Seclusion
Photo by Bronwyn Mills
In the Northern Hemisphere, we now approach the dark days of winter. It is the time of seclusion. The urge to sequester is especially strong now, as the world seems ever less friendly. We seek warmth, a snug place to hibernate. The armchair, a blanket, a stew bubbling in the crockpot. And always, meaningful things to read in the soft circle of lamplight.
Our tenth issue offers companionable reading in this season of seclusion. It begins with the very art of solitude, poetry. The large body of work in this issue ranges from the compact lyric to the narrative prose poem, all beautifully rendered by Nicholas Pagano, Stefany Ann Golberg, Michael Kevin McMahon, Judith Prest, and Strider Marcus Jones.
Short fiction by our very own senior editor, Eric Darton is a refuge from the everyday. Darton’s work, “Hübiche Nena,” appears in both English and a crackling translation by Monika Baark. Translation from another European language, Hungarian, imparts a surrealistic mood to our reading nooks, via László Aranyi’s self-translations of his verbal and pictorial poetry.
Issue 10 is a chance to cuddle up with an ample collection of images and interviews. Portfolios by visual artists Louise Spence and Larry Futie couldn’t be more different (abstract pastels by Spence and chlorophyll-printed portrait photos by Futie), and yet are completely united in inspiration. A colloquy with digital artist Yann Oehl goes deep on the utility and controversy of artificial intelligence as a tool of visual art. In another colloquy, Nancy Matsumoto shares her delight in editing and translating the poetry of her grandparents, survivors of Japanese-American internment during World War II.
Creative non-fiction by Robert Roper and Ian C. Smith transport us to new harbors while we shelter in our dens. Roper’s excerpted memoir heads back to some flashpoints of the 1960s and 70s—the Chicago Democratic convention, Altamont, the Mayaguez incident. In 1,000 words, Smith’s “Jack Tars,” circumnavigates the globe from Australia to the Mississippi, not only on boats, but on books as well. Senior editor Hardy Griffin keeps us traveling, with his evocative, compassionate tale of a sojourn in Frankurt.
Rounding out Issue 10 are six book reviews in Remarkable Reads, a VIVA for Jane Goodall, and our photographic Insights. As the days shorten and the nights grow long, may we find sacred seclusion in the company of literature and art.
—Dana Delibovi for the Editors
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