When I started thinking about the theme for this issue of the journal, I couldn’t get my mind off “witnessing.” Maybe because sometimes I feel like all I can do is witness and witness and witness the things this country is doing, has done, and will do to my people and all people. Maybe because I believe poetry to be the clearest mirror to our society and our lives. I wanted the work in this issue to do some of that mirroring work, to reflect what we’re thinking about, politically, historically, and personally in America 2019.
These works take you from Disney to rural China. They examine families, they use language in innovative and powerful ways. This is an issue I’m very proud of, and I hope you’re able to witness these works with an attentive eye and an open heart. When we truly see the world and all the different perspectives in it, we make our way toward the progress we’ve only scratched at for far too long.
Ashley M. Jones
Guest Editor’s Spotlight:
On Time by Xavier Burgin
