Issue #39 Editor's Note

Last year we published a call for poetry, fiction, essays, and visual art that explore social and political injustice on any scale, give a voice to the voiceless, raise a call for awareness and act as a catalyst for change. The response we received was staggering: over seven hundred submissions, ranging in scale from the most intimate injustice of the body to vast global unrest. It has been argued that most art and writing is, in some sense, a work of witness. In fact, the lens through which we read the works of witness submissions influenced the entire issue. However, the selections here best represent our most important criteria from the call above in that they are catalysts for change; each offers a new perspective and a new language for what is often unseen or ignored. In the selected poetry, language has been fractured, deconstructed, and restrained in order to activate the reader. The visual art reflects struggles of identity and the consequences of time and place. In the prose, the speakers offer their unique perspectives, and do so with honesty and sincerity. Each work in this section inspired us, changed our way of viewing the world and its injustices. We hope the work inspires you as readers, as writers and most importantly as citizens in a world where actions toward justice are needed and necessary, where acknowledging each others’ stories is a reason for hope.