Letter from the Editor

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The air conditioner in the next room has died and emptied its watery guts onto the floor, Courtney Love is asking Olivia Rodrigo for flowers, and I find myself staring out the window at trees on a distant hillside, wondering if Erling Haaland will find his way to Chelsea this summer. This past year and a half, so grim and isolating, is beginning to fade, becoming a haze of half-remembered moments. Hope rears its pretty little head and the world beckons again. What binds these moments in time—the time before, the pandemic, and now—is the work, the work that is never finished, that is ongoing, that is the flow of artistic expression manifesting itself in poems and prose and flicks of a brush. Art is a balm in times of trouble, a pleasure in times of plenty, and it’s been our great privilege to act as a conduit for so many contributors over the years.

This is an issue about relationships, between people, between humans and the world they inhabit. I’m so incredibly grateful to share these poems, stories, and pieces of art, because they deserve to be known, and seen, and read. Issue 14 is funny, it is thoughtful, and sweet, and ready to introduce itself to you. So, without further ado, on to lemon confections, Kisser’s Cave, Sunrises, and syncopated paraddidles. Thank you for reading, always.

Craig Ledoux
Editor in Chief
Madcap Review