is for me to sit and join him for a time, and so I do. He points to the trees we planted outside and he sees his water can he left outside during last night’s thunderstorm. He tells me he likes hot chocolate he drank yesterday. The memory is, for him, a story worth telling even if he has none at the moment. In my rush to finish this letter and find words that have eluded me all week, I return to my son’s half-question, half-demand, “Sit with me.”
The pieces in this issue have the same question. They ask us—sometimes gently and other times more urgently—to pause, to take a deep breath, to remember and acknowledge the hard stuff. Then, to figure of a way to let those events and moments point us forward. Grow, even if just bit by little bit.
Welcome to Issue 3.
Sincerely,
Hannah Cole Orsag
Editor-in-Chief
Not sure where to start?
Here are our favourite lines and passages from the pieces in this issue: Snippets of Issue 3
Here are our favourite lines and passages from the pieces in this issue: Snippets of Issue 3
Throughline: Cover Art
Issue 3 Cover Art by Louba Fazylau Podvoiskaia // Visual Art
Bones of the Earth
Greener Pastures by Lora Berg // Poetry
A Tiny Town with a Large Cemetery by Constance L. Lieber // CNF
Sometimes I Don’t Know What My Autistic Nephew Means by David B. Prather // Poetry
Footsteps by Bruce McRae // Poetry
Theo, Stuck in Twine by Kasey Butcher Santana // CNF
A Tiny Town with a Large Cemetery by Constance L. Lieber // CNF
Sometimes I Don’t Know What My Autistic Nephew Means by David B. Prather // Poetry
Footsteps by Bruce McRae // Poetry
Theo, Stuck in Twine by Kasey Butcher Santana // CNF
Sweet Adolescence
Finding Our Way
Esphyr Slobodkina by Hannah Brown // Fiction
Apple Trees in Etowah by Kathleen Calby // Poetry
Without the Sound of Fear by Erich von Hungen // Poetry
No Eye by Isabella Cruz Pantoja // Poetry
The Dead Walk by Kathryn Lasseter // Poetry
Apple Trees in Etowah by Kathleen Calby // Poetry
Without the Sound of Fear by Erich von Hungen // Poetry
No Eye by Isabella Cruz Pantoja // Poetry
The Dead Walk by Kathryn Lasseter // Poetry
Maturity // Coming of Age
Marbles by Isabella Cruz Pantoja // Poetry
Between Landslides by Andrea Ferrari Kristeller // Poetry
Homecouver by Hantian Zhang // CNF
A Dream About My Mother by Cynthia Bernard // Poetry
Social by Jeff Stone // Fiction
(Genesis 8:11) by Kristin Gifford // Poetry
The Spider Plant by Emily Drez // Fiction
Between Landslides by Andrea Ferrari Kristeller // Poetry
Homecouver by Hantian Zhang // CNF
A Dream About My Mother by Cynthia Bernard // Poetry
Social by Jeff Stone // Fiction
(Genesis 8:11) by Kristin Gifford // Poetry
The Spider Plant by Emily Drez // Fiction
Growing into Wisdom
The Far Hope by Kyle Newman // Poetry
In Time, Everything Rises by Karen Luke Jackson // Poetry
Smoked Fish on a Saturday by Alan Winnikoff // Fiction
Spring Tree Picking by Brenda Ethridge Ferguson // Poetry
Gaze by Lora Berg // Poetry
In Time, Everything Rises by Karen Luke Jackson // Poetry
Smoked Fish on a Saturday by Alan Winnikoff // Fiction
Spring Tree Picking by Brenda Ethridge Ferguson // Poetry
Gaze by Lora Berg // Poetry
Care of Memory
Poem for Willy Silber by Paul Hostovsky // Poetry
Memories by Marguerite Buvard // Poetry
Futures Come And Go by Bruce McRae // Poetry
Leaving the Boxes by Joanna Grant // Poetry
The Long Goodbye: An Affair of the Heart by Amy Greenberg // Creative Nonfiction
Until Then, the Garden by Susan Whitlock // Fiction
Memories by Marguerite Buvard // Poetry
Futures Come And Go by Bruce McRae // Poetry
Leaving the Boxes by Joanna Grant // Poetry
The Long Goodbye: An Affair of the Heart by Amy Greenberg // Creative Nonfiction
Until Then, the Garden by Susan Whitlock // Fiction