Letter from the Editor

I came to explore the wreck.
The words are purposes.
The words are maps.
– Adrienne Rich (1929-2012), poet and essayist

My first birthday after high school graduation, a friend took me to have my astrological chart done and to have my cards read by an intuitive who also was an amazing Shakespearan costume designer. We met in his costume studio. Theatre-major-me loved the beauty of the space and how the lush fabrics and costumes seemed to enclose us during the reading. 

He sighed, murmured hmmm, paused for quite a while, then explained that my chart was full of Water. Then he gave me a piece of advice that I draw upon whenever I need to believe a moment will not be forever and that change is possible. “Emotion,” he said, “is a deep pool. When you find yourself at the bottom of the pool, don’t be afraid to sit and be in it. You will resurface when you are ready.” I skimmed over his words, preferring to ask more about what I would do for a career. Completely unhelpful (but true), he said, “Many things.”

For years this watery-truth was something I dodged. But in 2019 after a week on the ocean on the way to Alaska, I wrote and later published a poem that was a little like the Odyssey about diving to the bottom of an ocean of grief as a way to begin mapping what happens next, what can still happen next. Seeing the blue ice early one morning on that trip, I physically understood diving into the wreck.

I didn’t finish that major – and I was so close – because there were wrecks I needed to explore. But I did go back to the theatre in graduate school because I am in love with stories in motion, the way bodies narrate where words fail, and how live performance provides the rehearsal and map for navigating the wrecks we are called to explore. 

Today in the Northern Hemisphere, it is the vernal equinox. It’s the return of what is known and a chance for the new. The editors have written outstanding letters about the writers and works that we are featuring in this issue. Every reading period I am moved by the exploration stories that come our way and please know that although we can only publish a fraction of them, we are grateful for the opportunity to read your words. 

On behalf of The Citron Review, thank you dear readers and writers for spending this time with us. We wish you happy reading and new explorations.

Warmly,

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

Above Image: Photo by Angela M. Brommel, ENDICOTT ARM & DAWES GLACIER, ALASKA, May 2019

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Table of Contents

Poetry

Notes on the selections by Eric Steineger

Creative Nonfiction

Notes on the selections by Ronit Plank

Flash Fiction

Notes on the selections by Elizabeth De Arcos

Micros

Notes on the selections by JR Walsh