Letter from the Editor

I know you are reading this poem listening for something, torn
           between bitterness and hope
turning back once again to the task you cannot refuse.

— Adrienne Rich, “XII (Dedications),” An Atlas Of The Difficult World

Today is the first time our summer issue has been published on a Sunday, and this year the first day of summer falls on Father’s Day, following the first day of a federally recognized Juneteenth, in the month we celebrate Pride. In the words of Corretta Scott King, “Struggle is a never-ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.” June is a month of recognition, remembrance, and celebration.

This weekend I started reading two new books by Las Vegas writers and friends, Jennifer Battisti and Heather Lang-Cassera. Off Boulder Highway (Tolsun Books), Jennifer’s hybrid work of poetry, memoir, and surrealist prose, will be published on July 13th. With a September 28th pub date, Heather Lang-Cassera’s debut full-length collection, Gathering Broken Light (Unsolicited Press) “confronts pasts we cannot understand following the October 2017 mass shooting” in Las Vegas. 

I will have more thoughts on both books in July’s Zest feature, micro reviews by the editors of Citron. Like many book lovers, I have stacks of books to read, a slightly smaller stack of books I am reading concurrently, and a few in the queue for review. But as a reader, I also want to know what my friends are reading. It’s been so much fun to hear what the editors of Citron are reading, and we look forward to sharing our list with you soon. 

In the meantime, if you missed our between issues Zest feature, check out Lisbeth Coiman’s review of A Teenager’s Guide to Feminism (Pear Shaped Press, 2020) edited by Stephanie Anderson, Christina Brown, and Megan Mimiaga. This review was part of a call to the members of Women Who Submit, which “seeks to empower women and nonbinary writers by creating physical and virtual spaces for sharing information, supporting and encouraging submissions to literary journals, and clarifying the submission and publication process.” Over the past decade Women Who Submit has done remarkable work in support of writers and community. 

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

ABOVE PHOTO: New Orleans Double Shotgun Splash by Charlotte Hamrick, 2010.

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Table of Contents

Poetry

Notes on the selections by Eric Steineger

Creative Nonfiction

Notes on the selections by Charlotte Hamrick

Flash Fiction

Notes on the selections by Elizabeth De Arcos

Micros

Notes on the selections by JR Walsh

Zest

In this edition, we spotlight a guest reviewer with an important new anthology.