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

Michele Reese	Growing Up
Michele Karas	Ghost Bird
Colin Bailes	On Triumph
Lindsey Warren	Vesper
Fasasi Abdulrosheed Oladipupo	Like a Balcony
Hannah Kroonblawd	At the Psyche Mirror

Creative Nonfiction

Notes on the selections by Angela M. Brommel

Danica Li	In Between
Jennifer Stewart Miller	Sandstone and Slate A Few Notes on Marble
Travis Dahlke	Car Sickness
Anthony Varallo	My Last Outing

Flash Fiction

Notes on the selections by Elizabeth De Arcos

James Harris	It’s Superman
Lucy Peters	The Lock
L. Soviero	Sonder
Phebe Jewell	Found Objects

Micros

Notes on the selections by JR Walsh

Tara Lynn Masih	Believe It! The Mourning Begins in Tilichiki
Peter Krumbach	If I Had a Magic Carpet
Lina Lau	The Bell Dings
Nikki Williams	Token
Linnea Cooley	Things that Don’t Belong in a Microwave
Jules Archer	Not a Formal Diagnosis

Fall Cover Art