Just curious: Why did you click on this? Is it a peek behind the curtain that you desire? An accident, maybe? Screens are smaller, time miniscule. Maybe you’re considering submitting for a future issue and you wanted to see where a certain Citron editor’s head is at? Perhaps even predict what makes it to press by researching clues to a preferred aesthetic? (P-sounds, probably?) Or perhaps you were merely seeking a good recipe for roasted radishes. (Hint: garlic and paprika are required.)

I ask you these questions, since I’m trying to understand you in this limited time we have, dear reader. After all, communication is the soul of my selections this season —the striking ways we communicate with each other and our environment.

In “Hitchhiker 49,” Michael Czyzniejewski drops us off in the middle of a lie. This micro had me at donkey, I swear. The two micropoems from Lindsey Royal Wayland intimately engage the human condition as well as the concerns of the inanimate. Shall we consider these together, philosophically? It’ll only cost you the time for eight lines of poetry. Piper Pugh’s “Chewing Gum” gives us a loving taste of language and the way it feels when connecting. The possibility of music’s presence is felt in Zoé Mahfouz’s “Olivia” if only virtually, if only imagined. Nature’s bitter chill has a way of demanding our attention in Zebulon Huset’s “It was Just a Piece of Bad Luck.” Finally, Lia Tjokro’s “Long Distance Call” brings family closer …in theory. After all, what are the rhythms of communication practice that we train ourselves to accept?  

Perhaps, I’ve decided to put more of myself into these little missives. But is it a facade? Do you know me any better as a potential editor? What will you communicate to me when your submit your new work to The Citron Review? Since you clicked on this, let me point out that it’s Springtime. And let me invite you to send your best new pieces, 100 words or less. And if you have any insight into white icicle radishes and preparing them, I’m listening. My house is overrun by seedlings that we’re going to try and keep away from the squirrels when the weather warms. My partner is in an extended conversation with those little guys — the squirrels and the seedlings. If you have advice on that in micro form, send it my way!

JR Walsh
Online Editor
The Citron Review