OPENING LETTERS > FROM THE EDITORS
In the three months since our last issue, the world has become a more dangerous place.
Our planet is literally burning as violence in all its forms runs rampant, basic human rights and freedoms are systematically attacked, and poverty increasingly leaves its hollow in the stomachs of our most vulnerable—its dark circles under the eyes of our most desperate.
Before he passed away in 2020, Barry Lopez grappled with the consequences of this modern trajectory in an essay titled, “Love in a Time of Terror.” He presents us with a poignant question.
In this trembling moment…is it still possible to face the gathering darkness and say to the physical Earth, and to all its creatures, including ourselves, fiercely and without embarrassment, I love you, and to embrace fearlessly the burning world?
The answer?
Yes. It is possible.
What is our cause for such optimism?
Look no further than the contributors of Issue 21.
Language gives us the power to resurrect the past, define the present, and create the future. Language is the sword and compass of human imagination, and imagination—one of the few things that separates us from other animals—will prove essential if we want to survive the terror that we are currently inflicting upon ourselves and our planet. That’s why we believe in the power of reading and writing. We believe that art can make a difference in people’s lives. Our constellation of over 100,000 readers in 145 countries, and over 600 published contributors, are fearless inward explorers and brave outward adventurers. They believe in the love that can be found in our shared humanity—even, and especially, during its darkest hours.
That’s what sustains us. That’s what propels us forward. So welcome to where the desert meets the mountains—where the indigenous meets the exotic and the old ways meet the digital frontier.
Of the 1,549 individual pieces that we received from around the world for Issue 21, we found these 60 to be the finest. Enjoy!
Respectfully,
Jason Splichal, Co-Founder and Co-Editor-in-Chief
When I wrote this letter, I was in Charlotte, North Carolina, attending the Barbershop Harmony Society's (BHS) 2022 International Convention. They called it the "biggest barbershop reunion ever," as thousands of singers from all over the world gathered to make music and make memories together again following the pandemic-induced hiatus. I sing Lead with the Midwest Vocal Express (MVE), hailing from Greendale, Wisconsin, and this was my first experience at a BHS convention. While preparing our performance pieces over the past several months, we had the honor of working with one of the most revered performance judges in the barbershop community, Joe Hunter. Before offering any advice or criticism he simply listened to us sing. He took in our sound and listened carefully to the lyrics to explore our message. When we got to our ballad, "Auld Lang Syne," he helped us go beyond singing the notes correctly or even beautifully, to true storytelling and developing the emotional arc of the performance story. The way that I internalized his advice was threefold.
First, I aimed to think about how I sing for my brothers on stage with me. Our group has been in existence since 1989, and several members of our choral family have been "changing lives through legendary performances" since the very beginning. Our theme for the performance was cherishing the experience of being together, making music in the moment, and looking to the future with full hearts. Sharing the song's message and listening to blend our individual voices into one collective voice was the first step. Secondly, I turned my attention to the audience I would find in Charlotte. It was essential to make meaningful interpersonal connections as we told the story of joy and hope, moving past the past, and celebrating the present with a hopeful eye glancing down the corridors of the future. I recognized that I might never have the opportunity to actually meet most of the people gathered that day, but I knew I could reach them by sharing my heart through the artistic gift of music. Finally, I had to fully commit to diving deeply into the emotional waters of the experience, searching within and even closing my eyes at times to sing to the dimly-lit corners of my own heart.
Flash forward to the morning of Saturday, July 9, and we were on stage at the Spectrum Center, in front of thousands of audience members. As we moved from our up-beat number into the ballad I looked over to the singer next to me. He has been with the chorus for decades, and he was not just dipping his toes in the emotional waters, but tears were flooding down his face. Despite how emotionally moved he was, his voice never wavered and he continued to send forth the story of our song with clarity and power that can only come from hitting all three marks: singing for each other, our audience, and our own hearts.
Jason and I have a special opportunity to hit these three marks with the journal as well, albeit we will not record vocal duet tracks anytime soon. Through conversation and reading out loud, we experience the gift of storytelling together by fully immersing ourselves in the incredible poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction that graces our pages in each issue. We are always thinking about you, the readers who receive the invitation to be moved intellectually and emotionally each time you visit Sky Island Journal. With over 100,000 readers in over 145 countries, there are writers and poets within our family of contributors who will reach the minds of hearts of people located all over the world. It is such a treasure to be able to connect people to each other in that way—one that we cherish today and will in the years to come. Finally, I urge you all to go beyond "dipping your toes" in the emotional waters of these pieces and fully immerse yourself in the experience. This is why we have made the purposeful choice to have each piece open as a protected Word document, so you can completely enter into the literary worlds created through the words on each page. I can tell you from personal experience that it is absolutely worth it!
Sky Island Journal is always free to access and free from advertising, so please feel free to stop by anytime to share in the gift of literature and the experience of being alive. We are so grateful you are here - thank you!
Respectfully,
Jeff Sommerfeld, Co-Founder and Co-Editor-in-Chief
Amy Marques > Flash Fiction > California, USA
Amy Marques grew up between languages and cultures and learned, from an early age, the multiplicity of narratives. She penned three children’s books, barely read medical papers, and numerous letters before turning to short fiction. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in anthologies and journals including Star82 Review, Jellyfish Review, Flying South, and Streetcake: Experimental Writing Magazine.
Ann Chinnis > Poetry > Virginia, USA
Ann Chinnis lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She has been an Emergency Physician for 40 years and is currently a healthcare leadership coach. Ann has been a poetry student at the Writers Studio in New York since January 2017. Her poetry has been published in The Speckled Trout Review, Drunk Monkeys, Around the World: Landscapes & Cityscapes, Sledgehammer, Open Door, Last Leaves, Didcot Writers, and is forthcoming in Mocking Owl Roost.
Annette Sisson > Poetry > Tennessee, USA
Annette Sisson’s poems can be found in Birmingham Poetry Review, Nashville Review, Typishly, One, Rust and Moth, and many other journals. Her book, Small Fish in High Branches, will be released by Glass Lyre Press on April 28, 2022. She was a Mark Strand Poetry Scholar for the 2021 Sewanee Writers’ Conference and 2020 BOAAT Writing Fellow.
Arden Stockdell-Giesler > Poetry > North Carolina, USA
Arden Stockdell-Giesler is a queer poet and writer currently based in Asheville, North Carolina, nestled in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Former editor-in-chief of Headwaters, Arden uses poetry to explore the intertwined relationship between grief and intimacy. Her spare time is spent working in a local coffee shop, making hyper-specific playlists, and collecting tiny chairs.
Beth Oast Williams > Poetry > Virginia, USA
Beth Oast Williams’s poetry has appeared in Leon Literary Review, SWWIM Everyday, Wisconsin Review, Glass Mountain, GASHER Journal, Poetry South, Fjords Review, and Rattle's Poets Respond, among others. Her poems have been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize. Her first chapbook, Riding Horses in the Harbor, was published in 2020.
Carole Greenfield > Poetry > Massachusetts, USA
Carole Greenfield grew up in Colombia and lives in Massachusetts. In the last century, her work appeared in Red Dancefloor, Gulfstream, The Sow’s Ear, and Women’s Words: Resolution. More recently, her work can be seen online in Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Sparks of Calliope, Autumn Sky Daily Poetry, Eunoia Review, and is forthcoming in Dodging the Rain and Amethyst Review.
Cheryl Slover-Linett > Poetry > New Mexico, USA
Cheryl Slover-Linett (she/her) is a poet based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her poetry is featured or forthcoming in Amethyst Review, Eunoia Review, River Mouth Review and Haiku Journal. She serves on the editorial team at High Desert Journal and is also an MFA candidate at Western Colorado University. In addition to writing, she leads wilderness retreats through Lead Feather, the nature non-profit she founded in 2008, and spends as much time as she can in the high desert mountains of northern New Mexico.
Courtney Justus > Poetry > North Carolina, USA
Courtney Justus is a recent graduate of the MFA in Creative Writing program at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Her adolescence, spent in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the emotional landscapes of place, coming-of-age, and language, frequently inform her work across genres. She is a 2022 Tin House YA Workshop alumna and the recipient of residencies from Sundress Academy for the Arts and Weymouth Center. Her writing appears in Jet Fuel Review, The Lindenwood Review, Valparaiso Fiction Review, and elsewhere.
Cristian Ramirez > Creative Nonfiction > Peru + Florida, USA
Cristian Ramirez is a writer, medical student, and former teacher from Lima, Peru. He earned a degree in neuroscience from Amherst College. As a first-generation immigrant, Cristian loves stories that transport readers to new destinations – both real and imagined. He resides in New York with his cat, Tabasco.
Cynthia Singerman > Flash Fiction > California, USA
Cynthia Singerman, a Florida native, is a writer living in San Francisco. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature and Spanish, as well as a law degree from the University of Florida. Her work has appeared in Dillydoun Review, Sou’wester Literary Journal, HerStry, Streetlight Magazine, Menda City Review, Litbreak Magazine, American Writers Review, and COG Magazine. She is currently working on her novel, set in San Francisco.
Dan Shields > Flash Fiction > Washington, DC, USA
Dan Shields is from Middletown, Pennsylvania, home of the Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown of 1979. In former lives he was a college athlete, library aide, meal prep worker, Bed Bath and Beyond customer service representative, and 2015 Atlantic City Beach Olympics push-up champion. He now lives in Washington, DC, reminiscing about most of it.
Deron Eckert > Flash Fiction > Kentucky, USA
Deron Eckert is a writer and attorney who lives in Lexington, Kentucky. He is currently seeking publication for his Southern Gothic, coming-of-age novel, which explores how personal experiences change our preconceived notions of right and wrong.
Edilson Afonso Ferreira > Poetry > Brazil
Edilson Afonso Ferreira, 78 years, is a Brazilian poet who writes in English rather than in Portuguese. Widely published in selected international literary journals in print and online, he began writing at age 67, after his retirement from a bank. Since then, he counts 175 poems published, in 275 different publications. Has been nominated for The Pushcart Prize 2017, and his first Poetry Collection, Lonely Sailor—One Hundred Poems, was launched in London in 2018. His second book, Joie de Vivre – Caressing our Joy, with fifty new poems, was launched in April 2022.
Emily Patterson > Poetry > Ohio, USA
Emily Patterson received her B.A. in English from Ohio Wesleyan University and her M.A. in Education from The Ohio State University. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and appears in Minerva Rising Press, The Sunlight Press, Oyster River Pages, Sheila-Na-Gig, The Mum Poem Press, Literary Mama, Anti-Heroin Chic, Thimble Literary Magazine, and elsewhere. Her debut chapbook So Much Tending Remains is forthcoming from Kelsay Books.
Erin Henry > Flash Fiction > Maine, USA
Erin Henry lives in the coastal town of Kittery Point, Maine, where she works as a QC biochemist at a pharmaceutical company. When she's not in the lab, you can usually find her reading a novel, cooking vegan food, or working on her writing.
Fannie H. Gray > Flash Fiction > New Jersey, USA
Fannie H. Gray (she/her) writes fiction inspired by her southern American childhood and her enduring affection for Pearl S. Buck's Fairy Tales of The Orient.
Heather Diamond > Creative Nonfiction > Hong Kong
Heather Diamond has worked as a bookseller, university lecturer, and museum curator. She is the author of Rabbit in the Moon: A Memoir and American Aloha: Cultural Tourism and the Negotiation of Tradition. Her essays have appeared in Memoir Magazine, Sky Island Journal, (Her)oics: Women’s Lived Experiences of the Pandemic, Rappahannock Review, Hong Kong Review, Waterwheel Review, Pacifica Review, New South Journal, and Undomesticated Magazine. She is working on a memoir about escaping to and from Arkansas in the 1970s.
Isabel Markowski > Poetry > Illinois, USA
Originally hailing from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Isabel Markowski is a registered dietitian working on food insecurity in Chicago, Illinois. She doesn’t have numerous publications and sometimes doesn’t write for months, but she finds herself returning to poetry in small moments, probably inspired by her middle school English teachers who later founded an international literary journal.
John Muro > Poetry > Connecticut, USA
A lover of all things chocolate, John Muro is a resident of Connecticut and a two-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize. His first volume of poems, In the Lilac Hour, was published in the fall of 2020 by Antrim House and it is available on Amazon. Over the past two years, John’s poems have been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including Barnstorm, Euphony, Grey Sparrow, Moria, River Heron, Sky Island Journal, and the French Literary Review. His second volume of poems, Pastoral Suite, was recently released by Antrim House.
Julie Benesh > Poetry > Illinois, USA
Julie Benesh grew up in Iowa and has lived in Chicago for more than 30 years. She has published stories, poems, and essays in Tin House, Crab Orchard Review, Florida Review, JMWW, Hobart, Maudlin House, Cleaver and many other places. She is a graduate of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College and the recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Grant.
Kathryn de Lancellotti > Poetry > California, USA
Kathryn de Lancellotti’s chapbook Impossible Thirst was published June 2020, Moon Tide Press. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee and a former recipient of the George Hitchcock Memorial Poetry Prize. Her poems and other works have appeared in Thrush, Rust + Moth, The Night Heron Barks, The American Journal of Poetry, Quarterly West, and others. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Sierra Nevada University and resides on the Central Coast, California, with her family.
Katrina Hays > Poetry > Oregon, USA
Katrina Hays’ writing has recently appeared or is forthcoming in Apalachee Review, Bellingham Review, Crab Creek Review, The Hollins Critic, Plainsongs, Psychological Perspectives, Tahoma Literary Review, and WomenArts Quarterly, among many others. She is Regional Editor for Fireweed: Poetry of Oregon, and lives in Bend, Oregon.
Kiana McCrackin > Poetry > South Dakota, USA
Kiana McCrackin is a writer, a photographer with a BFA from The Brooks Institute of Photography, a cloud gazer, and a mama. Kiana is eternally inspired by the emotions of the human experience and the landscapes she has called home: Alaska, California, and Washington. She currently resides in South Dakota where she is learning what the wind has to say and translating what the trees tell her.
Kit Willett > Poetry > New Zealand
Kit Willett is an Auckland-based English teacher, poet, and executive editor of the New Zealand poetry journal Tarot. His poetry has recently been published in Mātātuhi Taranaki, Live Encounters Poetry and Writing, and ‘This Twilight Menagerie.’
Lisken Van Pelt Dus > Poetry > Massachusetts, USA
Lisken Van Pelt Dus teaches languages, writing, and martial arts in western Massachusetts. Her poetry can be found in many journals, including most recently Sand Hills Literary Magazine, Book of Matches, Split Rock Review, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, and the Ekphrastic Review, and in anthologies such as the Crafty Poet Anthology Series. Available books include a full-length collection, What We’re Made Of, released in 2016, and a new chapbook, Letters to my Dead.
Lorrie Ness > Poetry > Virginia, USA
Originally from Indiana, Lorrie Ness currently lives and writes in Virginia, where she takes her inspiration from the outdoors. When not writing, she can be found hiking, birding and otherwise digging in the dirt or disappearing into the woods. Her work can be found at numerous online journals including Palette Poetry, THRUSH, Typishly, The Shore, and Sky Island Journal. Her chapbook, Anatomy of a Wound was published in 2021 by Flowstone Press.
Maira Rodriguez > Poetry > Colorado, USA
Maira Rodriguez lives in the San Luis Valley of Colorado, and she holds a BA in Creative Writing from Adams State University. She is also an MFA candidate in poetry at Western Colorado University. She's an avid reader and enjoys teaching Spanish, gardening, and hiking in her free time. Her work has appeared in Colorado's Best Emerging Poets: An Anthology, A Circle Book: A Conejos County Anthology, and her recent work is forthcoming in the Santa Fe Literary Review and High Desert Journal.
Melody Wilson > Poetry > Oregon, USA
Melody Wilson’s recent work appears in Briar Cliff Review, The Shore, Whale Road Review, Timberline Review, Tar River Poetry, and Rat’s Ass Review. Upcoming poetry will be in Sugar House Review, Red Rock Review, and Re Dactions. She received the 2021 Kay Snow Award for poetry, Honorable Mention for the 2021 Oberon Poetry Award, and finalist in the 2021 Patricia Dobler Poetry Award.
Michael Keenan Gutierrez > Creative Nonfiction > North Carolina, USA
Michael Keenan Gutierrez is the author of The Trench Angel and The Swill. He earned degrees from UCLA, the University of Massachusetts, and the University of New Hampshire. His work has been published in The Guardian, The Delmarva Review, The Collagist, Scarab, The Pisgah Review, Untoward, The Boiler, Crossborder, and Public Books. His screenplay, The Granite State, was a finalist at the Austin Film Festival and he has received fellowships from The University of Houston and the New York Public Library. He lives with his wife and son in Chapel Hill where he teaches writing at the University of North Carolina.
Michele Lovell > Creative Nonfiction > Washington, USA
Michele Lovell lives in S.W. Washington state where she and her partner run a small nonprofit senior dog and horse rescue. Prior to this, she worked with children in the mental health field for many years. Her work has been published in Hip Mama, Penduline Press, Sonora Review, Main Street Rag, and Sky Island Journal.
Mizuki Kai > Creative Nonfiction > Texas, USA
Mizuki Kai moved to the United States when she was eight. Growing up, she discovered her passion for writing through diary entries scribbled in a mix of Japanese and English. Now, as an undergraduate student at Brown University, she explores nonfiction writing through the English department as well as the student newspaper, The Brown Daily Herald.
Nancy Beauregard > Poetry > New Mexico, USA
Nancy Beauregard lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with her daughter and two feisty Maine Coon cats. She holds a BFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts and is currently in an MFA graduate program concentrating in Poetry at Western Colorado University. Her recent work has appeared in Duck Head Journal, The Santa Fe Literary Review, The Normal School, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, High Desert Journal, Sky Island Journal, and in her poetry chapbook, I Heard a Train. Her accolades include first place in the 2022 Eugene V. Shea National Poetry Contest.
Olivia Badoi > Creative Nonfiction > Spain
Olivia Badoi teaches courses in literature and college writing in Madrid, Spain. Having written academically for years, she finds herself at the beginning of her journey as a creative writer. Originally from Eastern Europe, she has lived and taught in various places across Europe and the US, before settling for Spain’s cheap wine and perennial blue skies.
Philip Cioffari > Poetry > New Jersey, USA
Philip Cioffari is the author of the novels, Jesusville; The Bronx Kill; Dark Road, Dead End, Catholic Boys; and If Anyone Asks Say I Died from the Heartbreaking Blues as well as the story collection, A History of Things Lost or Broken.
Robbin Farr > Poetry > Pennsylvania, USA
Robbin Farr, poet and sometimes bookbinder, lives and writes in Doylestown, PA. She is a founder and co-editor of River Heron Review, an online poetry journal, publishing and supporting poets from across the globe. When not writing poetry or editing, you will find Robbin volunteering for her county arts council where she, not surprisingly, writes much of its content. Her poetry has been published in 2River View, Atlanta Review, San Pedro River Review, Connecticut River Review, Sanskrit, and Into the Void among others. Her current manuscript, Unpairing, is due in November 2022.
Valerie Nies > Poetry > Texas, USA
Valerie Nies is a comedian, writer, and gluten enthusiast. Her work has been featured in Rattle, McSweeney's, and HASH, among other outlets. Her full-length poetry collection is forthcoming in October 2022 from World Stage Press and her chapbook Imaginary Frenemies is available now. Find her in Austin, Texas, ridding her clothing of cat fur.
Vivian Montgomery > Creative Nonfiction > Massachusetts, USA
Vivian Montgomery is a Boston-based harpsichordist and accordionist who writes. She is also on the faculty of the Longy School of Music and has been a Resident Scholar at the Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center for 10 years. Her work centers around music, childhood, historical excavation of long-buried women composers, her dead mother, and unlikely Judaism. Her personal essays have been published in the Boston Globe Magazine, Bluestem, Ligeia, Adanna, Jabberwock, Chautaqua Review, Verdad, Narrative Northeast, Shark Reef, and in the anthology Mother Reader issued by Seven Stories Press. Her personal essay “Immersion” received a Writer’s Digest Prize for Spiritual Writing and was a finalist for New Letters’ Conger Beasley Jr. Award for Nonfiction. She is a brooding walker and mother, feeling her way with the help of words spilled onto the page.
Wylde J. Parsley > Poetry > Kentucky, USA
Wylde J. Parsley is fiction writer turned begrudging poet who received their MFA from the University of Texas at El Paso. Their work has appeared or is upcoming in Anti-Heroin Chic, ANMLY, Birdcoat Quarterly, Vagabond City Lit, Rio Grande Review, Every Day Fiction, and various other publications. He was shortlisted for the New Flash Fiction Review’s 2021 New Flash Fiction Prize and was a finalist for the 2022 Tennessee Williams Festival Poetry Prize.