scissors & spackle: 2022, Issue 19
Editor’s Note
We all know writers are highly in tune with words and how they are able to evoke emotions in others, whether spoken or written. Words have power–the power to inspire others to take action, the power to allow us to share common or foreign experiences across many miles, and the power to change lives. We each have a story to tell–our unique journey begging for its own words. Our day to day lives include massive barriers we’ve overcome; shattered dreams, life altering situations, and amazing transformations, all of which are either waiting to be or have been written.
When I sat down to read the issue Jody had curated, I knew there were three words that found their way into every piece: voice, spirit, and journey. Indeed, each piece embodies the courage these writers have employed to find their voice in a strange literary landscape, and let’s face it, we live in a strange world. We live in a world bombarding us with media constantly dictating who we should be, what we should look like, and what we should eat, drink, wear, and feel. The writers in this issue speak with distinct voice through words, words that have the remarkable way of silencing noise, freeing the mind, and connecting us to people we’ve never even met.
I hope this issue will encourage you to find your voice in a strange world, fuel your spirit, and write your journey.
Be Well. Write Well. Read Well.
Ariana
Poetry
Sometimes You Wake from Unnerving Dreams | Grounding Method || Jessica Purdy
Things You’ve Missed in the Three Years Since Your Death (On Your 26th Birthday) || Danielle Shorr
In My Only Life || Alexander Etheridge
the beaded women || Julie Bolt
On Prayer | On Alcohol || Jack Sullivan
To the Ocean || Sally Dunn
We Regret To Inform You That You Are Not Good Enough | The Willow Across the Creek || Lisa Thornton
Untitled || Margot Block
Paper Cranes as Stars | Hatchling || Moshe Wolf
Words Between Us | Control Your Deer || Nolcha Fox
The garden is just gravel until Spring | Lights off and out | Return to the valley with the railway in the basin || Ruby Dunn
Prose
Fishing || Lisa Thornton
Robins I remember || Leslie Cairns
Nonfiction
Antabuse || Zary Fekete
Everything Else
The Annotated Fable of the Progeny of Bitcoin and Art || Karina Lutz
Death of Instant Messaging || Alyson Tait
List of Twenty Things You Can’t Take in With You || Kathryn Aldridge-Morris
An Ardent Accounting || Elizabeth Mulcahy