Methods & Muses Vol. 33

About Place Journal - Offerings

Hello Artist-Poet-Writers,

I hope you’ve had a restorative, inspiring month.

For me, May has been restful – with a visit to Northeast Wisconsin, where I breathed among Cedars and Birches and listened to the water-caves of Lake Michigan – and twirly with exciting, collaborative activity.

Because nature needs a newsletter of her own, I’ll save those musings. Because some of the twirl offers a poential opportunity for many of you, I’ll get right to it.

This summer I will serve as an Assistant Editor for About Place Journal. I am deeply honored to be part of this team, and I am grateful that my poet-friend and mentor, Nickole Brown, trusts me to do a good job. This particular call for submissions embraces flora and fauna and asks for humility and compassion.

Here’s the call:

The More-Than-Human World

For most of history, we as humans have used plants and animals just as we saw fit, and how we’ve used them in art and literature is no exception. We’ve parceled them out as metaphors for our own emotions, and with little regard to their individual realities, we’ve either anthropomorphized them into a cartoon-like replicas of ourselves or else depicted them as two-dimensional props, as background figures denied their own sentience and emotion.

But what if we decenter ourselves and write instead to get a sense of a more-than-human being, each entirely complex and individual, real and breathing now? What if we don’t just write about them but for them, seeking to accurately depict their struggles and joys by fostering a literature (and even literacy) of non-human beings?

In the upcoming Fall issue of About Place, co-editors Nickole Brown and Erin Coughlin Hollowell aim to collect poems, stories, essays, and visual art galvanized by this challenge. We know we may never get the words right—not exactly—but we believe much can be learned if we allow our art to serve in stewardship to bring awareness to life beyond our human realm. As Robin Wall Kimmerer writes, “Maybe now, in this time when the myth of human exceptionalism has proven illusory, we will listen to intelligences other than our own, to kin. To get there, we may all need a new language to help us honor and be open to the beings who will teach us.”

***

Exhale. No small task, and it shouldn’t be.

So, poets, writers and visual artists, if you have work that reaches for this, please consider offering. I invite you to read About Place Journal, and if you’re interested, more details about the guidelines can be found here.

One more thing. Having sent work out for years, I know what it’s like to be on the offering end of publishing – how I cast my poems, my baby-stars, into space, hoping for acceptance, for shine, while at the same time knowing that the sky is filled with countless constellations, and my work may not be accepted. Be reassured. We know the weight (and often the wait, wait, wait) of this process. You are entrusting us with your voice. Thank you. We will hold your work with care.

In other community news, I’ve experienced a flourish!

I’ve been wandering with new poets, meandering within our neighborhoods, along the lake and among the plants at Olbrich Botanical Gardens. These moments have been dreams come true. Thank you, Erin, Tyler, Philip and Jenn – your voices are beautiful. 

And other journals have published some of my poems. Yay!

My poem “Hard Flower” now lives on pages 36-37 of 3Elements Literary Review, No. 38, Spring 2023 and my poems “G.E. Teletrol,” “At Divine Savior Hospital, Children’s Ward, 1968,” “Petunia,” “Abscission,” and “Like a Flamingo” will appear in the next print edition of Blood and Thunder –Musings on the Art of Medicine.

Thank you 3Elements and Blood and Thunder for your respectful communication and the chance to pulse among other writers who love a 3-word challenge or medically-themed art. Big love and hugs of thanks to the holy poets of my critique groups –Juanita, Naila, John G., Rebecca, Michael, and John H. – for reading first drafts and consistently offering supportive and constructive feedback. You all rule!

I’ll close on that note. May the Muses sing for all of you, and see you in a month!