OPENING LETTERS > FROM THE EDITORS
Issue 25 feels like a milestone. Maybe we're halfway to 50, or a quarter of the way to 100, which we'd hit on the journal's 25th anniversary. (We'll see if Jason wants to put up with me for that long!) This checkpoint makes me think of mile markers along a bike path, a walking trail, or an exit sign on a highway. It offers reminders of where we've been, which informs where we're going, and presents a gentle suggestion to pay attention to where we are now.
Summer seems like an appropriate time to celebrate milestones. If the fireworks that have been keeping my pups awake for the past few weeks are any indication, my neighbors agree. Over the years, I've spent many of my summer afternoons celebrating with my students at their graduation parties. As a gift, I always offer a book, with a personal inscription. Finding the right book for the right person at the right time is truly special. Mrs. Johnson, my second-grade teacher, did this for me. My hardcover copy of The Boxcar Children, with her inscription and bright yellow smiley-face sticker, saw me through one of the most turbulent experiences of my childhood and is still on my bookshelf after three decades.
Reading has always been a core part of who I am and how I spend my time. The same is true of my niece. To say that she's a voracious reader would be an understatement. In a recent conversation, she and her mother asked what books I might suggest she read this summer since she had already ripped through her entire collection multiple times. After we discussed what genres and styles she enjoyed, I said I'd go home, pour through my books, especially my classroom library, and bring them back in a few days with titles and authors she might enjoy. My suggestion upon delivery was to browse, explore, and perhaps, in that curated set, she'd find the right book at the right time.
My brother has a knack for finding titles that hit home with me. He and I are in a two-man book club, and he is the one who introduced me to Neil Gaiman's American Gods, which has become one of the most important books I've ever read. It sparked a bit of a pilgrimage to the House on the Rock, and countless readings year after year. Our most recent choice was Norm MacDonald's book, Based on a True Story: Not a Memoir. Norm's unique, witty, and often irreverent voice made us laugh out loud and wrap up our evenings with a smile when we needed it most.
For so many of us, finding the right book for the right person at the right time makes all the difference. Early in my teaching career, one of my teenage students passed away suddenly. He was such a bright light, and I could not believe he was gone. I also struggled with how I would respond and try to lead my classroom community through the tragedy. That night, Jason called me. He said that he had a collection of Ray Bradbury's short stories in front of him and urged me to close my eyes and just listen as he read one out loud. The title of the story is "The Smile," and by the end, when the main character unfolds a piece of canvas from a tarnished painting, he finds that smile, which gave me hope and the courage to move forward.
In my first year of teaching, Jason gave me a copy of Cormac McCarthy's novel, The Road, with this inscription: I am giving you this simple single gift—because it made me feel at a time when I could not afford to, when I did not want to. It made me rediscover my purpose. This is the power of literature, the power of writing.
Readers, this simple single gift is what we hope to offer you as well. At this moment, we're incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by our constellation of writers from all over the globe. They share their gift of literature, and we have gathered what we believe to be 34 of the finest new works of poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction for you in Issue 25.
We invite you to browse, explore, and be transported. Perhaps, we've found the right piece of literature for you, at the right time. Thank you for visiting, and come on back whenever you are able.
Respectfully,
Jeff Sommerfeld, Co-Founder, Co-Editor-in-Chief, and Voices from the Sky Podcast Host
July is monsoon season in Luna County, New Mexico—Sky Island Journal’s birthplace and spiritual home. This time of year, the mountains and deserts thirst for rain. Their inhabitants grow lean in the sweltering heat of the day and drink the cool night air with relish. Soon, lightning will crack the sky like an eggshell. Succulents will gorge and swell. Alluvial fans will flutter alight. Arroyos and draws will become rivers—veins of water, pulsing at treacherous speeds. There will be creation, destruction, and renewal: pure transformation.
Surviving the turbulence of New Mexico’s summer landscape gives us the inspiration we need to continue carving our own path, and it provides us with the courage we need to love, even (and especially) when we are afraid. It is easy, I think, to keep love at arm’s length when we lose people, and, in the 3 months since our last issue, the world has lost a lot of good people. One of them was a literary hero of ours who also called New Mexico home: Cormac McCarthy. His words from The Road—an emotionally challenging and utterly essential novel—always ring true:
Keep a little fire burning; however small, however hidden.
As an independent international literary journal, our positive energy, rugged independence, and relentless tenacity keep us strong and publishing. There is no obstacle we cannot overcome because, like Cormac, we keep the fire burning too. We keep it burning for readers and writers who may be discouraged by this life or doubting their path. We keep it burning for those who, through literature, want to break free from their matrix programing and feel things they’ve never felt before—see things from different perspectives and be completely transported by the hearts and minds of others.
By keeping the fire burning for others, we are also able to provide some warmth and light for ourselves. However small, however hidden, it will always be enough to sustain and guide us to the next issue. Path and purpose. Relentless resilience. Endless evolution. Reading and responding to every submission—then being able to share the work of writers from around the world, with readers from around the world—are privileges beyond the telling. We could not be more grateful for our diverse family of over 750 contributors and our constellation of over 125,000 engaged readers around the world.
We’ve elected to leave the "scroll-through” experience and the pop-up ads to other literary platforms. By design, the writing in Sky Island Journal opens as a protected Word document for an authentic, focused, and immersive experience that encourages a close, intimate, distraction-free reading of the work. We want your experience with the work of our contributors to be singular—just as it would be on the printed page, with crisp white paper between your collective fingertips. (One poem in this issue with long line lengths, however, will open as a jpeg so fidelity to the author’s original line and stanza breaks can be maintained on all mobile devices around the world.) Without advertising to distract from and cheapen the literary experience, you can fully engage with the worlds that our contributors have so carefully crafted for you. We are free access; without subscriptions and pay walls, you are welcome to read and enjoy whenever you like, wherever you like, regardless of your means. We believe in removing the barriers between readers and access to high quality literature, especially in regions of the world that have traditionally been underserved by English language journals or completely ignored by the literary establishment.
Of the 1,855 individual pieces that we received from around the world, we found these 34 to be the finest. Enjoy!
Welcome to Sky Island Journal. Welcome home.
Respectfully,
Jason Splichal, Co-Founder and Co-Editor-in-Chief
Amy Marques > Flash Fiction > Brazil + California, USA
Amy Marques grew up between languages and places and learned, from an early age, the multiplicity of narratives. She penned children’s books, barely read medical papers, and numerous letters before turning to short fiction and visual poetry. She is a Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fictions, and Best of the Net nominee and has work published in journals and anthologies including Streetcake Magazine, MoonPark Review, Bending Genres, Gone Lawn, Ghost Parachute, Sky Island Journal, Chicago Quarterly Review, and Reservoir Road Literary Review.
Annabel Smith > Flash Fiction > Massachusetts, USA
Annabel Smith is a student writer from Manchester, Massachusetts. She has been writing all her life and is currently an intern at a local literary nonprofit. She will be studying creative writing at the University of British Columbia in the fall.
Annette Sisson > Poetry > Tennessee, USA
Annette Sisson’s poems have appeared in Valparaiso PR, Birmingham PR, Glassworks, Rust and Moth, Citron Review, Lascaux Review, Glassworks, Cider Press Review, Sky Island Journal, and others. Her book Small Fish in High Branches was published in 2022 by Glass Lyre. Her work has received nominations for Best of the Net and The Pushcart Prize.
Ashley McCurry > Flash Fiction > Alabama, USA
Ashley McCurry (she/her) resides in the mountains of the Southeastern U.S. with her husband and four rescue dogs. You can find her work in Bright Flash Literary Review, FlashFlood Journal, Six Sentences, Microfiction Monday, The Dillydoun Review, Flash Boulevard, Shirley Lit Mag, Switch, Pigeon Review, The Metaworker, Five on the Fifth, and elsewhere. Between her day shifts as a speech pathologist, she also reads for Flash Fiction Magazine and chips away at her first novella-in-flash.
Charity Everitt > Poetry > Arizona, USA
Charity Everitt is retired following a career in technical writing and engineering software design and development. She finds the linguistic precision required in her technical career to be equally applicable to poetry, making tangible the process of dissolving boundaries between the actual and the sparks of the mysterious. Her poems have appeared in Lyrical Iowa, Comstock Review, Concho River Review, Her Words, and River Heron Review among others.
Christopher Hadin > Flash Fiction > Michigan, USA
Christopher Hadin is a writer, naturalist, and kindergarten teacher. He lives in Ferndale, Michigan.
Dagne Forrest > Poetry > Canada
Dagne Forrest's poetry and creative nonfiction have appeared in journals in Canada, the US, and the UK. In 2021, she was one of 15 poets featured in Canada’s Poem in Your Pocket campaign and was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and Mslexia Single Poem Contest. Her work has appeared in december magazine, Rust + Moth, SWWIM Every Day, Prism International, Whale Road Review, Arc Poetry Magazine, Sky Island Journal, and elsewhere. She is a member of Painted Bride Quarterly’s editorial and podcast teams.
Daniel Chan Yee Ann > Poetry > Singapore
Daniel Chan Yee Ann is a teacher who lives in Singapore. He was one of the first applicants selected for Singapore's Center 42's writing residency called Boiler Room. His writing has been published in the Writing the Walls Down anthology by Trans-Genre Press.
Dick Altman > Poetry > New Mexico, USA
Dick Altman writes in the high, thin, magical air of Santa Fe, New Mexico where, at 7,000 feet, reality and imagination often blur. He is published in Santa Fe Literary Review, American Journal of Poetry, Fredericksburg Literary Review, Foliate Oak, Blue Line, Landing Zone, Cathexis, Humana Obscura, Haunted Waters Press, Split Rock Review, The Ravens Perch, Beyond Words, New Verse News, Wingless Dreamer, Blueline, Sky Island Journal and others here and abroad. A Pushcart nominee and poetry winner of Santa Fe New Mexican’s annual literary competition, he has in progress two collections of some 150 published poems. His work has been selected for the forthcoming first volume of The New Mexico Anthology of Poetry, to be published by the New Mexico Museum Press.
Freya Rohn > Poetry > Alaska, USA
Freya Rohn is a writer based in Anchorage, Alaska. Her work has been published in The Colorado Review, Catamaran Literary Reader, and elsewhere.
Gabby Parker > Creative Nonfiction > South Carolina, USA
Gabby Parker lives and writes by the beach in South Carolina. She is a recent graduate of Coastal Carolina University's M.A. in Writing program and has chosen to stick around at the University to teach English. She is thrilled for Sky Island Journal to be her first major publication. When not engaging in some form of art—whether writing, drawing, or playing piano—Gabby can be found spending time with family or asking to pet a stranger's dog.
Iván Brave > Flash Fiction > Texas, USA
Iván Brave is an author, poet, and translator who lives in his hometown of Houston, Texas. He has received awards from the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston (2015), the Vera List Center in New York (2017), and the Corda Foundation in Santiago de Chile (2022). Brave has an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School in New York and a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from The University of Texas at Austin. Currently he is studying to earn his doctorate in Spanish Creative Writing at the University of Houston. He has published two novels, and has work printed in Tilted House, Latino Book Review, and other journals. His latest novel, Awake & Asleep, has garnered him a generous artist grant from the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance (2023), to complete and showcase the manuscript over the summer.
Janet Belding > Poetry > Massachusetts, USA
Janet Belding lives and writes on Cape Cod. She grew up in Vermont, graduating from the University of Vermont in 1979. The snow was a factor in her moving to coastal Massachusetts where the climate is much warmer. She enjoys hiking, gardening, and reading. She has been published in The Field Guide Poetry Magazine.
Janet E. Irvin > Poetry > Ohio, USA
Janet E. Irvin is a career educator, author, and poet. She holds a BA in Spanish and English from Ohio University, an MSed from the University of Dayton, and an MA in Spanish from the University of Cincinnati. Writing as J.E. Irvin, she is the award-winning author of six mystery/thriller novels. Her shorter works have appeared in a variety of print and online publications, including Hawaii Pacific Review, Creosote, The Raven’s Perch, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, and Literary Mama. She and her husband reside in southwest Ohio on the edge of a nature park, which serves as inspiration for much of her work.
Jennifer Blake > Flash Fiction > California, USA
Jennifer Blake was raised in Los Angeles but grew up in San Francisco. She is inspired by human idiosyncrasies and the belief that cities are characters too. Her work has appeared in The Main Street Rag and is pending publication in The Writing Disorder. She now resides in the magical Eastern Sierras.
Ken Post > Flash Fiction > Alaska, USA
Originally from the suburbs of New Jersey, Ken Post worked for the Forest Service in Alaska for 35 years. During the long, dark winters, he writes short stories. His fiction has appeared in Cirque, Red Fez, Underwood Press, Poor Yorick, Woven Tale Press, Kansas City Voices, and the Clackamas Literary Review. The story published in Red Fez, “Enola Gay,” was nominated for a 2020 Pushcart Prize. Ken's short story collection, Greyhound Cowboy and Other Stories, is forthcoming from Cornerstone Press.
Kyra Lisse > Creative Nonfiction > Pennsylvania, USA
Kyra Lisse is a second-year MFA candidate at Hollins University, where she studies creative nonfiction. In 2022, she received her B.A. in creative writing and Latin from Franklin & Marshall College. Currently, Kyra serves as Editorial Fellow for Jewish Book Council and as a nonfiction reader for Orison Books. Her work has been published in Collision Literary Magazine, The Blue Route, plain china: National Anthology of the Best Undergraduate Writing, and Assay: A Journal of Nonfiction Studies, among others.
Laura Tate > Poetry > Virginia, USA
Laura Tate’s poetry has recently appeared or is forthcoming in Halfway Down the Stairs, Anti-Heroin Chic, Allegro Magazine, The Stray Branch, Mobius, and Arboreal Magazine. Her poem, “Requiem for a Young Boy,” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net Anthology. She was an elementary school reading specialist in rural central New York, working with many children in poverty. Now she’s a retired grandmother living in the northern Virginia/D.C. area with her writer husband and a small orange cat.
Lorrie Ness > Poetry > Virginia, USA
Lorrie Ness is a poet in Virginia. Her work can be found in numerous journals, including THRUSH, Palette Poetry, Trampset, and Sky Island Journal. She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2021, and her chapbook, Anatomy of a Wound, was published by Flowstone Press in July of 2021. Her debut full-length collection Heritage & Other Pseudonyms is forthcoming from Flowstone Press in 2023.
Lucie Chou > Poetry > China
Lucie Chou is an ecopoet working in mainland China. Currently an undergraduate majoring in English language and literature, she is also interested in the ecotone between ekphrasis and ecopoetics, and in exploring the magic presences of other-than-human living beings bleeding into the lonely arrogance of human experience. Her work has appeared in the Entropy magazine, the Black Earth Institute Blog, the Tiny Seed Journal website, The Ekphrastic Review, and in the Plant Your Words Anthology published by Tiny Seed Press. A poem is forthcoming in from Tofu Ink Arts, both in print and online. She has published a debut collection of ecopoetry, Convivial Communiverse, with Atmosphere Press. She hikes, gardens, and studies works of natural history by Victorian writers with gusto. She writes for a constellation of brilliant readers hopefully including street trees and feral animals she encounters in each city she travels to.
Madison Christian > Creative Nonfiction > California, USA
Madison Christian is a lawyer by trade. He is a nature activist, beer elitist, native plant nerd, and dharma-bum wannabe by birth. As an emerging writer, Madison focuses on creative nonfiction, including memoir, personal essay, and travel (or what he likes to call “vagabond”). He dabbles in poetry. Some of his writing is collected on the two blogs he maintains – wildsouthland and The Black Sage Journal. He lives in Southern California with his wife Kellie where he is perpetually at war with Black Mustard and Russian Thistle.
Marta Regn > Poetry > Virginia, USA
Marta Regn is a writer and yoga teacher living in Southwest Virginia. She is an MFA candidate at Hollins University and serves as an assistant poetry editor for The Hollins Critic. She currently works for the World Wildlife Fund as a travel and conservation writer.
Michele Lovell > Creative Nonfiction > Washington, USA
Michele Lovell lives in S.W. Washington state where she and her partner run a small animal rescue. She recently completed a collection of stories about her years working as a child therapist in the mental health field. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Main Street Rag, Hip Mama, Under the Gum Tree, Fourth Genre, Sky Island Journal, and others.
Nicholas Trandahl > Poetry > Wyoming, USA
Nicholas Trandahl is an award-winning poet, journalist, outdoorsman, and veteran residing in northern Wyoming, where he currently also serves as mayor of a small town. He has had five poetry collections published and has also been featured in numerous literary journals and anthologies. Trandahl has been awarded the Wyoming Writers Milestone Award and has received several nominations for the Pushcart Prize. Additionally, he works as poetry editor for The Dewdrop literary journal and as a regular contributor for The Way Back to Ourselves literary journal, while also serving as chairman of the annual Eugene V. Shea National Poetry Contest.
Piera Chen > Poetry > Hong Kong
Piera Chen is an anglophone writer and Chinese-to-English translator from Hong Kong currently based in Taipei. She has (co-)authored some 20 travel guidebooks for Lonely Planet and published a few poems in Cha: An Asian Literary Journal and other magazines. Piera has a BA in literature from Pomona College, California, where she studied poetry under the late American poet Robert Mezey at both Pomona and the Claremont Graduate School. She believes that if writing is the most disembodied of the arts, travel writing and poetry are genres that make it less so, and this is why she loves both.
Seth Peterson > Poetry > Arizona, USA
Seth Peterson is a Midwesterner happily transplanted into the Sonoran Desert of Tucson, Arizona. He has been fascinated by nature and its relationship to human health and illness, something that is informed by his clinical practice as a physical therapist. He is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Orthopedic & Sports Physical Therapy and teaches with The Movement Brainery and A.T. Still University.
Shannon Marzella > Poetry > Connecticut, USA
Shannon Marzella is a poet and teacher from Connecticut. Her poetry has been published by Stonecoast Review, Glacial Hills Review, San Pedro River Review, and is forthcoming in the #SPIRIT anthology. Shannon is pursuing an MFA in Creative and Professional Writing from Western Connecticut State University.
Stephen Frech > Poetry > Illinois, USA
Stephen Frech has earned degrees from Northwestern University, Washington University in St. Louis, and the University of Cincinnati. He has published four volumes of poetry, most recently Into Night’s Tent (River Glass Books 2020). He has a fourth volume titled A Palace of Strangers Is No City, a sustained narrative of prose poetry/flash fiction, published by Cervena Barva Press in 2011. His translation from the Dutch of Menno Wigman’s book of poems Zwart als kaviaar/Black as Caviar was published in 2012.
Swapna Sanchita > Poetry > India
Swapna Sanchita is a poet, a storyteller, and an educator. Despite her background in engineering and management, she has rediscovered her passion for literature and has since become the author of five children's books and a poetry collection, Des Vu. Her poems have been published in Muse India, Green Ink Poetry, Trouvaille Review, and other places. Swapna loves chocolate, coffee, and books, not necessarily in that order.