Neil Gaiman once wrote that “Tomorrow may be hell, but on the good writing days, nothing else matters.”
The reality of this election is that for many, many people - people with addictions, disabilities, mental illnesses, Muslims, women, people in the LGBTQ+ community, people of color, immigrants - not only will tomorrow feel like hell, but the entire four years of Trump’s presidency will feel like hell as well.
And that matters too. But what artists and writers can do is use the good writing days to ease the sharpness, the anger, tension, the hatred of each following day in which we grapple with the fact that our nation elected a man to the presidency who exemplifies everything painful in this world.
In this issue, Emily DeMaioNewton writes, “With nothing left to do, we can make art.” Emily Hillebrand writes, “Today we mourn.”
But, then, there is this: Isobel Murray John writes, “We stand.” We mourn, then we stand. We stand and we mourn, we mourn and we stand.
These poems and artworks speak of conversion therapy, of grief, of black men lying in the streets for hours, of lynchings, of the memories of Auschwitz so freshly brought into our awareness again on November 8h and 9th. They speak of the powerful women who walk in and through doors every day of our lives, the women that opened doors before us and for us.
In “American Sugar,” Elijah Noble El writes, “They try to feed us silence and tell us it’s sugar.” He writes, “I refuse to die under Trump’s America.”
Take up your paint, your pens, your paper, your easels, watercolors, ink, your hands, your hearts, your minds. Take up everything you have. We will not swallow this silence. We will not die under Trump’s America.
With gratitude,
Meggie Royer
Founder & Editor-in-Chief
Meggie Royer is a writer and photographer from the Midwest who is currently working in the domestic violence field in Minnesota. Her poems have previously appeared in Words Dance Magazine, Winter Tangerine Review, The Harpoon Review, and more. Many of her poems promote female empowerment through body positivity, courage, healing from assault, and familial love passed down through generations of women. In March 2013 she won a National Gold Medal for her poetry collection and a National Silver Medal for her writing portfolio in the 2013 National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Her work can be found at writingsforwinter.tumblr.com.
