Letter from the Editor

Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don’t they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers.
– Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine

When I moved into my house almost thirteen years ago, one of the first things I did was slowly remove most of the existing landscape and replace it with plants and shrubs to attract the bees and birds. My favorite and most resilient shrub was a $5 lavender purchased at Trader Joe’s. Almost as wide as the front railing, it’s tall enough that when you sit on the patio you can’t be seen. In the morning it’s thick with bees, and over the years the hummingbirds have grown so comfortable that they sometimes cross the bush and stay for a moment right in front of Emma’s, the dog, nose. The hummingbird is the only bird that Emma does not chase. Like the bees and the hummingbirds, she loves to sit near the lavender to smell it, the flowers, and the mint, thyme, and jasmine I planted as ground cover.

I am not actually a good gardener or at least it does not come naturally, but the house came with drip irrigation. However, I do understand that attempting to create a vision of the landscape is like painting, and something is always fading as another thing is arriving. Already it is so hot that the Spring roses are sending out only small, pale blooms and their sweetness is overpowered by the hardier peppery smelling roses fighting their way through the heat. Over the past decade so much has changed that many of the early plants can no longer make it through the season. To continue to support the ecosystem that has settled in here, it feels like starting back at the beginning to discover what can grow in another “hottest summer ever.” 

Our 15th Summer Issue is filled with stories navigating adversity and change, but also the magic of small details like imagining the perfumed feet of bees as Ray Bradbury tells us are “dusted with spices from a million flowers.” Summer brings longer days with so many things that one can do to make the most of the light. On behalf of The Citron Review, thank you for dropping by to spend some of that time reading our latest issue.

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

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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 Guest Flash Fiction Editor Carolyn Abram

Micros

Notes on the selections by JR Walsh

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