Letter from the Editor

I started writing to save my life.
– Joy Harjo, performer and writer of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation
and 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States

When Joy Harjo reveals, “I started writing to save myself,” we know that there are also people  reading to do the same. We are grateful to our contributing writers and readers for creating this space for such stories. It takes courage to write. It also takes courage to read your way into something new. Our Fall 2020 issue is filled with such stories, notes on the selections by our editors, and our nominations for Best of the Net.

In this issue we also say goodbye to Senior Creative Nonfiction Editor Marianne Woods Cirone. Marianne is a talented editor and writer, generous with her time and words. Her most recent publication is a collaboration with Tricia Fiske, From Alignment to Enlightenment: Using Props to Achieve Stability and Ease in Yoga Poses (Satya Publishing). We wish her the best of luck. 

This time last fall, we published our 10th anniversary issue and an anthology, Citron 10: Celebrating 10 Years of the Short Form. Since then we’ve updated our Micro genre to include creative nonfiction and poetry. We are looking to increase the number of book reviews we publish and add new editors and staff to our team. Check back soon for more details.

At home, aside from my favorite literary publications, I am currently reading an advance copy of Here’s Waldo (Atmosphere Press, October 2020) by Citron’s former Assistant Editor Nick Olson. Waldo Collin’s story is set in Des Plaines, Illinois in the late 90s to the 2010s. It’s a coming of age story that includes a return home to face it all again. I read almost the entire book in the first sitting. Congratulations on your debut novel, Nick! 

As part of the creative economy, we know that many of our writers and readers have ties to the arts and entertainment industries. As our leaders talk about economic recovery plans, let them not forget creative workers and the essential role the arts play in economic prosperity within our communities, states, and nations. In light of the adversity and injustices we are facing as a nation and in the world, if we are to heal and save ourselves, the arts are one of the necessary modalities that must not be overlooked. For more information, visit Americans for the Arts and their proposal which includes 15 actions to return creative workers to work. 

On behalf of The Citron Review, wherever you are in your story, we wish you well.

Warmly,

Angela M. Brommel
Editor-in-Chief
The Citron Review

Masthead

Table of Contents

Poetry

Notes on the selections by Eric Steineger

Creative Nonfiction

Notes on the selections by Angela M. Brommel

Flash Fiction

Notes on the selections by Elizabeth De Arcos

Micros

Notes on the selections by JR Walsh

Fall Cover Art

Hug, Photo by Jill Katherine Chmelko, 2019