Letter from the Editor

We are in the right spot, somehow, like a breath
Entering a singer’s chest, that shapes itself
For the song that is to follow.
– Alicia Ostriker, “Move”

Seven years ago, just before the Fall issue, I had major surgery. Although I know anesthesia played a huge part in the unusual dreams that followed, I have never forgotten that in the first dream I left the city and found myself at the ocean. It’s hard to explain, but I have told others that I saw myself sing my soul back into my body. I took a breath, and feeling this song told me that everything was going to be alright. 

While it still doesn’t quite feel like fall in the desert that has experienced record rains and flooding, we are starting to have cool mornings and evenings again. Last night I took my dog Emma for a long walk under the full moon. The park was filled with other people walking their dogs and loud children. Since the unnatural quiet at times during the pandemic I have gained a love of raucous joy. All around, these are the songs of people in the right spot. 

Liz Galvez joins us this fall as the new Assistant Editor at Citron. A Las Vegas poet, the 2022 recipient of the John Oliver Simon Award recently released her spoken word project, I Must Confess. In addition to some general operations wrangling, Liz read Flash Fiction this issue. You can read her thoughts about the picks in her debut Notes on the Fiction Selections. We’re confident that you will also see more of Liz’s notes and reviews across the genres in future issues. 

Also in this issue, we are pleased to announce our nominations for this year’s Best of The Net Anthology. All of these pieces appeared in issues of The Citron Review between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023. You can also find our nominations from other years on our Previous Issues page. If you have not yet read our special issue, Love & Desire, I highly recommend that too. 

Tonight in the desert it’s damp and almost cold as we wait for more rain. Even so, soon people  will go to the parks to see the last Supermoon of the year rising  high above the mountains. They’ll bring blankets and singing bowls, music and basketballs, and some will lie in the grassy field until they can’t stand the grasshoppers any longer.

Wherever you are right now, we hope this issue finds you well. 

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

INSET IMAGE ABOVE: Galileo’s only photo of Adrastea. It was taken on December 19, 1996 from a distance of about 658,100 kilometers. NASA / JPL / Ted Stryk

IMAGE AT RIGHT: Introspective by Jill Katherine Chmelko, 2023

Masthead

Table of Contents

Poetry

Notes on the selections by Angela M. Brommel

Creative Nonfiction

Notes on the selections by Ronit Plank

Flash Fiction

Notes on the selections by Liz Galvez

Micros

Notes on the selections by JR Walsh

Zest

Find our best interviews and reviews.

Best of the Net Nominations 2024

In Case You Missed Our Love & Desire Special Issue