In anthropocene studies and the genre of ecocinema, we often look at this concept of “returning to the pastoral”—an idea of returning the self to the ontology of the natural in response to rapid industrialization.
One way we discover the world, language, and experience is through poetry, a tool that allows us to connect with similar experiences of other humans and experience worlds and ideas to which we haven’t been previously introduced. Poetry is discovery. As a tool, poetry provides the guidelines, map, and language to intricately navigate ideas of both complexity and simplicity and like twisted labyrinthian turns, it can turn what is known and familiar inside out. Poetry can force us to look inward in our journey of self-discovery and confront memories, emotions, and experiences we bury deep within our being.
Language bridges the conscious and unconscious while writing and reading poetry, enabling us to carry on deep, intimate conversations with ourselves.
Poetic language is a living, breathing entity that constantly evolves and transforms. In everyday conversation, language serves as a function. However, in relationship to language, a poet sculpts and stretches words to their limits, utilizing metaphors, similes, alliteration, and rhythm, expressing our minds’ silent and sometimes dark corners. Through relationships with others, we learn that words heal, inspire, and provoke; poetry is a means to understand and articulate these emotions.
The poems within this folio weave the liminal space of interiority and exteriority with a care only poetry can perform. We find ourselves wandering through these subjects with the richness of language and form that drives these poems in gorgeous and anomalous ways.
We believe community amplifies the power of poetry, and we want to share it with others so they may join in the discovery of meaning. The poetry community fosters diverse perspectives and brings people together to experience the richness of different languages, cultural backgrounds, and life experiences. Such shared spaces allow for the cultivation of empathy and understanding, as poetry often transcends boundaries and speaks to the universal human experience.
Through our commitment to equity and diversity in these spaces, we want to hear/read/experience all voices. Poetry nurtures understanding and encourages growth.
The poetry in this issue is both tender and precise while unraveling the self and its relation to other(s). The poems in this issue focus on the relationships between the self and other in such a way it calls our attention to the macro while looking inward with a microscope.
We hope the language, form, and subjects in these poems offer new space for you as a reader as we find ourselves taken elsewhere with every line.
In a world often divided by differences, poetry offers a path to unity, to discovery—not just of others, but of ourselves.
Wishing you amazing discovery in every journey,
—Eros Livieratos & tripp j crouse,
with support from Allison Thung & Sonia Beauchamp
October 2024
Featured in this folio:
- Young Fenimore Lee
- Temperance Aghamohammadi
- Ridwan Fasasi
- Paige Webb
- Onyedikachi Chinedu
- Max Pasakorn
- Mateo Perez Lara
- Loren Maria Guay
- Kelly Gray
- Karla Khine
- Jae Nichelle
- Isaiah Newman
- Gospel Chinedu
- G.H. Plaag
- Erinola E. Daranijo
- Emdash
- Dontay M. Givens II
- Christine Huang 黃凱琳
- Billie Sainwood
- Arianne True
- Ann Pedone
- Amy Roa
ANMLY #39 Poetry Team
Sarah Clark, Poetry Editor
Ebony E. Chinn, Editor-at-Large
Ching In-Chen, Editor-at-Large
Allison Thung, Assistant Poetry Editor
Sonia Beauchamp, Assistant Poetry Editor
Willow James Claire, Assistant Poetry Editor
leena aboutaleb, Poetry & Nonfiction Reader
Iyanuoluwa Adenle, Poetry Reader
Stephanie Kaylor, Poetry & Nonfiction Reader
Ashish Kumar Singh, Poetry Reader
tripp j crouse, Poetry Reader
J.L. Moultrie, Poetry Reader, Nonfiction Reader, & Assistant Fiction Editor
Aylli Cortez, Poetry Reader
I Echo, Poetry Reader
Eros Livieratos, Poetry Reader