Spring is full of surprises if you look closely enough: the delicate but determined early shoots of perennials hanging steady through a frost; a chickadee balancing on a dogwood branch, beak full of white fluff, checking for predators before darting into a birdhouse; the sweet mason bee poking, antennae first, out of his cocoon; a surprise warm day in the midst of a cool week. Surprise is a crucial component that brings us to delight, and delight is why we’re here with you.

If you follow her social media, you’ll know already that Rachel’s favorite thing to do when she’s not writing is to go birding. There are a few places to which she returns over and over again, always surprised (and usually delighted) by what she finds there. She also loves to find new favorite places, and a recent trip to an egret rookery was such a source of surprise and delight that she immediately made plans to return. Watching these stilt-legged birds gracefully navigate tree limbs to build the best nests and protect their eggs was a lesson in patience, collaboration, and community, resulting in a colony so beautifully constructed that it regularly draws spectators from all across the country. Even the serious road cyclists stopped to take photographs and marvel at the action. 

Putting together each issue of this journal is an act of community and collaboration, too. It doesn’t surprise us that we keep finding the most beautiful work to share with you, for the world is filled with writers and artists who create well and often. Perhaps what surprises us, at least a little and in the best possible way, is just how fluidly each issue comes together. We think about the pairing of visual art and written work as we are reading submissions, but we’re not focusing on it exclusively, and so it feels a little like alchemy each time we meet to discuss our final pairings. The little burst of delight we feel each time we say “Oh, and that piece could go with this image” has a lasting effect that buoys us throughout the weeks that pass between acceptance notifications and publication date. And with each issue we publish, we realize that we are expanding our community of writers and artists, people with whom we are so thrilled to share this planet.

 Though at times it might feel like it, there is no shortage of joy or delight in the world right now. We hope you can find glimpses of that in Issue Six, and that you stay with us to keep building community.

Rachel & Donna