“I hide myself in the quiet white of Winter and
nestle in her comforting folds of cold oblivion.”
—Terri Guillemets
In winter, the earth goes dormant. Quiet. In nature, the functions of animals and plants slow down, perhaps go into a deep sleep. This can be a time for folding deep into ourselves. A time for reflection. A time to be oblivious to outer events and focus inward.
In the Pacific Northwest, we have gray skies and gentle rains, sometimes severe storms with high winds, interspersed with sunlight and blue skies where we can come up for air before digging deep again. Sometimes, buried in snow and ice, we freeze in place. When we are still, we can gather energy, insight, and awareness to be able to sprout when warmth returns and our roots can grow deep.
As we selected pieces for this issue of our journal, we considered the transition into winter and the opportunities for introspection this season brings. In our first prose selection for the Fall 2018 publication, The Length of Thought, Frankie becomes lost in thought behind the wheel of her car, reflects on her surroundings, other drivers, herself, and how she might look to others. Reflections can help us see changes we might want to make. Changes that may not happen soon enough.
In 64˚ and Sunny, the narrator ponders her fear of bees, then comes to understand them, accept them, when given the opportunity to observe one up close. Protected behind glass. She finds the ability to relate to her own body through the bee’s ministrations of his own. Maybe she finds something she thought she didn’t have.
In Beautiful Mask, a daughter contemplates her mother’s history while her mother does the “inside” work necessary to pass from this life, her face morphing in stages of acceptance when confronted with death.
We hope you reflect on your own life when you read these stories, and that you raise awareness to something deep inside that has been asleep, waiting for you to pay attention.
Sincerely,
Carol Fischbach
Brandi Cornelius
Hannah Chow
Prose Co-editors, VoiceCatcher