In the leadup to our fourteenth issue, ’poetry’, we shared a series of micropoems from our talented submitters:
Author: Marcelle Newbold
Letter from the Editor – Poetry Issue
Letter from the Editor
Dear Reader,
Thank you for picking up our latest issue of Nightingale & Sparrow Literary Magazine! This is our fourteenth issue and, as has become the norm over the past several years, was not brought about without its share of strife.
This quarterly theme is one that holds a special place in my heart. Poetry is where I got my own start in the literary world (feel free to check out Mistakes Were Made at your favourite bookseller for a trip in that Delorean). Poetry is the form I turn to when life is at its darkest and at its brightest. poetry, then, has to be something special.
For this issue, we provided the following prompt: “…send us your poems, prose, and visual art masterpieces with poetic qualities. Bring us rhythm, rhyme, and sonnets turned into stories. Transform couplets into cross-stitch, stanzas into sculptures, or poems into paintings. Show just how interdisciplinary your favourite form can be.” With a bit of clarification to ensure we received submissions from our other genres, this theme slowly came to life.
From “With the Birds Again” by Alexander Etheridge and “An autistic reflects on friendship with trees, lakes, and certain birds” by Margaret King to Amanda McLeod’s “Languages Where Green And Blue Are One Colour” and Karen Pierce Gonzalez’s “Enchanted Forest,” you’ll find poetry both literal and figurative within these pages.
As always, our most sincere thanks to the N&S team, our submitters and contributors, readers, customers, and other supporters who make all things Nightingale & Sparrow possible.
Enjoy these moments of poetry.
Juliette Sebock
Editor-in-Chief, Nightingale & Sparrow
poetry
Contents
ISSN 2642-0104 (print)
ISSN 2641-7693 (online)
Editor’s Letter
Founding Editor, Juliette Sebock
Poetry
The Open Door Rob McKinnon
quiet, quiet, quiet John C. Polles
With the Birds Again Alexander Etheridge
Astronomy Two Ways John Rodzvilla
Fallen Richard LeDue
Medusa Sandy Benitez
Hiraeth Grant Howington
The Daisies Miss Me Leslie Cairns
Rains Me John GreyNonfiction
Bundles of Three K. Gene Friedman
A Flowing Drop Suspended In Time, Still Flowing Daniel Rabuzzi
An autistic reflects on friendship with trees, lakes and certain birds Margaret KingFiction
Languages Where Green And Blue Are One Colour Amanda McLeodVisual Art
Enchanted Forest Karen Pierce Gonzalez
Pine Burst Karen Pierce Gonzalez
A Found Poem from a Never Returned Book Jeffrey Yamaguchi
Feathers Karen Pierce Gonzalez
Cup and Straws Karen Pierce GonzalezCover Image
Black Swan Karen Pierce GonzalezMicropoems
In the leadup to poetry, we shared a series of micropoems across social media:
hygge micropoems
In the leadup to our thirteenth issue, ’hygge’, we shared a series of micropoems from some talented submitters:
Robyn Smith
Robyn Smith
Poetry Contributor
Robyn Smith is a writer living in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with a kick ass eleven-year-old and their fuzzy cat. She is currently writing a novella as the thesis for her MFA through UBC’s School of Creative Writing.
Works in Nightingale & Sparrow
H. Sanders
H. Sanders
Poetry Contributor
H. Sanders lives, writes, and teaches in Oklahoma City alongside his spouse, Mackenzie, and their beloved dog, Laura Dern. He is hoping to take up gardening soon.
Works in Nightingale & Sparrow
the lonely mountain apotheosis
Karen Sadler
Karen Sadler
Poetry Contributor
Karen Sadler (she/her) is a geriatric millennial living in Toronto with her husband and two young kids. She writes about grief, nature, parenthood, and the occasional ghost. You can find more of her writing on IG @kallorywrites.
Works in Nightingale & Sparrow
Emily Perkovich
Emily Perkovich
Poetry Contributor
Emily Perkovich is an Art Evaluator for Persephone’s Daughters from the Chicago-land area. Her work strives to erase the stigma surrounding trauma victims and their responses. Her piece This is Performance-Art was a finalist for the 50th New Millennium Writings Award and she is a 2021 Best of the Net nominee. You can find more of her work on IG @undermeyou
Works in Nightingale & Sparrow
Annie Marhefka
Annie Marhefka
Creative Nonfiction Contributor
Annie Marhefka is a writer in Baltimore, Maryland, where she spends her time writing, boating on the Chesapeake Bay, and hiking with her kiddos. Her creative nonfiction and poetry have been featured in Versification, Sledgehammer Lit, Anti-Heroin Chic, Remington Review, Coffee + Crumbs, and Capsule Stories, among others. Annie is the Executive Director at Yellow Arrow Publishing, a Baltimore-based nonprofit supporting and empowering women writers, and is working on a memoir about mother/daughter relationships. You can find Annie’s writing on Instagram @anniemarhefka, Twitter @charmcityannie, and at anniemarhefka.com.
Works in Nightingale & Sparrow
At the Lake House, We Skip Rocks
