We apologize; our cover is a lie. It is the spring we wish we had. Editrix Shira is slowly emerging from what is now officially the worst winter Boston has had in recorded history.
But we are emerging. Spring is here, just more subtly.
You can see that subtle emergence in our spring issue. Things emerge here, from trees and drowned cities, from shed skins, from war, from life itself. The world wakes.
Come with us. Dance the spring in. And as you do, remember that you can leave comments on these poems, you can talk about them on Twitter, you can let them inspire you to do art in response! These are a few of our favorite things.
With hopes for new greenness and warmth,
Shira and Mat
The mascot for Issue #3 is Count Sebastian Ampersand Vorcattigan!
He is more commonly known as Bash, or Murder Cat. Bash is at least half Maine Coon; he is enormous. Like all of Shira’s pets, he’s a rescue; he was obtained at MSPCA Angell two Marches ago, an older adoptee, then 12. He is irascible, demanding, and incredibly soft.
Bash’s favorite poets this year include Maggie Nelson, Buddy Wakefield, and Stephen Burt. He is looking forward to the new Richard Siken collection.
(Interested in having your pets as our mascots?)
Mat Joiner’s poems and short stories have appeared in the likes of Strange Horizons, Goblin Fruit, Stone Telling, and Not One Of Us. His poem “And Deeper Than Did Ever Plummet Sound” won the 2014 Dwarf Stars Award. He loves ghosts, Green Men and old books, and thinks “canalpunk” should be a subgenre. He never owned cats, but has a fox running around his head. He lives in Birmingham, England.
Shira Lipkin is a writer, poet, and editor in Boston; in her spare time, she volunteers with the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. Her poetry and short fiction have appeared in Strange Horizons, Stone Telling, Clockwork Phoenix 4, Interfictions 2, and other marvelous places; her poem “The Library, After” won the 2012 Rhysling Award. She attends a lot of burlesque shows, but that’s not where the glitter comes from. Her cat is bigger than her dog.