Introduction
With reddened eyes, through thin surgical masks, we face a long winter. Do we get along better when we pretend we don’t notice the way voices shake with lies? Do we really mind that our days look so similar, that they all blend together until it is impossible to tell one from the other? Having so few distractions makes it easier to focus on our work.
We wonder if our seats won’t rattle apart before we reach our destination. No one here to impress, nothing here to prove. This is an escape. The time has come for us to be seen.
Once out of prison, we will visit with new items for book club.
What will we check off next with our pens, our tri-colored ballpoints?
Thank you again to our contributors for the work that appears in Issue 12—some of which we borrow to color this Introduction. We look forward to 2021.
As an independent journal and community arts non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, we are grateful for the support of many people. Our thanks especially to Ken Herndon and David e. Bell for web design and support. Thanks to our friends at Cuppa Pulp Writers’ Space, CSU’s Carson McCullers Center for Writers and Musicians, Manhattanville College, Seranam Literary Arts, Patisserie Didier Dumas, the Nyack Library, and the Nyack Chamber of Commerce for co-hosting literary events and writing salons. Much gratitude to ArtsWestchester and the New York State Council for the Arts, which awarded grant funding for our 2020 readings series. Thanks to our readers and editors for careful and smart selections from the submissions pile. Huge thanks to our board of directors and recent donors for your contributions to the literary arts. And to our members, for whom all this inspiration flows.
Find us on Twitter and Instagram (@riverriverlit) and Facebook (River River Writers Circle). Thanks for reading!
All best,
Donna Lee Miele