Dear Reader,

Our 38^th issue is tinged with joy and sadness as this is our final issue as the managing editors. It has been a sincere honor to read and share your work with the literary community. Although it saddens us to leave, we know you will be in good hands with our new editors. As you may have noticed this issue is smaller than past ones, this is due to some exciting news. We are getting the opportunity to revamp our journal.

The revamp will include an updated website, an easier submission system, and cash-prize contests. It’s an exciting time for our journal and we can’t wait to enter this new chapter with our readers. We will still take submissions through this time of transition.

Our Issue, although brief, we feel is a powerful discussion of where we belong. In times of change, we all seek the comforts of home, and our editors are no different. All drawn to pieces that are searching for their own space, we as a journal are on that mission as well. “Of Terra Mirum” is not only a poem named for the aural phenomena which translates as Strange Earth, but like the word, it explores the immersive quality of a sonorous poem. The poet glides on a lush rhyme scheme, making you feel as if the sea creatures described are splashing to life all around you. As well, we had the unique opportunity to publish the flash fiction piece, “The Day of the Party.” Using the diction of an overthinker, it is hard not to relate to a young boy’s first awkward attempts at belonging.

In reviews and interviews, our conversation with novelist Natalia Sylvester brings insights into her newest book, Everyone Knows You Go Home, her social media account, and what kind of magical creature she would be. In our featured review, Of Cartography by Esther G. Berlin, the poems’ structures are unrelenting and transformative. The collection also hints at complicating the psycho-cultural idea of “home” when history must be revised.

We were inspired at how Mini Issue 38 offered us one last glimpse of a home made from words. We, too, will be writing to a new home as we move on from the MFA at Texas State University. We are proud of the work our staff has done in the past year. We can’t wait to see the next incarnation of the journal, knowing full well it is in excellent hands.

Signing off,

Callie Wofford
Marilyse V. Figueroa
Co-Managing Editors May 2017 – May 2018