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YOUR CART

January & February
​2022

Women :: Non-binary :: Art :: Fiction :: Poetry​


Single bare, thick, brown tree stands in foreground on an aqua strip of land. Behind left is golden strips of paper. On the right is a swirl of paint: brown with blue, gray, and red. Top: a pattern of paper, white with brown leaves.
a year of offerings to the body / leticia urieta
Collage. Bright blue water. Black leafless tree, patterns of blue cloth.
Fairlies: Small gifts / Angelique Zobitz
Collage. Three bare white trees in foreground. Red lake. Green and paper land. Background black and red sky with dot patterns.
My Son Says That on His Birthday He Will Get Up Early / Carolyn Oliver
Collage. Black sky made of cloth with bird print (maybe). Red stripes. Gold trees in two horizontal rows. Land made of paper.
White Writers Write Me: Ann M. Martin / Jade Hidle
Text: Artist interview with Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad
Collage. Blue sky. Maroon water. Two bare trees backlit by a wobbly moon.
My Mother's Hair Is Falling Out / Katherine Hoerth
Collage: Two trees with wide trunks in silhouette. Purple red sky. Droopy moon. Red and tan land with black horizontal lines.
.chisaraokwu. / War Time
Bare white trees in foreground. Strips of pattern flowers in brown and white make up background. Red and blue-pink sky in the middle. Red ground of torn paper.
Ghosts / Glenis Redmond
Collage: Bare trees. Blue watery land. Green and red sky. Light in left corner.
lola / isabella dela cruz
Collage: Striped blue sky. White cloud. Pink bare trees, red cloth earth.
When mom took earth science / barbara daniels
Collage: Red sky with tan stripes, a strip of aqua, blue with blue circles and diamond patterened. Foreground. Aqua land strips with three black tree silhouettes with spiky leaves.
My Mother And I, Photographed / cynthia white
Collage. Bare white tree in foreground. Background Gray fabric hill. Black cloth with white floral pattern as a hill. Red sky with aqua streaks.
Coffee Mugs / Lynne Schmidt
Bright blue sky, bare white trees with branching reaching skyward on a red fabric hill. Blue river and more trees in the foreground. Below, red doily-like fabric.
The worry dolls / shannon k. winston
Gold paper land. Blue streaks of water. Bare, Collage: pink-red trees. Purple sky and black, green red stripes.
Carmen / Hibah Shabkhez
Collage. Single silhouetted tree with a thick trunk and bare branches pointing up. Wobbly moon and pink sky in the background.
Doppelgänger / romana iorga

Dear Reader,
 
In our home we’re celebrating the coming of a new year with hope and muddy hikes along a river that’s brimming with rain. Other than water falling on our drought-stricken town, there seems to be little cause for hope, as this year doesn’t feel so very different from the last. We stack the boxes of grief higher.
 
Yet I’m delighted to see that the magpies have returned to the playground outside the library where I spend my days. I think of the magpies as flying orcas. I’m no birder, but magpies seem to be substantially lacking in aerodynamics so I often pause, in my dashing about, to marvel at their ability to lift themselves from the tangle of trees again and again.
 
Regarding birds: In her interview with our interim art editor, Rick Ross, mixed-media artist Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad refers to herself as a bowerbird, a collector of treasures—including wool made of cat fur!—and we are awed by what she has created from her collection. Be sure to read her interview and see her art in a larger format.
 
I have to admit that when Rick (my spouse) offered to fill in as interim art editor, I was hesitant to accept. I love him dearly, but he is a straight, cis-ish, white man, and I wasn’t sure what kind of energy he’d bring to WTR. I should have known he’d be a great addition. I mean, I did marry the guy. It was his excellent idea to ask Oormila if she had enough art to fill the issue. She did, and she generously shared it with us!
 
Rick and I worked to find a hint of color or pattern in each image that complements a word, image or idea in each text. We’d love to hear what you think. Please let the contributors know what you think as well.
 
Meanwhile, the texts that our brilliant fiction and poetry editors have chosen for this issue speak to each other in ways that I didn’t fully see until they were all in one place. The beautiful words of .chisaraokwu., Barbara Daniels, Isabella Dela Cruz, Jade Hidle, Katherine Hoerth, Romana Iorga, Carolyn Oliver, Glenis Redmond, Lynne Schmidt, Hibah Shabkhez, Leticia Urieta, Cynthia White, Shannon K. Winston, and Angelique Zobitz invite us to reflect on our relationships with our parents, children, and ancestors, as well as our relationships with our bodies, cultures, and religions. I hope you enjoy reading these pieces as much as we enjoyed selecting them.
 
I want to end by returning to hope. I know hope, on its own, is not enough. Hope doesn’t ask anything of us, and like the magpie, hope won’t get anywhere without the hard, heavy work of wings. The pages you’ll find in West Trestle are filled with wingbeats, and we’re all lifting from the branches. Rising.

Patricia Caspers
Founding editor
Art:  Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad​

  
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