Editor’s Letter, March 2015
On a recent trip to Mexico, my children observed the crashing waves along the shore in wonder. I marvel that I managed to capture them still, like that. I marvel, too, that it’s already March, and although the scene outside my home is nothing like the one above, the snow is retreating, nonetheless.
This month’s issue of Literary Mama is filled with brilliant, brave, and beautiful writing. Let yourself be still, and enjoy all the great work on these pages.
In Columns, Cassie Premo Steele explores the roll/role of dialogue in fiction with “Class 4 of Birthing the Mother Writer”; Beth Malone offers a sensitive account of postpartum depression in “Making Room,” and how she built room in her heart for her baby, layer by infinitesimal layer; and B.L. Pike, on a recent trip to an arboretum to study desert flora in “Healing Arts,” realizes that she’s expanded her mothering role to include that of a curandera–a healer.
In Creative Nonfiction, there’s Carol Dunbar’s “Truce,” a thoughtful essay on determining a new life hierarchy, and what happens when an urban dweller moves to the woods and finds herself between a mama bear and her cubs.
In Fiction, there’s Beth McCabe’s lively story “Your Charms and Everything Beside,” which shows the (supernatural) lengths a mother will go to ensure her tween daughter regains her former sparkle, despite common sense telling her to butt out.
Literary Reflections brings us an Essential Reading List on Bravery, in which we recommend Cindy Ross’ Scraping Heaven: A Family’s Journey Along the Continental Divide, Cheryl Strayed’s Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, and Margaret Atwood’s trilogy Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, and MaddAddam.
Poetry offers a wealth of evocative and powerful experiences with Claudia Putnam’s “Fledges” and “Mistakes I Made”; Meredith Holmes’ “Two Become Three in Lima, Peru”; Laura Grace Weldon’s “Survivors of Child Abuse Support Group”; and Danelle Stamps’ “Midday in Spring.”
In Profiles, there’s Lisa Lynne Lewis’ conversation with Shebooks’ Editorial Director Laura Fraser in which the two discuss the company’s first year of operation, the need to boost visibility for women writers, and the influence of Eat, Pray, Love.
In Reviews, Monica Frantz pays tribute to the late Wendi Kaufman with “Love and Loss Entwined: A Review of Helen on 86th Street and Other Stories by Wendi Kaufman,” noting that this collection “belongs on every woman’s bookshelf within close reach—a volume to accompany her as she herself struggles to find meaning, connection, and identification within her own life.”
And be sure to visit our Blog for up-to-date information on Calls for Submissions, guest posts for our After Page One, For Your Journal, and Op-Ed series, as well as Announcements.
We are always grateful for your comments, and hope you can share all this good writing with your friends via Facebook, Twitter, and other social media.
Best wishes,
Maria