Yellow Arrow Publishing Blog

Kapua Iao 6/13/23 Kapua Iao 6/13/23

Hope Beyond Galaxies: A Conversation with shantell hinton hill about Black girl magic & other elixirs

i learned how to vanish
into thin air
when i was little.
a witch taught me—
made me do it
because she couldn’t stand
the sight of me.

“Black girl magic”

As a woman with vision, shantell hinton hill is a voice that conjures renovation and hope. She is a pastor, social justice advocate, and writer who makes her home in Arkansas. To speak with shantell is to encounter a professional yet powerful passion for positive change. She actively engages and encourages her community (and audiences beyond) through her social media platforms.

Black girl magic & other elixirs, shantell’s debut poetry chapbook, is and now available for preorder (click here for wholesale prices). The poetry chapbook delivers a dynamic message that uplifts and empowers Black girls, Black women, and all those in this world impeded by systems that still default to oppression. Within, shantell speaks to the strength garnered from her experiences and the faith she has in herself, her community, and those devoted to seeking a better way for this world.

Melissa Nunez, Yellow Arrow author and interviewer, met with shantell over Zoom to discuss the development of her poetic voice and the power of music and spirituality that spark the magic found in her collection.

Who are some women writers who have influenced you?

First and foremost, I need to name the writers who inspire me who have passed on. Toni Morrison and Octavia Butler are my absolute all-time favorites. They both have been so formative to who I am as a person and my literary tastes. I would add bell hooks, Alice Walker, and Zora Neale Hurston who have inspired and shaped me as well. Lucille Clifton is a powerful poet I admire who informs some of my own work as a poet. I also appreciate and enjoy the world-building found in N.K. Jemisin’s writing. I tend to lean toward Black women authors, Black feminist authors. They have spoken to my soul for a very long time, and I am excited to lean into the lineage of who they are as writers and as people.

Many of your poems touch on the invisibility of the power-less, be that a child, a female, a person of color. How did you step out and develop your own voice? What inspired you to start writing?

Once I started to understand that the White gaze was really just a figment of the imagination of people who do not want to see Black girls, Black women, Black people be in power, I started to release myself from really feeling like I was powerless. I realized that my truth and my experiences were powerful, and it was necessary to speak them out loud and have that agency. I could not allow anyone to try to speak for me. That is something that propelled me to put pen to paper and start this collection. I wanted other people, particularly other Black girls and women, to understand the power that happens when we just speak our truth and do so boldly.

Some people believe that religion and women’s rights are like oil and water, they do not mix. Can you speak to the intersection of faith and feminism in your work?

I love that you asked this question. For me faith and feminism are absolutely connected. I proclaim a Christian faith and have since I was about the age of five. When I think about Jesus and his ministry, women were the hallmarks of that ministry. Not just in the miracles he performed but at his resurrection. Who were the first people to proclaim that he had risen? It was women. There are so many ways that you can read biblical text that make you think that women should remain silent in the church, that they have no business being in a place of authority, and that women’s rights would not be important. However, if you allow yourself to approach the biblical text with a feminist lens, one that really asks how a Black woman would experience this in our present-day context, you can see that there are many ways that Jesus was always looking out for women. Whether it was the woman who was “caught in adultery,” or the woman with the issue of blood, or the woman who was trying to seek healing for her daughter, he absolutely surrounded himself with women and wanted to include their gifts in his ministry. I really feel like there is room for faith and feminism to coexist and that religion and women’s rights don’t have to be oil and water. You just have to have a willingness to be in community with people who are different than you.

God be
keeping us
like auntie ‘nem.
and God
stay freeing us
like that sistafriend.

so, as for me—
i’ma call God
what God is.

“God, our mother-auntie-sistafriend”

The power of song is prominent in your work, some of which creates its own kind of music on the page. Can you expand on why song has been important for you personally and in your writing journey?

I think songs and music are so powerful because they can be portals to different times and dimensions. I can remember the first time I heard Whitney Houston’s albums riding in my mother’s car, in her 1992 Honda Accord, and I can just envision the details so vividly—the sounds, the smells, everything about that time in my life—simply from hearing that Whitney song, “I’m Every Woman.” Songs have a unique ability to connect us to not just different times and space but to different people. Even people who don’t speak English as their native language can enjoy Whitney or Chaka Khan or Aretha Franklin because there is something about the way the music speaks to the soul. In the same way that the music I grew up listening to spoke to my soul and edified my soul, I was trying to capture that in some of my poetry and in my stories. Whether you grew up as a Black girl or not, there is something in this story, in what the poem is telling you that connects with your soul. Hopefully you can listen to the music, and it can enhance that message even more.

There are many strong themes covered in small packages in your collection including several pieces where opposing ideas meet or converse, one example being the intersection of oppression within one’s own community and the support found there. Can you speak to the importance of acknowledging this dichotomy and how it has played out in your experience?

We must speak to those dichotomies because I feel that a lot of times, we stay silent about the ugly parts that we are experiencing. We feel that somehow, we are betraying our people, our community, our family, ourselves when we speak to those realities. But I do feel like the beauty of intergenerational dialogue, which is something that I hope you can really get a sense for in [Black girl magic & other elixirs], is that there is nothing wrong with critiquing and constructively building upon ways to get better. I think that we in the younger generation don’t want to stay silent about the things that we were told were shameful or that we should never speak about publicly. We want to see those things changed and I believe that there is power, there is so much power, in pulling down the strongholds of silence and speaking to what has happened to us. This allows for room for healing. That is a big reason why the oppression continues to persist and exist, because we haven’t talked about it, and we have not healed from it. How can you heal from something until you start to name the harm? I believe that speaking about both the oppression we feel in our communities and the amazing opportunities for support really just gives us a way to experience the fullness of our humanity, to experience healing, and also look toward to what a better and brighter future can look like.

“starshine and clay” is a powerful poem. Why did this phrase speak to you, and can you expand on how “Won’t you celebrate with me” by Lucille Clifton inspired your own poem?

“Won’t you celebrate with me” is a poem I read almost daily. I feel like as a woman of color, as a Black woman who lives in the South, every day something is really trying to make me second guess myself. Something that wants to make me feel like I am not enough, or that I am too much, or too angry, or too something, while simultaneously making me feel like I am not enough something. It is very hard to live in this reality sometimes. This poem reminds me that there is nothing in this world that can stop me from having what belongs to me. There is nothing in this world that can keep me from what the creator has destined for me. Just reading her poem where it says “what did I see to be except myself” and she talks about “this bridge between starshine and clay.” That part, that bridge, inspired [my] poem, with that image I take a step further into my own personal experience. I have a daughter now who is 18 months. While I am fearful about some of the things that are happening right now in our world, like with reproductive rights and all sorts of things that are not going well, I still have so much hope that she is going to be among the leaders and the warriors and the voices of the next generation who will say, “No more.” The generation who will not allow for these kinds of things to keep happening. I may not get to see some of the freedoms that she will see in her lifetime for myself and so I really wanted to write that poem just as a head nod, as a thank you to Lucille, and also kind of like a future-casting for what I hope will be true for my daughter one day.

starshine is not afraid of darkness
and clay is not afraid of contortion
that’s why we know them well.

“starshine and clay”

I also wanted to talk about “get out the galaxy, Black girl.” I love its placement before “starshine and clay,” and I would love to hear more about its inspiration and its form.

I am a huge Afrofuturism and science fiction nerd. I love N.K. Jemisin, I love Black Panther, Wakanda, I love The Woman King (although it is not Afrofuturist but more like an alternate view of history). There is something about imagining new worlds and getting beyond what sometimes we get stuck in here on earth. I wrote this poem as a play on words, like a joke, but also an encouragement for us to think futuristically. It is a call to realize that what we experience here in the United States doesn’t have to be this way, honestly. It really doesn’t. If thinking about what an otherworldly experience would look like for you helps you imagine what changes need to be made here in this present time, then that is what I hope this poem can do for you.

What is Black girl magic? Can you define the concept for your reader and how it shaped the collection?

Black girl magic is so much more than words on a paper, and I don’t even know if I can do it justice by trying to articulate it with a definition. I will try to describe it in ways that readers in my audience may understand it better. Black girl magic is the way that you see young Black girls Double Dutching between two jump ropes as if they are just having a conversation. They make it look easy. Black girl magic is the ways that you see a young Black woman or teenager have a bit of sass; there’s an essence to her that you can’t describe that you know is absolutely a part of her Blackness. Black girl magic is the way we can look at somebody and that other person, particularly if it is another Black person or Black woman, knows exactly what we are saying. It is a way of being and a way of existing that invites others to be fully who they are. It also gives us space and agency to just be fabulous in every single way possible. I think Black girl magic defies stereotypes and defies subjugation and logic. A lot of times people like to make it seem like it is something that can be bottled up, but it cannot be coopted. It is cultivated within us and within this communal experience we are all having as Black people, particularly in America right now. I can see it already in my daughter and she is only 18 months. She has a little attitude, and I am like, “Yes, girl.” Even though I want her to do what I want her to do, she has her own ideas about how things should be already. It’s like, “Ok, alright, I’ll give you that.” It’s just this pureness of spirit that cannot be squashed. In its best form it gives people permission to be their best selves.

Has writing (this collection and in general) shaped your outlook as a parent, a mother, and vice versa?

Yes. It has been a mirror for me because that idea of being seen and not heard has been so ingrained in me that there are times where I have to catch myself from being so heavy-handed with my daughter. First of all, she is too young to fully understand. Secondly, I am super clear along with my husband that we do not want to break her spirit in the ways that, unfortunately, older generations did with us. Whether it was making us be silent, or giving whoopings all the time when we don’t know why we are getting whoopings, or just all the superstitions and the ways of being that we were brought up in, we are really careful to not do that with her. I do think that writing this collection allowed me to be way more conscious about how we are building her agency and how we are asking ourselves hard question about our willingness to say “I am sorry” for things. Or how early we want to share with her the truth about gender and racial oppression. What are the things we want her to know and what are the things that we want to keep her safe and protected from as long as we possibly can? The collection has absolutely been a mirror for me as a new mom and hopefully it is something we can have a conversation about when she is old enough to understand the contents.

What advice do you have for other women writers?

I recently watched a movie on Netflix called The Luckiest Girl Alive. It was such a good movie. Mila Kunis’ character is a writer and at the end of the film she is having a conversation with her editor. He tells her the least she can do in her writing is to be honest. Don’t think about how they want to read it. Don’t think about what they want to say. What you have to do is be completely honest with every single part of it and give the people that. It resonated with me so much and it actually is how I approached the collection. It was just bare, it was raw, it was vulnerable and uncomfortable in some of the poems, but it was honest. I give that advice to other women writers: just be honest. We have had enough people writing for us, creating characters that do not explore our fullness and the range of our identities, and we have had enough of men telling us who and how we should be. I want to encourage women to write and write honestly.

because we
know the sky
ain’t all there is
to see here.

so we’ll just
keep on walking
with our own secret
headed to another galaxy.

full
of worlds
where we are
already free.

“get out the galaxy, Black girl”

Tell us about your vision for the cover?

It was really important to me that the cover be representative of the nostalgia and nuances of Black girlhood in the ‘90s. The roller skates, cassette tape, and perfume all communicate a certain essence of “being” that one can feel, smell, and hear. Likewise, the pictures of my younger self and my present-day self represent much of my journey of becoming and self-possession—signifying the power in reclaiming the little girls that live inside of us while empowering the women we have fought tooth and nail to belong to ourselves.

How did you connect with Yellow Arrow and what did the process of submitting your work feel like to you?

My publishing journey has been long and filled with rejections. I’ve written so many manuscripts across varying genres and have not found a home nor an agent. I thought I’d take a break from the grind and try something new, so I began writing a few poems. When I realized how much I loved it and that there was a noticeable theme tracing girlhood to womanhood, I decided to research opportunities to publish the collection that would honor my voice and the fullness of the collection. I came across Yellow Arrow and was encouraged by the mission and vision of the organization. And I have not been disappointed by the publishing process with them at all . . . working with Yellow Arrow (after being selected) has been one of the most pleasant and supportive experiences I’ve ever had as it related to my writing. They truly do prioritize women’s voices and provide a care-filled approach to walking alongside writers. I am forever grateful for this experience.

We currently have open submissions for chapbooks we would like to publish in 2024. Do you have any advice for the women-identifying authors submitting their chapbooks?

Just be yourself, write your truth, and do it even if it’s scary. I found that vulnerability in my writing was both freeing and debilitating, but it became so beautiful to see the finished product. Trust your instincts. There is a still, small voice inside you that will guide your pen and give you power, if you let it.

Do you have any new projects or current projects you are working on that you would also like to share with Yellow Arrow readers?

I am in the middle of writing a proposal for a book called Love Auntie: Parables and Prayers for Abundant Whole Being. It is a nonfiction book for people of faith who want to explore decolonizing their spirituality and cultivate new disciplines for a faith that shifts and really wants to be more inclusive and open-minded to people. That is my next project, and I am hopeful a publisher will pick it up soon.

You can find more about shantell hinton hill and her work for radical good at shantelhhill.com and can preorder your copy of Black girl magic & other elixirs from Yellow Arrow Publishing. Thank you, shantell and Melissa, for sharing your conversation.

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Yellow Arrow Publishing is a nonprofit supporting women writers through publication and access to the literary arts. You can support us as we SPARK and sparkle this year: purchase one of our publications from the Yellow Arrow bookstore, join our newsletter, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Donations are appreciated via PayPal (staff@yellowarrowpublishing.com), Venmo (@yellowarrowpublishing), or US mail (PO Box 65185, Baltimore, Maryland 21209). More than anything, messages of support through any one of our channels are greatly appreciated.

Kapua Iao 6/6/23 Kapua Iao 6/6/23

Review of Becoming by Michelle Obama

Read Bailey Drumm’s review of Becoming by Michelle Obama, published in Yellow Arrow Journal’s Vol. V, No. 3 (Re)Formation issue (fall 2020). Information about where to find Becoming and (Re)Formation is below.

By Bailey Drumm

“Are you enough? Yes.” This mantra rings throughout Becoming by Michelle Obama, as she navigates the reader through the benefits of being truly, honestly one’s intended self. In order to address this, she chose to split her book into three sections: “Becoming Me,” which discusses her childhood leading up to her dating Barack Obama; “Becoming Us,” which encapsulates the beginning of their relationship up to President Obama’s inauguration in 2009; and “Becoming More,” which summarizes the Obama family’s time spent in the White House. She’s been a daughter, a mother, a wife, an attorney, a first lady, and an author, but what Obama assures readers is that being their genuine selves is their most attractive form. That’s what others want, and what they should want for themselves. A person will shine once their core being is defined.

Obama opens the book with “Becoming Me,” mentioning that she used to love when people would ask her, as a child, what she wanted to be when she grew up, because she had the perfectly constructed answer to impress adults. Now, as an adult, she hates the question, because growing up isn’t finite. Who we are, and what we are, are many things. We become different people as the world around us changes, and we form and reform ourselves around it.

After being stuck inside for months, I, as I’m sure many others have, became all too acquainted with my ‘alone’ self, versus who I became in a crowd. Currently, we are shedding our work masks and learning not to apologize for the inconveniences we have chosen to love. An essential part of being yourself according to Obama. We all have families to take care of and passions to support. Obama even brings up a time when her husband missed a flight back to Washington, D.C., to vote on a crime bill because of a sick child. Though professionally it may have been frowned upon, his family was (and is) his core value. And it is these small decisions and sacrifices explored in “Becoming Us,” that serve as a nice reminder that as humans, sometimes it’s okay to disappoint others, as long as we are following what we truly believe in.

Finally, in “Becoming More,” Obama discusses the lack of a guidebook to being the first lady, just as there is no guidebook to navigating life. Pointing this out is the first step to acknowledging that you have to make your own path. During her time as first lady, distributing information on nutrition, the process of food production, and general public health was Obama’s priority. Unfortunately, the world around her took more notice to what she was wearing than what she cared to address. To combat this, Obama made a point to present herself well—she even got a ‘glam squad’—in hopes that the public would notice the initiatives she was promoting as much as her image.

From a young age, Obama was encouraged to learn and advocate for herself. In fact, this mandate became another platform of hers, along with advocating for female role models, while in the White House. Over time, she came to realize not all children had the advantage of being helped at home. This lack of guidance caused some children to be devalued at school. She states, “Hearing them, I realized that [those with at-home guidance] weren’t at all smarter than the rest of us. They were simply emboldened, floating on an ancient tide of superiority, buoyed by the fact that history had never told them anything different.” A desire to impress (to emulate) can lead a child to accomplish things they may not have had the drive to do alone. Not only do her initiatives teach children the skills they are seeking out, but also the confidence to succeed in areas and situations they may feel intimidated by, rather than doubtful of their own worth. Obama wanted to make sure children who may have hidden potentials have the chance to speak and be heard through advocacy and mentoring programs.

In Becoming, she expresses that, growing up, her family was a group of planners, which made her an avid planner as well. Throughout the book though, she does not shy away from recalling difficult scenarios she was unable to plan around. In her mid 20s, she lost both a good friend and her father close together. Around the same time, she was assigned to be Barack’s mentor at a Chicago law firm, Sidley Austin LLP; at first she was less than impressed by him, but over time began to fall in love, changing the course of her career and the life she had originally planned. Though she studied her hardest, at one point, she even failed the Illinois bar on her first try. And, in her mid 30s, she even had to go through the heartbreak of a miscarriage.

Though these events are hard to read about, especially at a time like we are currently experiencing, and as a planner myself, it does offer a sense of comfort. There is a vast amount of ideas currently evolving around us, in our country and culture, that have to be taken in stride. But we can plan only day by day and take the unexpected on the chin. We aren’t perfect, we are just ourselves. These stories she presents, and Becoming itself, explore the fact that we need to get rid of the failing stigma in order to truly succeed. We can try to plan, but sometimes the universe has its own plan. People function better when honest, when we express our downfalls, rather than when we put up a front and go through trauma alone.

In owning your true self, you need to allow your mind to wander at night, be it thinking about a lost relative or income inequalities. You must own your story. No one else can for you. Approach the world as it should be, rather than complain about the world as it is. That’s how change is created. We learn from each other, and in learning we transform. “Becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim,” Obama writes. “I see it instead as a forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end.” In other words, never stop changing in order to continue being (becoming) true to your genuine self. Never stop reforming.

A PDF of (Re)Formation is available in the Yellow Arrow bookstore or you can find the issue as a paperback or ebook through most online distributors. Becoming was published by Crown Publishing (2018; 448 pages). For more information, visit Becomingmichelleobama.com.

Bailey Drumm is a fiction writer whose written work has been featured in Grub Street and Welter, and digital art displayed as the cover art for the 2017 edition of Welter. She is an MFA graduate from the Creative Writing and Publishing Arts program at the University of Baltimore. Her collection of short stories, The Art of Settling, was published in the spring of 2019 and can be found at bailey-drumm.square.site.

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Kapua Iao 5/30/23 Kapua Iao 5/30/23

Show Us Your Spark: Chapbook Submissions Open at Yellow Arrow Publishing

At Yellow Arrow Publishing, we believe every woman has a story to tell and every story is worth telling. And with that sentiment, we are excited to reopen submissions for chapbooks to be published in 2024. From May 29 to June 30, Yellow Arrow will accept submissions of poetry chapbooks and, *new* this year, creative nonfiction chapbooks by authors who identify as women from around the world. Given this and changes to the process this year, we wanted to provide some details here. We can’t wait to see what you send to us.

Chapbook submissions may be poetry, creative nonfiction (e.g., personal narratives, essays, reflections, flash prose, and micro memoirs), or hybrid, no more than 50 pages long and written by authors who identify as women. In general, creative nonfiction should be between 15,000 and 25,000 words total (there is no minimum or maximum number of pieces to include, use your discretion) and poetry between 20 and 50 poems; hybrid can be any combination.

This year, we have also added a sliding scale fee to chapbook submissions. We aim to ensure that the journey to publication is accessible to all writers, but also want to have the ability to support and promote our authors throughout the year. When we publish an author, that writer becomes a member of the Yellow Arrow community, and we do all we can to promote their voice, share their story, and nurture their creative journey to publication.

$0: Reserved for BIWOC authors (by checking this box, you acknowledge that you are a BIWOC author and will not attach a receipt)

$5: Reserved for those experiencing financial hardship (financial hardship means this is what you can afford right now, no questions asked)

$10: Standard submission fee

As a small, independent press, our ability to compensate authors has been limited in the past, but with the addition of a small fee, we anticipate being able to provide our authors with a monetary incentive to go along with the editorial and promotional support we have always offered.

Finally, as our volume of submissions has grown over the past few years, we have decided to accept submissions through a Google form (here) rather than email. The form is simple with required and optional questions, including name, bio/personal introduction, and demographics. You will be asked to upload your submission as an attachment to the form along with your fee receipt (if required). By sending your completed submission you agree to the following statements:

You are a writer who identifies as a woman
You have read and submitted within the guidelines

Our writers and readers come from all walks of life and so do we. We are taking steps across our portfolio to increase representation and give greater visibility to the voices of underrepresented women-identifying storytellers and take much into consideration when creating our procedures and guidelines. When we review submissions we look for writing that tells your story. We love pieces that feel authentic, that give us a window into who a writer is and what has shaped them, and that connect us to them.

You can find our guidelines and some FAQs at yellowarrowpublishing.com/cbsubmissions along with the YAP Chapbook Submissions form. We can’t wait to see how your piece sparks our inspiration along with yours. If you have any questions, please contact us at submissions@yellowarrowpublishing.com.

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Yellow Arrow 5/26/23 Yellow Arrow 5/26/23

Her View Friday

Yellow Arrow Publishing supports women-identifying writers from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it makes us stronger. Women’s voices have historically been underrepresented in literature, and we aim to elevate those voices and stories through our programs, publications, and support.

Part of our mission in supporting and uplifting women writers is to promote the Yellow Arrow community’s individual accomplishments. We’d like to further expand that support and promotion outside of our Yellow Arrow publications. Twice a month, we’d like to give a shout out to those within the Yellow Arrow community who recently published:

single-author publications
single pieces in journals, anthologies, etc. as well as prizes/awards

You can support our authors by reading this blog and their work, sharing their news, and commenting below or on the blog. Congratulations to all the included authors. We are so proud of you!

Every writer has a story to tell and every story is worth telling

“Girl on a Beach” BY Sara Palmer from Baltimore, maryland

Genre: poetry

Name of publication: The Ekphrastic Review

Date published: May 15, 2023

Type of publication: online

ekphrastic.net/the-ekphrastic-review/girl-on-a-beach-by-sara-palmer

Find Sara on Facebook @sara.p5455 and @sara.palmer.5455.

“Finger Painting” BY Heather Brown Barrett from Virginia

Genre: poetry

Name of publication: Bubble Literary Magazine

Date published: May 19, 2023

Type of publication: online

bubblelitmag.wixsite.com/bubble/jobs-4/heather-brown-barrett

Find Heather on Instagram @heatherbrownbarrett.

Yellow Arrow (past and present) board, staff, interns, authors, residents, and instructors alike! Got a publication coming out? Let us help celebrate for you in Her View Friday.

Single-author publications: here.

Single pieces and awards/prizes: here.

Please read the instructions on each form carefully; we look forward to congratulating you!

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Kapua Iao 5/23/23 Kapua Iao 5/23/23

Art as Lifeline/Embracing Art: A Conversation with L.M. Cole

By Melissa Nunez, written March 2023

I am as polished as silver,

which is to say, only with great effort.

I am as folded as paper planes,

which is to say, carefully, carelessly creased. – “Which is to say”

Have you ever wondered what people from the Renaissance or Reformation era would look like with pastry for heads? Or decided red-winged butterflies are best suited bursting forth from anatomical hearts? What about creating a cento poem out of lines from a movie like Balto? These are just a few of the innovative works of artist, author, and editor L.M. Cole. Her work covers topics like self-discovery, the nature of relationships, and the defining moments of life. She balances weighty themes with a lighthearted flare in her hybrid works. Cole’s first chapbook SALT MOUTH MOSS QUEEN debuted in September 2022. We were also pleased to publish her work in Yellow Arrow Vignette AWAKEN, a Yellow Arrow online series. L.M. and I were able to connect over Zoom in March for an inspiring video chat where we bonded over a love of nature and the way writing helps us through the chaotic tides life can sling our way.

Who are some women-identified writers who inspire you?

I am really drawn to other nature writers. I didn’t intend to become one, but apparently, I am one. Mary Oliver and Edna St. Vincent Millay really inspire me. I love the work of Lucille Clifton. Ada Limón speaks to me as well. These are some powerful voices that have a lot of important things to tell us.

What would you pinpoint as the moment you knew you were a writer/artist?

I have had a nontraditional tumble into writing. I didn’t consider myself a writer at all until high school when I took a creative writing class. There was a poetry section at the end where we made a chapbook collection of different forms and my teacher wrote on the back page of it, “You should never stop writing.” That really touched me, but I was not in a place when I was younger to believe in myself at all. Like a lot of women, with my upbringing and sense of self, I didn’t have the confidence to really channel that into anything useful. I didn’t pursue writing until around 2021. My whole world exploded personally. My family was very low income and writing was a thing that my husband at the time felt wasn’t going to make money and so wasn’t worth doing. I had gotten older and wanted to get back into writing, but he felt it would not lead anywhere productive. After eight years of that, everything changed. He was out of the picture, and I had to learn to be the best me I could be for myself and my kids. It has been a rocky journey this past year. Learning and relearning how best to handle everything. Poetry during this time really was a lifesaver, a buoy in life’s storm. Poetry and writing kept me from drowning. Somewhere in that last year and a half is when I decided I needed this, writing, creating, for myself. That makes me better in all aspects of my life. I really embraced poetry, exploring it, and developing my craft from there.

I was bottled green and seasick

salted in the waves and you

have pulled me to shore

to say oh lovely thing – “Post-Vitrification”

What drives your visual art?

Visual art is new for me. I feel I have developed a recognizable style over the past year. I was playing with it for a few months before the start of my magazine, Bulb Culture Collective. When my coeditor Jared [Povanda] and I started this project, I decided I wanted to make custom art for promotion on Twitter. I make all those images myself and I feel that has really homed in on what I’m trying to do. For me, the aesthetic is bringing classic Old World into modern thinking. All my images are found from public access books. I don’t take images from things later than 1950. I will spend hours every week going through these sources. I clip whatever speaks to me and go back in later and start putting things together. The aesthetic is full of warm tones: oranges, reds, yellows. I like warm tones and classic 1950 style.

When do you feel a concept necessitates the hybrid form, both visual and textual?

Many times, if I am going to make a hybrid, I have a micro piece, a very short poem, or some page of text that I feel is going to make a good erasure. I think it can be compared to people who title their poems in a way to give you more insight into the text. That is what you are doing for those hybrid pieces. You are pulling images to give more context to the poem and the words, even if it is unexpected. I have some pieces that are from a physical textbook called Meat Through the Microscope. I have a bunch of erasure sourced from there. I found one phrase I really liked but it was very short so I started looking around to see what I could do with it. The phrase itself was something about time immemorial and this universal truth: absence. This made me think of things leaving and fading away. I ended up with images of leaves in the process of dying and drying out. It became a very autumnal poem. Without that, there are a lot of ways to read into it and it could be very heavy. Tying back into nature gives it more of a universal feeling and less of a mourning feeling. You can do that a lot with images when adding to small poems and snippets. You can take it in different directions and experiment. Sometimes it does not turn out how you imagined. I might not like these leaves and will instead find something like an empty doorway. There are a lot of things to explore with that. It opens more avenues for furthering poetry as well. You might start and find an image and in the process of tying it together you might become inspired to expand on it and then it is not a micro anymore. Art and poetry speak very well to each other. I love to experiment with it.

What advice do you have for those interested in creating hybrid works?

There are no hard and fast rules for it. The way it works for me is starting with an image or poem/phrase that I love. I think you need to have clear idea of one or the other before you can get going. I have a lot of drafts and messes in folders that aren’t quite right because I did not have that clear direction and it got all jumbled. What works for me is to have that direction from the start with at least one of the components.

What is it like to work at different magazines? How did you get involved? And how do you balance the work of editor/reader/creator?

I started with reading for Moss Puppy Magazine. That was my first foray into working with magazines. They were looking for readers during their last issue, Blades, and I had already submitted poems that were accepted into the issue. I worried that might be a problem, but it was not at all. It was a very natural transition into the team. They are all so welcoming and kind. The editor is great to work with and they have multiple readers to help balance things out. Life happens sometimes and things do slip through the cracks. I have three kids and five pets, and everyone has appointments and activities and sometimes I can’t get everything done. Everyone being so understanding is the amazing thing in this writing community we have. I think the same would be true of most places. We are all writers with our own lives, and we respect that.

I also read briefly for Tree and Stone which was a cool experience. I was reading fiction, which I don’t have a lot of experience writing. I made it clear that I was interested in the position and came with more of a lyrical poetry slant but would like to learn more. I think that is the key to getting into many of these opportunities. You must be open and willing to learn because things evolve, and you see so many different perspectives and work from so many writers. It is important to stay open to that.

I started Bulb Culture with Jared because we both had work that had lost their publication, were in magazines that had disappeared. What do people do then? What do we do because things like this do happen and keep happening? We saw this need for people losing the publication of their works, now technically previously published but the original magazine is gone so it’s in a weird limbo. We started [it] because we needed a place in the community to send previously published work that is no longer available to an audience, a place where writers know their work is going to have a good home. That is what we’ve been striving to do. At first, we were only taking work from places that had closed, gone dark, or appeared in print only. Recently we opened to any previously published work, regardless, as long as it is over two years old. We’ve had a good response, steady submissions, not huge by any means, but it has been nice. It can be hard with decision-making because Jared and I are both so accommodating of each other and can go back and forth at times, but we are also very encouraging, and we manage to get it all done.

It can be difficult to balance all of that and right now, but I’ve surrounded myself with very understanding people whom I consider my friends as well. Everyone is generous about giving me some slack when I’m scrambling to meet deadlines. We make it work.

I am what I am making myself

green brown gold in the wilderness

salt mouth moss queen

I am forest path

I am refracted shine

I am made

I am in the making. – “I Am”

Let’s talk about your debut chapbook. What inspired the title and order of collection?

Salt Mouth Moss Queen came from a poem in the chapbook that I had written for Messy Misfits Club. It was a way of writing about my transition and growth as a person and also my connection in nature. The poem itself travels along the same lines my life has. I grew up in the Midwest where everything is flat and gray, but I still consider it beautiful. Wheat fields and gravel roads are still very much a part of me. Then it transitions into now. I live in North Carolina, which is a recent change. I haven’t even lived here a year, but things are so different. It felt like a new beginning and a new me and I was learning these new things about myself.

“Salt mouth” is an idea that resonates and comes back and echoes in a few poems I’ve written. I have always been very drawn to the ocean, but I never lived close enough to it to see it. I had never visited the ocean until after my move last year. On my first visit, after climbing over the sand dunes, the first time I saw the water, heard it, and smelled it, I just started crying. My partner and kids were asking me if I was OK. I was like, “It’s everything.” It was such a transformational thing for me. I was always drawn to it even though I had never seen it and to have that affirming experience with it was huge.

“Moss queen” just encapsulates my desire to lay out in the grass all day, that connection to the earth. It came from trying to describe myself as a person in poem form and give people a glimpse into my identity. The pieces in this collection follow a trajectory of my move and the ups and downs of my life over the last year or two. There is loss and pain and a rediscovering of love and hope. It shows that even through all that very human experience the link with nature is still there. I wanted that connection very prominent throughout.

I love the way you laid out the significance of salt and the ocean. Can you expand a little on the meaning of moss for you?

I think moss for me is a symbol of resilience because it is always there. I was recently out at Sundress Farm for my residency, and everything is gray out there. It is still cold in Knoxville, but there is just moss everywhere. It is vibrant, green, constant. I feel like the last year I’ve really had to embrace resilience where I can find it, so I think moss really became a symbol for me for persisting.

Nature imagery in general is rich in your work. Why does it speak to you?

The reason nature always crops up in my poetry is because I am disabled. I suffer with chronic pain and mental illness so a lot of times nature, experiencing it, writing about it, works as kind of a grounding exercise for me to get out of my own pain. I can think about cardinals instead of how much my back hurts right now. It is very much distracting and also healing to interact with nature and converse so deeply with it.

I’ve been letting things slip

from behind my teeth, through

my clenched jaw, like ants

through crack in the concrete

trying to get to the flower bed

I’m holding onto for dear life. – “Ants in the Begonias”

In a piece like “Ants in the Begonias,” the metaphor is everything. How do you go about finding the metaphor? Is it something that just happens to do have to work at it at times?

Usually if there is going to be a strong metaphor in a poem that is the thing that comes to me first before I even start writing. I will think, “oh, that one is good,” and I’ll write around it. This poem holds a lot of my experience with healing and going to therapy after everything went down in my personal life in 2021. It has that connection with nature for grounding. I think you can see that here very prominently. This connection with nature is really the driving force of the healing and is intertwined with the emotion. It just happened, which is not always the case, but when I have a good metaphor, I start there.

How much of yourself do you think you can encapsulate in any one poem or collection?

That’s a good question. I think that there are a lot of parts of me that haven’t made it into poetry yet. I don’t know if it is because I am afraid of being that vulnerable or I feel it is not going to be relatable to anybody. I think that poetry is a very unique vehicle for putting yourself onto the page. There are so many ways that you can capture yourself through a thought, a word, an image, a memory. Looking at “Ants in the Begonias” again, it only happened because the house I grew up in when I was little had a stone deck and two begonias on each side of the stairs. I always thought they were so pretty but there were ants everywhere. That is why that became such a central image for that poem. There are so many ways you can put yourself into a poem that I feel are unique. I know you can do it with CNF and memoir, but poetry lets you kind of wink and nod at the part of yourself you are putting out there. There is always that mystery of the identity of the speaker. Is it the poet or just a persona? Are you the I? You can be a little more vulnerable. In September, I was flying back to North Dakota to see my dad for his birthday, and I was sitting next to someone on the plane who asked me what I do. We had some sort of sixth-degree connection to someone in my hometown, and then you have to make idle chitchat in this tiny tin can in the sky. She asked me what I do, and I told her I am a poet. She said, “That is so cool.” And my response was, “You just have to be really willing to embarrass yourself in public.” Which made her kind of back track on that. To put your writing out there is a very vulnerable act. People are so nuanced and complex it is hard to fit everything of yourself in one poem unless you are writing an epic. However, if you are in a certain headspace, you can definitely put 100% of that self in that moment into that piece. It is a matter of unlocking that space and staying open to the resulting vulnerability.

What is the best writing advice you can share with our readers?

Don’t be so demanding of yourself. For many women-identified creatives, we really want to be amazing at something or not do it at all. If it is not perfect, if it is not living up to a perceived standard that we have, we can get disheartened and be afraid to put ourselves out there. But we just have to. Writing and art are so important, and everyone has a different perspective. Don’t be so hard on yourself! Make your art and put it out there. You put yourself in it, your love in it, and it is going to resonate with somebody. I don’t think I will ever be poet laureate or anything, but I put my little poems out there. If three people read them, then I am good! Somebody read it. That’s great. Just don’t have such rigid expectations for yourself. I fall into that same trap of thinking I need to be X amount successful or else, but it is not true. Embrace the art for art’s sake.

What makes writing worth it? For L.M. Cole it is knowing she is being true to herself, her best self, and following the inner call to create. Connecting with people through art, however big or small the amount, is powerful. You can follow L.M. Cole as she continues her writing journey by connect with her on Twitter @_scoops_ or her website at poetlmcole.com. You can purchase a copy of her chapbook SALT MOUTH MOSS QUEEN on Amazon.

Melissa Nunez is a Latin@ writer and homeschooling mother of three from the Rio Grande Valley. Her essays have appeared in magazines like Hypertext and Scrawl Place. She has work forthcoming in Musing Publications, The Hooghly Review, and others. She writes an anime column for The Daily Drunk, interviews for Yellow Arrow Publishing, and is a staff writer for Alebrijes Review. You can follow her on Twitter @MelissaKNunez.

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Kapua Iao 5/16/23 Kapua Iao 5/16/23

Immersion in the Arts: Yellow Arrow Publishing Writers-in-Residence 2023

Since 2019, Yellow Arrow Publishing has been proud to offer a residency program that enables us to support, uplift, and amplify the voices of women-identifying writers residing in the Baltimore area. We are excited to announce the transformations to our 2023 Writers-in-Residence program. Applications are open June 1-30.

Residency programs are appealing to writers for many reasons, but some of the highlights are often the freedom from distractions offered, additional support in the way of mentorship or community resources, and the opportunity to immerse yourself in an artistic atmosphere, sharing and exploring with other creatives while you work at your craft. As writers, we dream of ideal writing Edens: a secluded cabin in the woods, a rocking chair on a wraparound porch at an old farmhouse, a writing desk surrounded by shelves packed full of vintage classics. A residency is sometimes viewed as an escape, a way to step away from our lives and immerse ourselves in nothing but the writing.

In reality though, we often find such ventures logistically challenging. Whatever our daily burdens may be—professional occupations, caregiving, busy schedules, financial obligations—it’s tough to convince ourselves that making time and space for our writing is what’s best for those around us. How can we step away, entirely, from our lives for days or weeks at a time? How can we achieve complete immersion?

Yellow Arrow began its Writers-in-Residence program for just this reason. We have always emphasized that our focus is around supporting and empowering emerging writers, but what is an emerging writer? To us, it is the writer who, when we meet you at a book festival and ask, “Are you a writer?” your response is, “Well, I write. I’m not sure I would call myself a writer.” An emerging writer is someone who has maybe been published, but is still working their way into the literary world. An emerging writer is someone who isn’t making a living on their writing in a way that affords them the opportunity to step away for a lengthy period of time. An emerging writer is someone who considers writing a passion, a vocation, a calling.

With this focus on emerging writers, we have reimagined our residency program to provide you with all the things an emerging writer should have without the burden of leaving home: a place free from the distractions of daily life to write, a community of resources and fellow creatives to support you, and an immersion in the vibrant Baltimore arts scene.

Yellow Arrow Publishing is thrilled to announce our Writers-in-Residence program for 2023. One writer will serve as a writer-in-residence for the months of August and September, and another will take residency for the months of October and November. This year, thanks to a partnership with Bird in Hand Café, our residences will have a space to write surrounded by books (and coffee!). Bird in Hand is providing both of our 2023 writers-in-residence a $200 gift card to provide sustenance while writing in the Charles Village bookstore and café. In addition, Yellow Arrow is granting the writers a $200 stipend to use toward expenses—childcare, transportation, writing supplies—whatever your needs are. We’ve also added in free Yellow Arrow writing workshops during the course of your residency. And we will continue to advocate for our writers-in-residence by doing all we can to amplify their voices and support their creative endeavors.

Our residency is not an escape, but it could be the opposite. It could be an arrival. The spark to start the fire within.

There is no application fee. No genre limitations. All Baltimore-area writers who identify as women are encouraged to apply. Questions? Email admin@yellowarrowpublishing.com. View the full residency program description here.

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Kapua Iao 5/9/23 Kapua Iao 5/9/23

Healing the World with a Spark: Yellow Arrow Journal (Vol. VIII, No. 1) KINDLING

There is no one way to heal the world; the only requirement is that we try. There is so much darkness in the world, but even the smallest spark can start a fire.

Matilda Young (she/they), guest editor of just released Yellow Arrow Journal Vol. VIII, No. 1 KINDLING, began her introduction of the issue getting straight to the heart of the topic: advocacy and community care. And how both terms weave their way through the pages. The pieces within explore various facets of advocacy and community through changemaking. Included poems and prose speak about the author’s connections to others, to bearing witness, and to visions of paths to brighter days ahead. Matilda professes, “These are writings steeped in love. These are writings filled with purpose. And in so many ways, they remind us that the kindling can and must start with us.”

And with that thought, we are excited to release the latest issue of Yellow Arrow Journal and privileged to share the voices included within our KINDLING issue. Paperback and PDF versions are now available from the Yellow Arrow bookstore. Discounts are also available (here) if you would like to purchase copies for friends and family (minimum purchase of five). You can also search for Yellow Arrow Journal on any e-book device or anywhere you purchase print and electronic books, including Amazon and most other distribution channels.

Matilda is a poet with an MFA in poetry from the University of Maryland. She has been published in several journals, including Anatolios Magazine, Angel City Review, and Entropy Magazine’s Blackcackle. She enjoys Edgar Allan Poe jokes, not being in their apartment, and being obnoxious about the benefits of stovetop popcorn.

The beautiful artwork on the cover (cover design by Alexa Laharty), “Doña Sedona (a gradual elevation)” by Violeta Garza (who also contributed a poem!), was created of wool, acrylic, and cotton. For Violeta, their weaving has been the kindling to help not just fuel creativity but also cope with multiple brain injuries.

We hope you enjoy reading KINDLING as much as we enjoyed creating it. Thank you for your continued encouragement of Yellow Arrow Publishing and the women involved in KINDLING. And on June 1 at 8:00 pm EST, please join Matilda and some of our authors for the live, virtual reading of KINDLING. More information is forthcoming but you can let us know you plan to join us at fb.me/e/RMrS7pvs.

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Kapua Iao 5/2/23 Kapua Iao 5/2/23

Meet a Board Member: Patti Ross

Yellow Arrow Publishing would like to introduce our director of author support, Patti Ross. Patti graduated from The Duke Ellington School for the Performing Arts and The American University. She also holds a MS from Keller Graduate School of Management. After a brief career in the arts and freelance work with the Washington Times and the Rural America newspapers. Patti settled on a career in the corporate dot com arena gaining President’s Club recognition with multiple entities. Having traveled abroad and throughout the U.S., she chose to raise her two daughters in Columbia, Maryland. Thirty years later she is sharing her voice as local spoken word artist, “little pi.”

Her debut chapbook, St. Paul Street Provocations, was published in July 2021 by Yellow Arrow Publishing. Patti also hosts EC Poetry & Prose Open Mic at the Baltimore County Arts Guild’s Catonsville, Maryland, location. She is the founder of the online series First Fridays under the organizational umbrella of Maryland Writers Association of which she is a former board member. She also actively supports several Baltimore youth nonprofits as both board member and advisor. A lifelong advocate for the disenfranchised and homeless, Patti writes poems about the racially marginalized as well as society’s traumatization of the human spirit. Her poems are published in the Pen in Hand Journal, PoetryXHunger website, and Oyster River Pages: Composite Dreams Issue, Writing the Land: Foodways and Social Justice Anthology (2022), as well as other online zines.

Patti writes, “Nelson Mandela said it best, ‘. . . as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.’ This is what I hope for Yellow Arrow in 2023, that we may liberate as many writers as our pages can hold, and then some.”

Tell us a little something about yourself. I have been collecting fountain pens lately. I am enjoying the feel and historical relationship to writing that the pens remind [me of].

What do you love most about Baltimore? Baltimore has “charmed me.” I am originally from Washington, D.C., and the “grittiness” (if I may) of Baltimore reminds me of my D.C., my “chocolate city” of the 60s and 70s and 80s. I moved from Silver Spring, Maryland, just outside D.C. to Howard County in 2000 and since have enjoyed exploring Baltimore and discovering it’s nuances. Ten years ago, from 2011 to 2012, I lived at the corner of St. Paul and Lafayette streets, one block south of North Avenue. Because of my work in Montgomery County, I moved back to Howard County where I currently reside.

How did you get involved with Yellow Arrow and what do you do? I wrote a pleading email to Gwen [Van Velsor, Founder] about this little collection I had written and was using as my spoken-word pieces around town and the county. I was exploring being a performing poet. Gwen was gracious and shared my plea with Kapua [Iao, Editor-in-Chief], and they took a chance on me. I am forever grateful. The publication of my collection gave my speech legitimacy and audiences have paid attention to my challenges to them.

What are you working on currently? I have my own collective: EC Poetry & Prose, a nonprofit of about a dozen poets who regularly perform together throughout the region. I also am part owner in a micropress, Fallen Tree Press, that is committed to publishing poetry only and supporting other nonprofits through a donation of book proceeds.

What genre do you write (or read) the most and why? I read everything from poetry to nonfiction. I have only written poetry and essays (a few speeches). I am challenging myself this year with the writing of a children’s book. I wrote a poem, and a children’s book author suggested I use phrases within the poem to create an historical fiction children’s book—is there such a thing, lol! I also hope to put together another collection of poems about the women in my life both real and make believe.

What books are on the top of your to-be-read pile?

Mean Spirit by Linda Hogan

A Bound Woman is a Dangerous Thing by DaMaris B. Hill

Several chapbooks by friends such as Kathleen Hellen’s Meet Me at the Bottom

Hiram Larew’s Mud Ajar

The Maryland Writer’s Association’s recent publication of Pen in Hand

Who is your favorite writer and why? Audre Lorde, there is a haunting within her writing that makes the reader think deeply about women and their plight in the world and how a writer captures trauma and its lingering effects and how women go on existing with so many scars. One of my favorite poems if not my favorite is the “Poem for a Poet”; its opening words are “I think of a coffin’s quiet when I sit in the world of my car . . .” That is riveting, pulling you in immediately reminding you of life’s chance.

Who has inspired and/or supported you most in your writing journey? My daughters. They are women who have persevered beyond challenges with dignity beyond what I instilled in them. They inspire me everyday to recognize the “queen” in every woman both young [and old]. Amazingly, they have taken the ugliness of the world and what it has shown them and still have hope and [still] embody beauty in all they do.

What do you love most about writing? I enjoy the freedom of expression. I can write and I am free to say, feel, be how and what I want. No strings attached.

What advice do you have for new writers? Just do it! It is a cathartic process in which frees you from the lament of life and brings you joy . . . that’s if you let it.

What’s your vision for Yellow Arrow in 2023? Zeal, zest, and zing! A year of joy. A year of growth and vitality about writing and sharing our voices.

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Welcome to the team Patti! We are so excited to work with you this year. Patti is on our fundraising committee putting together Celebrating Creativity, Cherishing the Woman, an event on May 13, 5:30-7:30 pm at Ceremony Coffee Roasters at Cross Street Market. Get your ticket at yellowarrowpublishing.com/store/may2023fundraiser.

Guest User 5/1/23 Guest User 5/1/23

Igniting a SPARK: Yellow Arrow Vignette Submissions Now Open

By Siobhan McKenna

Welcome to the first day of open submissions for Yellow Arrow Vignette! Now in its second season, Yellow Arrow Vignette is an online creative nonfiction and poetry series developed to better feature women-identifying writers and share their voices beyond Yellow Arrow Journal and our single-author and collaborative publications. In 2022, the inaugural season of Vignette on the theme AWAKEN, authors meditated on the spaces where the unknown comes into light. The poetry and prose published last July through to September awakened us to the shape our love can take for a parent who we didn’t see eye to eye with, the healing power of carrying on ancestors’ legacy long suppressed by colonialism, and the beauty in the “glowing yolk” of a sunset as it slides into the ocean among many other stories.

This year, submissions for Vignette are open from May 1 to 31 and will align with the 2023 Yellow Arrow yearly value: SPARK.

SPARK

: to set off in a burst of activity

: someone or something that ignites an idea

The German novelist and philosopher, Thomas Mann said, “If you are possessed by an idea, you find it expressed everywhere, you even smell it.”

What notion or thought has you reaching for your pen or keyboard?
How do you keep that idea or spark lit when faced with interruptions that tell us creative work is frivolous or a luxury rather than a necessity?
From whom or what do you harness your inspiration to maintain your spark? In strangers on city sidewalks, blooming sculpture gardens, daily WORDLE rituals, in the words of fellow writers or ?

Through the guiding theme of SPARK, we invite you to reflect on what ignites your creativity and how you see that reflected back as you move throughout your daily life.

After assembling a collection about awakening, I love that SPARK is our 2023 yearly and Vignette theme as it is a natural next step. An awareness can only lead to a certain point; then there must be an inciting action to propel an idea into being. Yellow Arrow board president, Mickey Revenaugh, spoke of a spark earlier this year as “a precondition, necessary but not sufficient.” When an idea arrives, sparks are vital—they are the lifeblood for creativity. Yet, sparks sometimes fade when it comes to the nitty-gritty, the long hours that must be undertaken in order to have an idea come to fruition. It is then, within the drudgery of labor, when faced with self-doubt and fear (who even wants to hear what I have to say?), that it is essential to remember the spark that drove you to begin your journey.

I’m also fond of SPARK because of the word’s sensory associations. When I think of a spark, I hear the sound of July nights when the fizzing hum of a lit firework shoots into the sky and erupts with a loud crack. I feel the heat on my fingertips from the fleeting flame of a matchstick. I see the pyrotechnic emissions from a sparkler marking the end of a wedding reception and smell the smoky mix of burnt residue rising into the air. I’m just not sure of what a spark tastes like—although Pop Rocks, the fruity flavored popping candy, could be similar to tasting a spark: a frenetic tap dancing on my tastebuds. Yes, perhaps that’s it.

No matter what you conjure when you think of SPARK, I hope you are encouraged to find that impulse behind your work and submit to Vignette! With the pieces in this issue, we want to nudge each other into remembering the reasons for crafting emotions from letters and symbols; the motivation for sharing a slice of worldview that is wildly different from another’s and still, resonates in our core.

For Yellow Arrow Vignette 2023, we are looking for creative nonfiction and poetry by writers who identify as women on the theme of SPARK. Submissions can be in any language as long as an English translation accompanies them. For more information regarding submission guidelines and how to submit, please visit yellowarrowpublishing.com/vignette/submissions. Make sure to read the guidelines carefully before submitting. If you have any questions, send them to submissions@yellowarrowpublishing.com. Vignette will publish two pieces each week beginning on July 3 and ending with our authors coming together for a reading on September 6.

We look forward to reading the submissions for Yellow Arrow Vignette and sharing these stories with you. Since its founding in 2016, Yellow Arrow has worked tirelessly to make an impact on the local and global community by advocating for writers that identify as women. Yellow Arrow proudly represents the voices of women from around the globe. Creating diversity in the literary world and providing a safe space is deeply important. Every writer has a story to tell, every story is worth telling.

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Yellow Arrow 4/28/23 Yellow Arrow 4/28/23

Her View Friday

single-author publications
single pieces in journals, anthologies, etc. as well as prizes/awards

You can support our authors by reading this blog and their work, sharing their news, and commenting below or on the blog. Congratulations to all the included authors. We are so proud of you!

Every writer has a story to tell and every story is worth telling

“Chritmas Call” BY Christine C. Hsu FROM San Francisco, California, for the Winter Wonderland Monologue Festival

Genre: monologue, performed by Laura Uyeki

Name of publisher: Shiny Unicorns Productions, Winter Wonderland Monologue Festival

Date published: January 2023

youtu.be/8k26EVh0b30

Find Christine on Twitter @HsuChristineC.

“On Becoming the Type of Person Who Yells: Dinner!” BY REBECCA BROCK FROM LEESBURG, VIRGINIA

Genre: poetry

Name of publication: Sheila-Na-Gig Online

Date published: Spring 2023

Type of publication: online

sheilanagigblog.com/the-poets-volume-7-3-spring-2023/rebeccabrock/

“RIDDLE” BY Ann Quinn FROM CatonsvillE, Maryland

Genre: poetry

Name of publication: THE MADRONA PROJECT: The Universe Is a Forest, Empty Bowl Press

Date published: April 2023

Type of publication: print

emptybowl.org/store/the-madrona-project-the-universe-is-a-forest

“When Honey Wouldn't Do” BY REBECCA BROCK FROM LEESBURG, VIRGINIA

Genre: poetry

Name of publication: Bellvue Literary Review

Date published: April 2023

Type of publication: print

blreview.org/product/blr-issue-44/

Find Rebecca on Twitter @wordsbyRB and Instagram @rebecca_brock.writer.

“One For Your Mother” BY Annie Marhefka FROM Baltimore, Maryland

Genre: poetry

Name of publication: The Citron Review

Date published: April 2023

Type of publication: online

citronreview.com/2023/04/02/one-for-your-mother/

Find Annie on Instagram @anniemarhefka.

PRIZES/AWARDS

“A Conversation with Henri Rousseau about his ‘Vue de Bois de Boulogne’” BY Joanne Durham FROM Prince George's County, Maryland

Prize/award: Winner of Annual Poetry Contest

Genre: poetry

Name of publication: Third Wednesday Magazine

Date published: March 2023

Type of publication: print and online

thirdwednesdaymagazine.org/2023/03/30/a-conversation-with-henri-rousseau-about-his-vue-de-bois-de-boulogne-joanne-durham/

Find Joanne on Instagram @poetryjoanne and Twitter @DurhamJoanne.

“Ten Days” BY Kay Smith-Blum FROM SEATTLE, Washington

Prize/award: Winner of the 2023 Black Fox “Siblings” Writing Contest

Genre: creative nonfiction

Name of publication: Black Fox Literary Magazine

Date published: April 2023

Type of publication: print and online

blackfoxlitmag.com/2023/04/17/issue-24-winter-2023-is-here/

Find Kay on Instagram @discerningKSB, Twitter @kaysmithblum, Facebook @kay.smithblum, and LinkedIn @Kay Smith-Blum.

Yellow Arrow (past and present) board, staff, interns, authors, residents, and instructors alike! Got a publication coming out? Let us help celebrate for you in Her View Friday.

Single-author publications: here.

Single pieces and awards/prizes: here.

Please read the instructions on each form carefully; we look forward to congratulating you!

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Kapua Iao 4/25/23 Kapua Iao 4/25/23

Gratitude is a Divine Emotion: Yellow Arrow Interns

By Kapua Iao

“Gratitude is a divine emotion: it fills the heart, but not to bursting; it warms it, but not to fever.”

from Shirley by Charlotte Brontë

One of the many ways Yellow Arrow Publishing encourages women writers and women in publishing is through inclusion within the organization itself. We welcome (and thrive with) our volunteers and interns, not only for our own benefit but to also (hopefully) provide a prospective future publisher with some necessary tools and knowledge about the publishing world. And even if a volunteer/intern does not plan to continue within the publishing world, the tools and knowledge of working in a women-led, collaborative organization. One that champions the different and the unique. One that looks for partners and allies rather than simple connections (see our growing list of partners here).

As Editor-in-Chief, it would be impossible to organize, create, and publish without the incredible help of our volunteer staff and interns. They provide the thought process behind each journal by picking each issue’s theme and reading/voting on each submitted piece. They then read through the chosen submissions and edit them carefully and thoughtfully, not to change the voice of the author but to ensure that the voice flourishes. They provide continuous feedback and proofread the final product before release. And the same goes for our published chapbooks; the process of forming something for publication is thoughtfully long but fulfilling, nonetheless.

We try to find each volunteer, each intern, space in our organization to grow and flourish in the area they are most interested in (and of course where we need the most help!). Past staff members have worked at our live events and at Yellow Arrow House. They hand bound our publications and put as much love and tenderness into each copy as we could hope. Now that we are a mostly virtual publishing company, they focus on copyediting and proofreading as well as writing blogs and press releases. They create promotional material and images for our authors and create marketing campaigns. They help at live and virtual events and readings. And above all else, they support. Not only me but our authors as well. I am so thankful to have had them with me on this journey.

So let’s introduce the spring 2023 interns. Each has my appreciation.

Natasha Saar, publications intern

From New York City but lives in Baltimore, Maryland
*What do you do*? I assist with everything to do with publications. This includes writing blog posts, running social media campaigns, and working with the Editor-in-Chief to copyedit and proofread exciting and upcoming publications.
*Where do you go to school?* I’m currently a senior at Loyola University Maryland, and if all goes to plan, I’m going to be graduating this May.
*What are you currently working on*? I’ve been working on my university’s literary magazine, *Corridors*, and have also been working as a resident assistant for one of my university’s resident halls. Most of my current spare time is spent either with my hobbies, job hunting, or working for classes in advance.

Natasha Saar (she/her) is a senior at Loyola University, Maryland, pursuing a BA in English, and the spring 2022 publications intern at Yellow Arrow Publishing. She’s in charge of editing submissions at her university’s literary magazine, Corridors, and also works as a resident assistant. In her free time, she enjoys doing origami, baking, and playing niche video games.

After graduating, she intends to continue pursuing publishing, but is also happy pursuing any career that involves writing, preferably in some sort of creative fashion. Natasha has always loved working with language, it’s just a matter of making a comfortable living with it . . .

Why did you choose an internship with Yellow Arrow?

Everyone who likes reading and writing falls down the “what if I work with books” pipeline, and I figured a hands-on internship with a smaller company could give me a bigger insight into the publishing process. I also really resonated with Yellow Arrow’s mission and wanted to assist with it.

Beck Snyder, program management intern

Lives in Towson, Maryland

What do you do? I put together social media posts and schedule them, work on the monthly newsletter, copyedit Yellow Arrow Journal, and research for grants.

Where do you go to school? I go to school at Towson University, and I’ll be graduating in the spring of 2023, provided everything goes to plan.

What are you currently working on? As of right now, I’m mainly focused on graduating, as that’s coming up very quickly, but I’m also working on my own writing in my spare time. I completed a first draft of my own novel right before this semester, so I’ve started looking back through it and finding ways I can make it better.

Beck Snyder (she/they) is a student on the creative writing track at Towson University and is currently figuring out where they’re going in life. When they’re not knee-deep in homework or their own writing endeavors, you can usually find them playing video games, reading, or making stupid jokes with their friends.

Their future plans are a bit up in the air right now. Beck is planning on moving to New York City after graduation since the publishing industry is fairly big there, and they think they’d like to get a job in the industry while working on getting their own work published. Fingers crossed things go well!

Why did you choose a second internship with Yellow Arrow?

I chose to do a second internship with Yellow Arrow because I really loved Yellow Arrow’s mission and working with Annie Marhefka and Kapua Iao has been really great. I always feel like I’m contributing and that my schedule outside of Yellow Arrow is being taken into consideration so I don’t get overworked. This semester has been a bit different because now that I know the basics of how Yellow Arrow works as an organization and what we do here, Annie has trusted me with more responsibilities, like the newsletter and working on grants. It’s definitely cool to be back for a second semester and to be trusted to work on bigger things than I did last semester.

When not on Towson’s campus, you can find them in the tiny town of Clear Spring, Maryland, on Instagram @real_possiblyawesome or on Twitter @PossiblyAwesom if you’d like to hear the thoughts that pop into their head at three in the morning.

*****

Thank you to everyone who supports these women and all writers who toil away day after day. Please show them some love in the comments below or on Yellow Arrow’s Facebook or Instagram. If interested in joining us as an editorial associate or intern, fill out an application at yellowarrowpublishing.com/internships.

Kapua Iao 4/18/23 Kapua Iao 4/18/23

What’s in a Name: Women in Literature

By Jackie Alvarez-Hernandez, written October 2022

When we think about women in literature, famous names come to mind. The Brontë Sisters. Mary Shelley. Toni Morrison. Emily Dickinson. Zora Neale Huston.

We know them by their names today, but these women (and many more) had their own struggles when it came to publishing their work. Sometimes, the only way to get their work published and taken seriously was to take on a new name—a pen name that leaned more masculine or androgynous, of course.

Stephen Smith, in his book An Inkwell of Pen Names (2006), was able to find a lot of these pseudonyms and the history behind them. For instance, the Brontë Sisters—Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë—became the Bell Brothers when they first published their work. Charlotte became “Currer Bell,” Emily became “Ellis Bell,” and Anne was “Acton Bell.” Their first stories—Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and Agnes Grey, respectively—were originally published under these male pseudonyms.

According to Charlotte, in the introduction she wrote for Wuthering Heights, they did it because they did not want to face prejudice for having written pieces that were not “female-like.” They did not want their words used as weapons against them by critics of the time. They also did not want to receive praise for the mere fact that they were women writing, as it would not be “true praise.”

(What’s funny is that the only reason the ruse was discovered was because, at that time, the critics assumed all the novels written by the sisters were by Charlotte or Currer Bell. That is, they thought the other two “brothers” didn’t exist. When a publisher wished to publish a work of Anne’s or Acton’s in the United States under Charlotte’s pen name, the two chose to head to the publisher’s office in person to clear the matter. In her account of the meeting, Charlotte claims she laughed at his expression when he realized who she was.)

Another famous writer who used a masculine pen name, Louisa May Alcott, did so whenever she wrote stories revolving around darker and more serious themes, under the name of A.M. Bernard, though sometimes she also wrote them anonymously.

Meanwhile, Louisa saved her real name for her children’s and young adult books. Since the discovery of this occurred after her lifetime, we can only assume her reason for doing so: to ensure no one would associate her, a family-friendly writer, with works that were considered sensational for society back then—something unfit for women.

The works under the A.M. Bernard pen name include a short story titled “Pauline’s Passion and Punishment,” which is a psychological thriller that explores the roles of men and women in society, and Behind a Mask, or A Woman’s Power, a tale about a governess who isn’t what she claims to be. It also includes short stories such as “Countess Vororoff” and “Dr. Dorn’s Revenge” that were published in Lady’s Magazine, edited by Henry Carter, who also went by a pen name—Frank Leslie—at the time.

This trend of women writers having to take on a new name—even a unisex one—to have their work judged without bias is something that continues even to the current day.

Nora Roberts, famed for her romance novels, began writing the In Death series in 1995 under the pen name J.D. Robb. As stated on the author’s website, Roberts was not only “ready for a writing challenge” but also eager to reach a new audience with her futuristic crime series. With a new genre, she felt a need to switch the name out. Eventually, she revealed the truth and to this day continues to write the series under the pen name.

The VIDA Count, which is an annual report that complies data from publications, journals, and press outlets regarding the diversity of the work they publish and review, revealed that in 2019, only three out of 15 of the largest publications had published at least 50% or more of women and nonbinary writers (which were Tin House, The New York Times Book Review, and Poetry Magazine.). Meanwhile, publications such as Harper’s Magazine, The Nation, and The Atlantic remained low, not reaching beyond 40%.

The VIDA Count also showed only 18 of the 24 literary magazines they reviewed had published at least 50% or more of writing by women and nonbinary authors.

So, what does this all mean, then?

It means a lot of what past women writers worried about during their time—bias, prejudice, and unwarranted criticism—are something women writers still worry about today. It means that even now, we still have a lot of work to do when it comes to getting words written by a woman seen by the world.

But every day, more women come forward, unafraid to write what they want, in the form they want, with the name they want. And that’s what makes Yellow Arrow Publishing’s mission even more important. Because with every publication we make, another woman gets to tell her story, without worrying about being silenced.

So hopefully, as time goes on, and more women get published, the less we’ll need to worry over the influence of a name.

Jaqueline Alvarez-Hernandez (or just Jackie) (she/her) was born and raised in Frederick, Maryland, and just graduated from Loyola University Maryland with a bachelor’s degree in writing. A fan of stories whether on the page or on the movie screen, she hopes to start a career in book publishing that will allow her to explore any and all types of writing. She loves to read and write short stories in both fantasy and horror genres. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family and playing video games with her fiance. You can find her on Facebook @jackie.alvarezhernandez.77 or on Instagram @honestlytrue16.

*****

Kapua Iao 4/11/23 Kapua Iao 4/11/23

Living Life to the Fullest: Lifecycle of a Beautiful Woman by Ann Weil

Yellow Arrow Publishing announces the release of our latest chapbook, Lifecycle of a Beautiful Woman, by Ann Weil. Since its establishment in 2016, Yellow Arrow has devoted its efforts to advocate for all women writers through inclusion in the biannual Yellow Arrow Journal as well as single-author publications and Yellow Arrow Vignette, and by providing strong author support, writing workshops, and volunteering opportunities. We at Yellow Arrow are excited to continue our mission by supporting Ann in all her writing and publishing endeavors.

Lifecycle of a Beautiful Woman by Ann Weil dives head first into a life lived to its fullest, exploring both small and large moments, deftly demonstrating how our experiences and memories create who we were, who we are, and who we will be. From bedroom closet to funky island town, from salsa lessons to riding out a hurricane, Ann weaves us through painful and joyful personal learning moments, using her poetry to tell her powerful and reflective story. Ann compels us to consider our own moments, our own secrets, our own beauty, reminding us that “We aren’t meant to sleep through a tread-water life.”

Ann writes at her home on the corner of Stratford and Avon in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and on a deck boat at Snipe’s Point Sandbar off Key West, Florida. Her work has been nominated for Best of the Net and appears in more than 45 journals and anthologies including Crab Creek Review, Bacopa Literary Review, Whale Road Review, Shooter Literary Magazine, Eastern Iowa Review, and DMQ Review. Ann earned her doctorate at the University of Michigan and is a former special education teacher and professor of education.

Through this collection, Ann conveys that it is possible to survey multiple facets of oneself to find beauty within. Whether reflecting on womanhood, exploring the pain of loss, the complexities of marriage, the intimacies of friendship, the unspoken truths about pleasure, or the desire to love a body as one ages, she tells us that no matter what, we are more than okay as is. In a sense, Lifecycle of a Beautiful Woman is a love letter from Ann to every woman out there as well as to herself.

Cover and interior photography were taken by Jillian Mayotte and Kelsey Orr while cover design was by Alexa Laharty, Yellow Arrow Creative Director. Ann wanted the cover “to reflect the content of the book,” particularly through its quirky, playful imagery. According to Ann, “I like to have fun—I don’t like to take life too seriously.”

Paperback and PDF versions of Lifecycle of a Beautiful Woman are now available from the Yellow Arrow bookstore. If interested in purchasing more than one paperback copy for friends and family, check out our discounted wholesale prices here. You can also search for Lifecycle of a Beautiful Woman wherever you purchase your books including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. To learn more about Ann and Lifecycle of a Beautiful Woman, check out our recent interview with her.

You can find Ann on Instagram @annweilpoetry or annweilpoetry.com and connect with Yellow Arrow on Facebook and Instagram to share some love for this chapbook. You can also share a review to any of the major distributors or by emailing editor@yellowarrowpublishing.com. We’d love to hear from you.

*****

Yellow Arrow Publishing is a nonprofit supporting women writers through publication and access to the literary arts. Yellow Arrow Publishing is a nonprofit supporting women writers through publication and access to the literary arts. You can support us as we SPARK and sparkle this year: purchase one of our publications from the Yellow Arrow bookstore, join our newsletter, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Donations are appreciated via PayPal (staff@yellowarrowpublishing.com), Venmo (@yellowarrowpublishing), or US mail (PO Box 65185, Baltimore, Maryland 21209). More than anything, messages of support through any one of our channels are greatly appreciated.

Yellow Arrow 4/7/23 Yellow Arrow 4/7/23

Her View Friday

single-author publications
single pieces in journals, anthologies, etc. as well as prizes/awards

You can support our authors by reading this blog and their work, sharing their news, and commenting below or on the blog. Congratulations to all the included authors. We are so proud of you!

Every writer has a story to tell and every story is worth telling.

Author: Joanne Durham

Tell us about yourself: I am a retired educator living on the North Carolina coast. My poem “BABY!” was published in the RENASCENCE issue of Yellow Arrow Journal (spring 2021). I wrote a short piece on the Yellow Arrow blog about revision in May 2022. My first book was To Drink from a Wider Bowl, winner of the Sinclair Poetry Prize (Evening Street Press 2022), and my new chapbook is On Shifting Shoals (Kelsay Books, January 2023). You can find my poems also in Poetry South, CALYX, NC Literary Review, Ocotillo Review, Whale Road Review, and many other journals and anthologies. I consider myself incredibly lucky to be retired, living by the ocean with time to write and explore poetry with many poets I’ve met online.

Where are you from: Prince George’s County, Maryland

What describes your main writing space: expansiveness, ocean, immensity

Tell us about your publication: On Shifting Shoals (Kelsay Books, January 2023) includes 24 poems I’ve written over the past decade of living by the ocean. It explores my experiences of life in a southern beach town—the amazing beauty and sense of renewal of the ocean, environmental concerns in a time of climate change, and the sometimes humorous, sometimes uneasy relationships among the people who live there.

Why this book? Why now? How did it happen for you: When I moved to the North Carolina coast a decade ago, I started walking on the beach or riding my bike around my small town almost every day. I would take photos and started writing poems from those snapshots. The ocean, the people, the seasons—everything changes and invites new connections. Pretty soon I had a collection and I hoped it would appeal to anyone who never gets tired of the ocean.

What is your writing goal for the year: Erik Campbell once wrote, "I write poetry because I have a soul that needs a periodic tune-up." My goal is always that tune-up.

What advice do you have for other writers: Write as much and as often as you can, even if it’s just jotting thoughts in a journal. Take workshops if possible from poets whose work you admire and you will meet other poets with similar tastes to yours and they will be invaluable for supporting your writing and giving you honest feedback.

What else are you working on/doing that you’d like to share: I just keep writing. Lately it’s a lot about my concerns for the world we live in, how to live with the immense beauty and the immense cruelty that is everywhere.

You can find Joanne on Twitter @DurhamJoanne and Instagram @poetryjoanne.

Yellow Arrow (past and present) board, staff, interns, authors, residents, and instructors alike! Got a publication coming out? Let us help celebrate for you in Her View Friday.

Single-author publications: here.

Single pieces and awards/prizes: here.

Please read the instructions on each form carefully; we look forward to congratulating you!

*****

Kapua Iao 4/4/23 Kapua Iao 4/4/23

Meet a Staff Member: Allyson Waldon

Yellow Arrow Publishing would like to introduce our publication sales manager, Allyson Waldon. Ally’s entire world revolves around books. She recently received her MFA in creative writing and publishing arts from the University of Baltimore (UB). While at UB, Ally served as an editor for Welter, a literary magazine. When she isn’t writing, she manages operations at The Book Rack, a woman-run educational book distributor. In her free time, Ally performs with Baltimore-area community theaters and choirs. She is currently working on the creation of a new collaborative musical at Fells Point Corner Theater. She is also working on keeping her dog and cat from eating one another. Interior Lives, a self-published collection of short prose, can be found at allywaldon.com.

Ally states, “I’m excited to work with other creative people who share a similar vision. Lately, I’ve not been writing as much and I feel like working with Yellow Arrow will light up that area of my brain again. I also believe I have a lot to offer to the organization. My current workplace is sometimes reluctant to try new things to connect with a wider audience. It would be great to try and implement these ideas to build relationships with bookstores and to increase readership. I am eager to learn and to be able to use both my organizational workplace skills and my creative skills together in a productive way.”

Tell us a little something about yourself:

I really enjoy making, creating, performing. My MFA culminated in the creation and design of my own book (this includes everything except for physically printing them) and then a reading, which tapped into all of my interests. Who knew there were so many typefaces!

While at UB, I worked on a short-lived podcast for Welter in addition to serving as fiction editor. After graduating, one of my pieces was published in the magazine.

An interesting thing about my writing is that the basis of many of my stories come from a dream journal I keep in the Notes app on my phone. They can get very weird, but it is a great springboard for ideas.

What do you love most about Baltimore?

Baltimore has such a rich literary history (F. Scott Fitzgerald, Lucille Clifton, Edgar Allan Poe) and a great arts scene in general. It also is in close proximity to other east coast cities . . . no reading or concert or museum is more than a day trip away.

Baltimore has a certain quirkiness that many people don’t get, so it’s also a point of pride that I’m from here. Baltimoreans have a strong work ethic. We are resilient and resourceful, but we also know how to have a good time! Also, crabs are delicious. I mean, come on.

How did you get involved with Yellow Arrow and what do you do?

Annie Marhefka (Executive Director), my childhood babysitter, has known me since I was seven years old. Our mothers were best friends and coworkers who bonded over books, so this is in our blood! Annie mentioned to me that there was an opportunity to get involved with publication sales and building relationships with bookstores, which is a large part of my day job. It was meant to be.

What are you working on currently?

I’m collaborating with three other writers on a new musical at Fells Point Corner Theater about what it means to “try.” I’m also in the process of taking the helm at my workplace as the current owner retires. Daunting, but exciting.

What genre do you write (or read) the most and why?

I find that I’m most generative after reading memoir. Perhaps there’s some sort of lightning rod in the reality of someone else’s personal history that helps me tap into my own thoughts. I write flash and short fiction, but I also think flash can sometimes overlap with poetry. The lines are blurry for me.

What book is on the top of your to-be-read pile?

Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw is next on my list.

Who is your favorite writer and why?

Even though I’m a short form writer, I love and admire John Irving. It makes no sense why an elderly, white, male writer would resonate so deeply with me, but good craft is good craft, I suppose. I find myself getting fully absorbed in his books. The World According to Garp is probably my favorite of his.

Who has inspired and/or supported you most in your writing journey?

My mother has always encouraged me to pursue the things that I enjoyed doing rather than the things that would be the most lucrative. She has worked in books for many years and made sure I had access to anything and everything I wanted to read. My father was never ashamed to pick up a book that wasn’t necessarily written for him—a YA dystopian romance or a Hollywood memoir. It set a great example. I think wide exposure leads to better writing, so I have them both to thank for that.

What do you love most about writing?

Writing and creating in general is therapeutic to me. It helps me to dissect and even work out the things in my head. I love the research that comes along with writing. It takes everything in my power not to go off on tangents researching moon phases or the geography of Senegal (these are both real life examples), but I enjoy it immensely.

What advice do you have for new writers?

I would tell new writers to read beyond their genre. It broadens your worldview and helps your writing to be less insular. The best writers are good readers. I’ve been inspired by nonfiction and cookbooks and comic books and even Twitter threads.

What’s your vision for Yellow Arrow in 2023?

There is a lot to SPARK! This year, I hope to have a fire lit within me. I hated high school, but there were some good takeaways. Our school motto was “Lucem accepimus, lucem demus.” We have received light, let us give light. It might seem a little pretentious or even hokey, but it’s an ideal worth exemplifying. When creativity is sparked, it spreads. I hope the creative spark is lit within me, and I am able to tend to the flame in order to pass it on.

*****

Yellow Arrow 3/31/23 Yellow Arrow 3/31/23

Her View Friday

single-author publications
single pieces in journals, anthologies, etc. as well as prizes/awards

You can support our authors by reading this blog and their work, sharing their news, and commenting below or on the blog. Congratulations to all the included authors. We are so proud of you!

Every writer has a story to tell and every story is worth telling

“Mothers and Brothers” by Gargi Mehra FROM INDIA

Genre: poetry

Name of publisher: The Good Life Review

Date published: January 2023

Type of publication: online

thegoodlifereview.com/issue-ten/mothers-and-brothers-by-gargi-mehra/

"The Blue Tin" by Diann Leo-Omine from Sacramento, CALIFORNIA

Genre: creative nonfiction

Name of publisher: ANMLY

Date published: February 2023

Type of publication: online

medium.com/anomalyblog/from-the-fridge-to-the-frying-pan-the-blue-tin-8a5309095a30

Find Diann on Twitter @sweetleoomine, Instagram @sweetleoomine, and Facebook @diann.michelle.

Yellow Arrow (past and present) board, staff, interns, authors, residents, and instructors alike! Got a publication coming out? Let us help celebrate for you in Her View Friday.

Single-author publications: here.

Single pieces and awards/prizes: here.

Please read the instructions on each form carefully; we look forward to congratulating you!

*****

Kapua Iao 3/28/23 Kapua Iao 3/28/23

My Top 12 Books of 2023 to Read from Natasha Saar

By Natasha Saar

With March coming to a close, there’s still plenty of time for you to spend reading, reading, reading. If you can tear your eyes away from Yellow Arrow Publishing’s work, I've compiled a list of 2023 must-read books that might tickle a similar reading itch . . . and you’ll get to see what everyone’s reading nowadays.

1. Good for a Girl by Lauren Fleshmen (Penguin Press, get your copy here)

In this half-memoir, half-manifesto, Lauren Fleshmen tackles the world of running and commercialized sporting from its greatest highs to its greatest lows—and there are much more of the latter. Fleshmen gives voice to girls fitting into a sporting system designed to lift men and, with someone with her multitude of experience, she has a lot of it.

2. Yellowface by R.F. Kuang (Harper Collins, out in May, get your copy here)

After the death of fellow student and literary superstar Athena Liu, fame-hungry Jane Hayward is hit with an idea: steal Athena’s manuscript and pass it off as her own. So, what if it’s about Chinese laborers under the British and French in World War I? Even if Jane’s not from Athena’s exact background, shouldn’t this story get told? Reviewers seem to agree, but critics seem convinced there’s something Hayward isn’t telling them. . .

3. Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor (Riverhead Books, get your copy here)

Sunny’s the lady-killer heir, Ajay’s the family maid, and Neda’s the plucky journalist. Their one similarity: a connection to the Mercedes that jumped the curb, killed five, and left one baffled servant. Now, they’re caught in a plot that spans towns, families, friendships, and romances, and you’d better hope it ends with them keeping their heads. It’s the Indian mystery thriller you always knew you wanted!

4. A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher (Nightfire, get your copy here)

If you’re like this blogger, you like a good Southern gothic—and if you’re not like this blogger, you might still want to give this one a look. After accepting an extended visit home, Sam discovers a house quieter, dustier, and emptier than she remembered. With her Mom’s trembling hands and the vultures circling overhead, Sam feels like there’s anything but a good omen rising.

5. Old Babes in the Wood: Stories by Margaret Atwood (Doubleday, get your copy here)

Margaret Atwood returns to short fiction for the first time since 2014 with a series of tales that depict a mother-daughter relationship. The twist? The mother purports to be a witch. It’s a bunch of bite-sized glimpses into what family means when it’s held down by baggage, fantasy, and complications.

6. Happy Place by Emily Henry (Berkley, get your copy here)

If you’re into some contemporary chick lit, Emily Henry has delivered yet again. This time, the package is in the form of a college romance, an annual getaway, and a breakup. Except this breakup happened six months ago, and they haven’t told their friends. Not wanting to ruin their yearly vacation, Harriet and Wyn agree to pretend to be a couple for one more week . . . but will the facade break, or stop being one at all? (Knowing the genre, probably the latter.)

7. The Faraway World: Stories by Patricia Engel (Avid Reader Press, get your copy here)

Engel takes us on a journey of Latin America's communities burdened by poverty, family, and grief, and there are a lot of them to be had. This compilation of 10 (previously published) short stories will give you a taste of the full breadth of human experiences with an authentic voice, witty writing, and vulnerability that will touch anyone.

8. My Last Innocent Year by Daisy Alpert Florin (Henry Holt, get your copy here)

Isabel Rosen is part of the prestigious elite, about to graduate into eliter, and has always felt out of place. After a nonconsensual encounter with one of the only other Jewish students on campus, she’s about to feel that even worse. A whirlwind affair with her older, married writing professor is the only thing she has to cope, but nothing about it seems to bode well for her.

9. Really Good, Actually by Monica Heise (William Morrow, get your copy here)

Maggie’s got it all: a dead-end thesis, a dead-end marriage, dead-end savings, and she’s not even 30. With her support group by her side, Maggie barrels through her first year newly single with wit, humor, and heavy self-deprecation. Emphasis on all three, and additional emphasis on it being a wild ride.

10. The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley (Berkley, get your copy here)

Tanner’s chance to escape a life made up of 19 hours of video games comes with an opportunity to be an elderly woman’s live-in caregiver. Simple, except for the fact that Louise didn’t want a caretaker in the first place, looks weirdly similar to a prolific jewelry thief, and, one day, insists that they leave town immediately. Thus ensues a wacky road trip that spawns an equally wacky—and unlikely—friendship.

11. Wolfish: Wolf, Self, and the Stories We Tell About Fear by Erica Berry (Flatiron Books, get your copy here)

Erica Berry has walked a years-long quest to study the cultural legacy of the wolf, and this is the result. If you’re interested in wolves, this will tell you all you need to know. If you’re not, you can find criticism, journalism, and memoirs galore that let us peer into the world of predator and prey. What does it mean when we, as humans, can be both?

12. I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai (Viking, get your copy here)

Bodie’s ready to leave her past behind her, but she can’t resist her ala mater inviting her back to campus to teach a course. That just means she’s back to thinking about her college roommate’s grisly murder, and how strange the conviction was, and how she has this nagging feeling that, back in 1995, she might’ve known the key to solving the case. But is it too late to run it back?

Have you read any of these already? Did I miss a few most-definitely, absolutely-necessary mentions? Tell us about it in a comment so that we can pick up a copy today.

Natasha Saar (she/her) is a senior at Loyola University Maryland, pursuing a BA in English, and the spring 2023 publications intern at Yellow Arrow Publishing. She’s in charge of editing nonfiction submissions at her university’s literary magazine, Corridors, and also works as a resident assistant in her dorm hall. In her free time, she enjoys folding origami, baking, and playing social deduction games.

*****

Kapua Iao 3/21/23 Kapua Iao 3/21/23

All My Languages: A Conversation with Elizabeth M. Castillo

By Melissa Nunez, written January 2023

In all my languages I have found there is no word for you. Although most vowels are the
same, no matter where they sit on your tongue, and life goes on, I’ve noticed, and tries to
drag one along with it. But my bags are not packed. – “New start”

Elizabeth M. Castillo is a British-Mauritian poet who writes in a variety of different languages under a variety of pen names. Her work has been featured in publications and anthologies across the globe such as FERAL: A Journal of Poetry and Art and Poetry Wales. In her writing Elizabeth explores the different countries and cultures she grew up with, as well as themes of race and ethnicity, motherhood, womanhood, language, love, and loss. She self-published her bilingual, debut collection Cajoncito: Poems on Love, Loss, y Otras Locuras in 2021. And we are excited that Elizabeth had poetry accepted to Yellow Arrow Journal, Vol. VIII, No. 1, KINDLING, coming out in May! Thank you for thinking of us in February when journal submissions were open.

Elizabeth engages the writing community with a confidence and open-minded grace that is admirable, and she energetically supports and promotes other indie authors. I was delighted we were able to coordinate a video conference despite a 12-hour time difference while she was spending some time in Mauritius. We had a conversation about the versatility and power of poetry, the lure of languages, and even connected over the homeschooling experience.

When did you first fall in love with poetry?

When I was a child, I loved Edward Lear. My parents would buy Victorian (and Edwardian) poetry, limericks, and silliness—I can still recite many of them now. That is where my love for the musicality and playfulness of words comes from. When I am writing poetry, I find that the syncopated rhythm from those early (think Rudyard Kipling) poems sometimes comes back to me. I also feel that I discovered poetry a second time, for myself, when I was a teenager. I was quite a depressed teenager even though I didn’t realize it at the time, we didn’t have that kind of vocabulary back then. I would write all my heartbreak and misunderstandings into poetry and that is when poetry became therapeutic for me. Now, as an adult, it is a mix of both. I can play with poetry, or it can be a help to me. I think poetry should be whatever you need it to be as a writer and as a reader.

Who are your favorite women writers?

Warsan Shire is the kind of poet I would love to emulate. Ada Limón is absolutely fantastic as well. There are several other inspiring poets I have discovered through social media, like Nikki Dudley, Melissa Hernandez, and Mary Ford Neal. I actually have a fangirl story here: I boosted Mary’s first book so much, out of pure love for it, that she acknowledged me in her second book!

As for nonfiction, Ariel Saramandi is an excellent Mauritian essayist. My relationship with Mauritius is a complicated one because I had a difficult time living here, but it is the biggest part of my heritage. I also grew up all over the place so there is that diasporic feeling of belonging/unbelonging present. Reading Saramandi’s work has given me an extra push into exploring that side of my reality and discovering more of what it means to be Mauritian, from the southern hemisphere, a woman of color, a writer of color, a linguistic minority, and all these things. Her writing is so impactful. You read her essays and you need to pause after each section and breathe before coming back to it.

How can I show them

what it is to talk;

how to cut the thoughts down to

word-shapes,

and coax the heart, and tongue, into

speaking?

Conditionals, perhaps?

The language of what could never be,

or what might have been. – “Paris, mi-octobre”

Writing on identity and heritage, especially in relation to the diaspora, is becoming more prevalent. I have been exploring my own connection to heritage, history, and language (trying to develop my Spanish and dig even deeper by researching Nahuatl) fueled by that feeling of unbelonging that you mention. Why do you think these stories are so resonant?

I follow some people on social media that post about Indigenous languages like Nahuatl and discuss the origins of words and what has been misused or appropriated. I feel like these resources are so important because otherwise we are shooting in the dark and there is this massive gap in identities. I am not someone who feels we need to just erase all of the literary canon so far and everything, but there is such space and such a rich diversity of stories that I believe people want to read. We are tired of reading the same perspective in poetry, at least in my case. I’ve picked up some of the acclaimed poets, especially North American poets, and there are one or two that I’m like, “Yeah, this is a banger.” But then there’s another poem about sitting in the woods looking at birds, and another on the same, and then at the country house looking at birds. First of all, who lives that life? Second, that is not what I want to read. It is not what makes me excited and inspires me to read and write. It is not what makes me feel seen and heard, what gives words to my experience. I believe a lot of that representation is found in these cultures and in these emerging voices like the ones platformed by publications like Yellow Arrow [Publishing]. So, it is exciting to see, whether it is an educational YouTube account, or a writer, or an essayist, these voices getting the attention not just that they deserve but that the world needs. It is what readers need.

Although I am not fully fluent in many languages, I am drawn to the musicality of different accents and sounds in different tongues. Do you ever switch languages in your poems after they’ve been drafted for the sound?

When I have worked in a language, when I work in Portuguese, or Spanish, or French, or Kreol, it is because the poem has come to me in that language. I don’t touch that because in some cases it’s not my first language or the language I am most comfortable working in. If they appear to me like that then I am not going to scare them away. I have, however, switched some poems into English. I have been working on a chapbook on motherhood and daughterhood (experiencing motherhood with mental illness, parentified children, and all that kind of thing) and I felt like I needed to focus more on French, but for some reason my muse isn’t a fan of La Francophonie. I would put things in French, and it would just feel so unnatural. Even though they were beautiful, they were just not working and so I would have to put them back into English.

Ya no soy aquella florecita- / I’m no longer that tiny little flower

En muchedumbre me converti, / I’ve become an entire horde,

En selva entera, ¡ten cuidado! / a whole jungle, but watch your step! – “Aquella florecita”

Do you have any favorite words that you often use, or have felt drawn to including in a piece?

I’ve spent some time in Chile (in fact my Spanish is Chilean more than anything else) and I love the sound of words in Mapudungun, the language of the Mapuche which are the indigenous tribes of mostly the south of Chile. Pichintún, which means “a little bit,” is in one of my poems. I say “pichintún of miel on my lengua,” which is a little bit of honey on my tongue. I love the word muchedumbre. I just think that it sounds like what it is. Even cajoncito is a word that I absolutely adore, the way it just rolls off the tongue and the way it just almost looks like what it is. Or maybe I’m just being a bit of a linguist about it. . . .

In a language workshop you led (through Crow Collective) you talked about writers being able to respectfully incorporate languages in their writing even if they are not native or fluent speakers. What advice do you have for those learning new languages and navigating the full context of usage without that experience?

There is such a fear nowadays of getting things wrong, of being seen as culturally appropriating or disrespecting something. It is a good consciousness to have but it mustn’t become a fear because then we don’t do anything. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging a mistake and apologizing for missing the mark on the meaning or context of a word. We are all learning and without this mindset we are promoting the opposite of diversity. We would all just be gatekeeping experiences until everybody is fluent or everybody has lived every experience and that is not possible. On the contrary, language and culture are fluid. They mix and they change as they encounter one another and that is the beauty of it. Just look at English and how it has evolved because so many people are speaking it all over the world. If you approach a new language with that humility and awareness, that it is something separate from you or related to you in whatever limited context, then I think that you can’t go too far wrong. There must be a respect, an admiration, and an understanding for it. The attitude should not be one of taking things and using them for personal gain, especially if you are operating from a place of privilege yourself, but rather handling them with respect and honor. That is what makes the difference. It might seem like a vague answer but that is my approach. The ability to acknowledge mistakes and say, “Hey, I messed this one up,” or “I didn’t understand it,” is underrated and gets you very far in life.

Do you have any tips for learning new languages or favorite resources to share?

Move to the country that speaks it and don’t speak your own language to anyone. Put yourself in the middle of the village . . . but no, that’s not always possible. As a language teacher I would say you find the medium that you enjoy. If you are very musical, plunge yourself into music and look up music interviews in the language. That is how I came to Spanish. I used to listen to Gloria Estefan and Shakira and look up the lyrics. I would use my knowledge of French to understand what I could and then translate the rest. That was literally my first start with Spanish when I was a teenager. If you are literary, look up short stories. Find something that you love and enter the language from there. Then, you will keep loving it when it gets tricky. Some languages, for example if you are a native Arabic speaker and you are coming to a Latin-based language, might require a couple of language classes (whether it is through an app or one-on-one) so you can get your head around the different language system. But many of us, I think, have some knowledge of most of the languages we want to speak and coming into it from a point of pleasure, of interest, of engagement will get you very far.

Come, fresh tears spilled into the clean laundry, come,

those few, thrilling seconds I hold myself underwater in the bath.

Come, sweet, bewitching intensity, step this way,

total disregard for consequence. – “Gathering my children to me”

Do you have a favorite poem that you have written or one you find the most fun to read?

I do. Well, favorite is difficult. It depends on the time of day really. I love the final poem in Cajoncito, “I thought of you today.” That poem just fell out of me. There is such catharsis in it and there was such catharsis from writing it. It is a happy-place poem. When I read it, I am very relaxed. I love “Gathering my children to me,” which actually doesn’t get much rep, like no one has ever said they love it. That is a personal favorite because I thought it was very clever when the idea came to me. It is very fun to perform because it is basically me telling all my faults to get in line because they have made a mess of where we are, and we have to leave. A poem that was written as a joke that everyone seems to adore and so I’ve come to love as well is the opening poem, “Can I send you my poems?” It was meant to be an absolute tongue-in-cheek, self-deprecating piece because I am so dramatic and feel all-the-things-all-the-time. It was meant to be that, and then I read it to my husband. He was like, “That’s excellent.” He is not in any way literary so for him to enjoy it was something. And when I shared it with other people, they also said it was good. There are a handful of shorter poems as well that are very personal and very precious to me, but I never read them. They still carry a bit of a sting, so I actually avoid them, but they mean a lot to me.

What advice would you give to those writing through grief/loss?

Keep writing. Until the pen and your heart are empty, just keep doing it. Let it all out. If you are in any way task-minded or outcome-minded, try your hardest to put that aside and just write. Don’t edit, don’t think of where it is going or what you can make of it. This can be hard because we don’t have that much time in the day and we want to be productive, to earn something, to publish something. But just keep writing and don’t think. Write and write and write and write. At some points it might feel like a hose that has a hole in it. You know there is water there and it is building up, but it is just coming out in drops. Or if there’s some big tangle, a good way of untangling it is just to shift your perspective. In a lot of my poetry, in many of my pieces from my new chapbooks I am working on, I have shifted the perspective and the speaker. I have written as myself outside of myself where I put my story from someone else or I have made my narrator male instead of female. I have also shifted the time frame and rather than after the loss I’ve written from before the loss. So, if ever it feels like a tangle, shift where you are standing and see if that helps. Sometimes that little shift suddenly brings the whole thing out. It is amazingly cathartic to the point where, for me, if you can read the poem, a personal poem that is a piece of your heart, and you feel nothing except enjoyment of your work, then you’ve got it. You’ve done it. You have achieved the goal. It is very satisfying to see something written literally laced in tears that is now just a great piece of writing.

I am running out of languages to grieve in. – “Saudades”

As a fellow homeschooling mom, I was excited to see that mentioned in your author bio. How do you feel homeschooling has affected your writing perspective or voice?

It affects my writing—full stop—because who has the time? A lot of homeschool moms tend to get the reputation of wanting everyone else to jump on the wagon with them, but I’m like, “No. Please don’t. You will fall off and hurt yourself. I’m barely hanging on to the wheel!” The choice to homeschool is a very personal one that every family must decide for themselves. If you do not have 1000% conviction to do it, do not do it. Writing and poetry take a lot from me. It is not just five or ten minutes; it takes time to sit down and work. One of my convictions in this life choice is that everything that comes outside of it is always something extra. Time spent on one thing is automatically time taken from something else. My only sort of barometer was that if my writing was in any way affecting my children, if they felt they were being deprived of me, then I would have to rethink what I was doing. At no point has that been the case. On the contrary, my daughters have blossomed seeing me write. They love to come and sit next to me when I’m writing with a pen and paper and write their own stories. Other times they will say, “Oh, mummy, can we write this as a poem? I want to write a poem about my little sister because I love her so much.” If anything, it is somehow joined into the homeschooling life of being creative and taking time to contemplate things. My creative time benefits them and I’m a better mother for it because it keeps me sane. I think homeschooling obviously adds to your workload as a mother. As a mother who suffers from anxiety and depression, I have times when I struggle with my mental health. I’m also fairly convinced that I have ADHD along with being severely dyslexic. It is already a lot to deal with, and I talk about it a lot in all those poems that come out as “What am I doing? Why did anyone trust me with kids?” If I had all my ducks in a row, then maybe I wouldn’t be able to write or feel the need to write about motherhood and daughterhood.

Writing also gives me such an intimate relationship with my children. It is incredibly inspiring to see the world from their perspective. I have a poem that is going into my new chapbook called “What My Four-Year-Old Tantrumed.” It is literally what my four-year-old shouted when she was having a tantrum and brushing her teeth. It was so poetic. It started with, “I just want to be in the dark and brush my teeth.” And I thought, “Yes, don’t we all.” It just went on and it sounded like a poem, and I mean terrible mother of the year award, but I was outside the door furiously typing what she was saying while she was having a tantrum. It made a great poem! I think these experiences definitely influence voice because you write about real things, which cycles back to what I said about wanting to read about reality. I know that is what I want as a reader. If I’m not going to read about reality, I want to read fantasy or science fiction. When I read poetry, I want to read something I can relate to, something that feels like “Yeah. Totally. That chick gets it.” All off these things can only happen when they are informed by reality, which is kids who are stroppy and tired and pushing your boundaries and have far more energy than should be legal. That definitely influences my poetry.

And finally, to bring this wonderful conversation to a close, what would you pick as your personal mascot?

I think I would probably be some kind of frog or other creature that stays very still and then moves around a lot and then stays very still again. That is literally me. I’d love to say something graceful and wondrous like a dolphin but that doesn’t fit. You know what? It would probably be an Octopus. It comes out, turns all these brilliant colors, and is odd and amazing but probably prefers to be in a hole somewhere pretending to be a piece of coral. An octopus, definitely.

Elizabeth M. Castillo’s bilingual, debut collection Cajoncito: Poems on Love, Loss, y Otras Locuras is for sale on Amazon, and her debut chapbook Not Quite an Ocean will be published by Nine Pens Press in 2023. You can connect with her on Twitter and Instagram as @EMCWritesPoetry or on her website elizabethmcastillo.net.

Melissa Nunez is a Latin@ writer and homeschooling mother of three from the Rio Grande Valley. Her essays have appeared in magazines like HerStory and Honey Literary. She has work forthcoming in Hypertext, Scrawl Place, and others. She is a columnist at The Daily Drunk and a staff writer for Alebrijes Review. You can follow her on Twitter @MelissaKNunez.

*****

Kapua Iao 3/14/23 Kapua Iao 3/14/23

Finding Grace and Humor in Womanhood: A Conversation with Ann Weil about Lifecycle of a Beautiful Woman

Ann Weil glances out the window of her Key West home. “There’s a person who wears a full-on Spiderman outfit and rides a skateboard on their way to and from wherever Spider-people go, and then the next minute, there will be chickens in my yard and the love is in the air—it’s just a crazy place,” she says. Ann is explaining the reasons why she and her husband decided to spend their winters in Key West and “having a poem walk by [her] window every day” is at the top of her list: “I saw a guy yesterday in a full-on pirate outfit walking down the street probably going to work and that is the norm and that’s where I fit in.” Ann adds that as a poet, Key West is an ideal place to draw inspiration because of its strong literary history. Elizabeth Bishop, Ernest Hemingway, and Shel Silverstein all lived and wrote there, and currently, “Judy Blume owns the bookstore, and I get to see her when I shop there.”

Ann was fueled by the Key West literary community of past and present while working on Lifecycle of a Beautiful Woman, the newest Yellow Arrow Publishing chapbook, set to release next month. In her upcoming collection, Ann explores the oscillation of emotions that accompany aging as a woman in our society. “I think all women have a part of their lives where they feel at their most beautiful . . . and a sense of power that comes along with . . . that external beauty. Then, you get older, and it fades and . . . its deflating.” She continues, “Sometimes, I look in a mirror and I don’t recognize the person. And the thing is, I don’t feel as old as I look, I still feel like I’m 27, but I’m almost 62 so it’s a really interesting journey.” This balance between coming to terms with internal and external perceptions of oneself is at the heart of Ann’s chapbook. In each of Ann’s poems, she boldly embraces the messiness and heaviness that life brings while also weaving in humor. The vulnerability that she brings to her writing as she explores relationships with lovers, friends, and her body allows us all to remember that to be human is to make mistakes, learn from them, and still move forward with our heads held high.

Lifecycle of a Beautiful Woman is now available for PRESALE (click here for wholesale prices) and will be released April 2023. Follow Yellow Arrow @yellowarrowpublishing on Facebook and Instagram for more information. Recently, Yellow Arrow Vignette Manager, Siobhan McKenna took some time to speak with Ann about her inspiration behind Lifecycle of a Beautiful Woman. Ann was published in Yellow Arrow Vignette AWAKEN in 2022, so it seemed like a great opportunity for Siobhan to reconnect.

Understanding that

this body will carry me to the next, each radiant rendition

fading, falling away until the only beauty left is bone.

“Lifecycle of a Beautiful Woman”

What does your writing process look like?

In terms of the actual writing process, I try to raise my awareness of everything. My environmental surroundings, the people. I keep notes on my phone, notes in a journal of things that strike me as interesting images or characters or lines. I eavesdrop in the drugstore. I just am constantly trying to be a pack rat. Then, [the words] sit and percolate in my mind and then something speaks to me.

I’ve also always felt like I am what you call “a one-night-stand poet.” When I’m in the moment, whether I’m writing about yesterday or 10 years ago, I write, and I’m in that zone. I have the flow thing going on and I am so in love with what I’m writing. And I think—this is it. This is the poem that is going to be great. And I love it, love it, love it. And then usually the next day—I’ll look at that poem and I hate it. OMG. I can’t believe it. I say, “This is terrible, and it makes no sense, and I don’t have time for it anymore.” But then, as part of the revision process (if I let it sit long enough), I can go back to those poems and say to myself, “this is pretty good actually.” I don’t know what that is—that one-night-stand thing—that search for something perfect. But then, if you just let it all settle . . . either I can recognize it is a good poem or there are elements of the poem that are good, and I’ll pluck those out and put them in [a poem] going forward.

Where do you find your inspiration for your work?

I read a ton of poetry. I just wrote a poem, and I pulled the epigraph from one of Mary Oliver’s. . . . The line was: “how the little stones even if you can’t hear them are singing.” Then I went from [that quote] and did a persona poem as the stone. So that was my inspiration. I do a lot of “after” poems. Sayeed Jones has this amazing poem called “The Blue Dress,” and it’s a marvelous play in metaphor—rolling metaphors just one after the other to explore the dress. And it made me think, “I gotta write a dress poem,” because for years I had a size eight rainbow-colored dress in my closet . . . so I wrote a poem called “Sequin Dress Size Eight Never Worn.” I also get a lot of inspiration from fellow poets, and I take a lot of classes. I’ve done all of Ellen Bass’s craft talk series, and I’ve taken a class with Kim Addonizio and Rick Barot I’m a serious lifelong learner—that’s how I feel most alive.

You mentioned Mary Oliver, what other poets or writers have inspired you?

So many! Mary Oliver totally saved my life at different times with lines from her poetry. Also: Ellen Bass, Yusef Komunyakaa, Ruth Stone, Ada Limon, Ocean Vuong. It’s amazing that someone’s words can have such a profound effect on another human being that they don’t know.

To open your chapbook you use the poem, “What were you thinking, Pandora?” about how you have opened doors in your life without thinking about all the consequences that could follow. I’m wondering if you think most humans are intrinsically like Pandora and yourself. Are we all inclined “to peek” with a “boxcutter in hand”?

Oh yeah—I worry about people who aren’t. I know that there are more people who are more self-controlled than I am and get into fewer messes in life—and more power to them. But I’m just open. I want to be out there and experience everything I can in the short time that I have on this planet. So, you gotta open the boxes. Sometimes, it’s a mistake to open the boxes, but it definitely leads to living a fuller life—I’ll tell you that.

Clearly a lesson here, but . . .
temptation rings the doorbell
and there I am, boxcutter in hand.
Yes, I peek. Often.

“What Were You Thinking, Pandora?”

In “She Takes a Second Mistress,” you choose the word “mistress” to talk about your love of painting. When I think of the word, I conjure the words “immoral” or “forbidden.” Why did use the word mistress when it comes to your writing and painting?

Obsession. Obsession. Theoretically, when you have a mistress or lover, initially you’re obsessed. For a while, I dabbled in painting, so it was a second mistress, but my first mistress is writing. I’m obsessed with writing. It’s my favorite thing to do and I’m thinking about it all the time. It was easy to write about [painting] when you think about all the rich language painting evokes. It was an obsession and also wanting to be good at something—a new relationship, in this case, painting.

Wow. I love that. I thought you were going to go a different route with your answer because when I read the poem, I thought about the devaluing of art in our society, and seeing painting as a “mistress” would imply it’s an illegitimate hobby or career in some way.

Yeah, that’s interesting. That never entered my mind. If you just look at [an affair] from the view of the lover, it’s a really good and exciting and wonderful thing because somehow you have a hole in you that needs to be filled . . . [and] there’s a euphoria of being loved and wanted and desired. And I had that for a little while with painting—not that it loved me, but I loved it so much. And I am still head over heels with writing and I can’t see that will ever stop. So, I guess I never want to be married to my writing—I just want to have an affair with it *laughs*—this interview is going off the rails!

she thinks about the places that hurt, and knows

the truth—if you leave first you can’t be left.

“In the Pastel Hour”

Many of your poems reflect on difficult relationships: lovers, fathers, the one with yourself. Do you find writing as a way to process these experiences in the moment or is it only after you’ve processed, and time has passed, that you can write about them?

I’m totally doing both. I’m processing everything in my life right now. Whether it happened five minutes ago or 40 years ago. As a teacher, one of the most valuable lessons I learned in college [when I was] preparing to teach was [how to be] a reflective teacher. As a teacher, after every lesson, I was taught that you should think about: what do you need to change, keep, toss? [I’ve carried this practice] with me through my whole life. I am still trying to put tools in my toolbox to grow my skillset [in order] to handle whatever life throws at me. You can’t do that without reflection. So, yes, [I continue to reflect] whether it’s an interaction I had five minutes ago with somebody or a long, long time ago. And sometimes you have to leave things in the past in order to deal with them at a later date and there can still be value [on reflecting] at a later point.

Why do you feel it’s important to release these poems into the world—with whom would you like them to resonate?

First and foremost: other women. . . . Other women have become so important to me as I’ve evolved. Their friendship, their openness and willingness to exchange and explore things that are really hard. Falling apart bodies, falling apart relationships. I’m getting to that stage in life when bad shit is happening. I’ve always loved men—obviously. But other women are just the heart and soul of everything. And the women in my mainstay writer’s group are so interesting, we got together at the beginning of the pandemic and they’re now my closest friends. My closest friends are in a box in a computer screen!

[My] poetry is all about my feelings and connecting with other people’s feelings and trying to [write] something that is true to myself and universal. And even if you’re a truck driver from New Jersey you might be able to read my poem and feel something. I really try to be accessible in my writing and that is one of my struggles: I’m probably too accessible for today’s modern poetry world. But it’s important to me . . . to connect with the wider community.

What do you think that others can take away from your writing?

Life is amazing and wonderful, but life is really, really hard. Both sides of that coin deserve attention and reflection when you get toward the end (although . . . there’s this lady who just died at 120 . . . maybe I’m only halfway through, but I really don’t want to live that long). . . . I’ve had a lot of tragedy and hard times in my life. I’ve had three marriages—third time lucky. I’ve had death—my children’s father died in a car crash. So, there’s a lot of tough stuff that’s all there.

And one of my all-time favorite words is grace. [I hope others read my chapbook and take away] grace—to give yourself grace and others grace. And to not hold onto failures and grudges and the bad stuff. But not being afraid either to take it out and explore it when you need to. And to keep looking forward: with three husbands—don’t write marriage off your list because I feel so lucky that I kept trying to find my partner and it’s not that I didn’t love the other two men that I was married to. I loved them deeply, but they weren’t the right person for me for the long haul. And humor. When in doubt, throw some humor in.

How long must I wait for this difficult truth

To roost in my addled birdbrain?

That it’s not my job to paint the sky

a painless shade of blue

“At the Al-Anon Tables I Learn to Shut My Beak”

I love that for Lifecycle of a Beautiful Woman’s cover art, your daughter, a photographer, visited you in Key West and photographed you in a pool. What was your inspiration behind the cover art?

I wanted it to reflect the content of the book, which is definitely about womanhood, about beauty, about life, loss, love. But I also [wanted the cover to] be very indicative of the style of poetry that I tend to gravitate towards which is quirky. I like to have fun—I don’t like to take life too seriously.

[For the front cover], I got in my mother’s pool wearing pink high heels and the shot is of just my legs floating in the beautiful blue waters and then, on the back cover we have this shot where I’m trying to do a handstand in the water so my legs with the pink, high-heeled shoes are just splayed all over the place.

With the covers, I’m trying to [convey] to people that yes, this is about womanhood and beauty, but it’s also fun which sums up who I strive to be. [I’m] someone who can look at the serious parts of life and lives the serious parts of life, but damn, if I’m not gonna have some fun along the way.

Final question, how did you learn about Yellow Arrow and why did you decide to publish with us?

I learned about [Yellow Arrow] through Duotrope. . . . I pay attention to their weekly calls for submission and heard about [Yellow Arrow] there. I always go to the publisher’s site to see if my work might be a good fit. [After I went to Yellow Arrow’s site], I thought these folks are doing what I’m doing: writing about womanhood, exploring it, and celebrating it. I felt a strong affinity with your website and reading the work of other women. After that, deciding to publish was easy.

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Thank you, Ann and Siobhan, for sharing your conversation. Preorder your copy of Lifecycle of a Beautiful Woman today. Yellow Arrow Publishing is a nonprofit supporting women writers through publication and access to the literary arts. Yellow Arrow Publishing is a nonprofit supporting women writers through publication and access to the literary arts. You can support us as we SPARK and sparkle this year: purchase one of our publications from the Yellow Arrow bookstore, join our newsletter, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Donations are appreciated via PayPal (staff@yellowarrowpublishing.com), Venmo (@yellowarrowpublishing), or US mail (PO Box 65185, Baltimore, Maryland 21209). More than anything, messages of support through any one of our channels are greatly appreciated.

Kapua Iao 3/7/23 Kapua Iao 3/7/23

Meet a Board Member: Nikita Rimal Sharma

Yellow Arrow Publishing is incredibly excited to officially introduce our Director of Fundraising, Nikita Rimal Sharma, to the Yellow Arrow family. Nikita currently resides in Baltimore, Maryland, and is originally from Kathmandu, Nepal. Professionally, she works at B’More Clubhouse, a mental health nonprofit that is all about working toward reintegration and finding a community for adults living with mental illness. Her sources of joy include long walks with her dog, Stone, curling up with a good book, and documenting her thoughts and emotions. She also loves spending time with close family and friends, especially her husband, Prashant.

Nikita states, “I have been so inspired by the women at Yellow Arrow. The way everyone approaches their role with so much intention, love, confidence, and passion continues to give me the fuel to better myself and also believe in myself. I am looking forward to more magical moments like this.”

She recently took some time to answer some questions for us. Show her some love in the comments or on Facebook/Instagram!

Tell us a little something about yourself:

The title poem from my chapbook, The most beautiful garden, was just nominated for the Pushcart Prize by Yellow Arrow Publishing, and I could not be more thrilled and honored.

What do you love most about Baltimore?

I love how people in Baltimore seem more real and raw. Although the media and social structure may not have been fair to the city, I feel as if the people here have so much resiliency in the way they never give up. I also love how each neighborhood has its own personality as well.

How did you get involved with Yellow Arrow and what do you do?

Like Gwen Van Velsor (Yellow Arrow Founder) wanted it to be, [my joining Yellow Arrow] was serendipitous. I was just walking in the Highlandtown neighborhood with my colleague. The door to the then Yellow Arrow House was open, and it looked very inviting. I went in, learned a little, and googled about it later. I saw that there was a poetry class coming up which was Ann Quinn’s Poetry is Life class. I thought it was exactly what I needed then, and I was right.

What are you working on currently?

I am realizing that I need to be consistent with filling my days and time with things that bring me joy and inner fulfillment for my emotional and mental health. When life gets busy, it’s easy to stay preoccupied . . . and forget and move away from practices and habits that make you feel rested and grounded. I am trying to stay more consistent with doing things such as writing, reading, and going on long walks daily so I can continue to fill my cup with positive energy.

What genre do you write and why?

I write poetry because I love how I can say so much with so few words. Poetry is also great because it gives the reader a chance to interpret the poem to their liking and circumstances.

Who is your favorite writer and why?

I must go with Mary Oliver here. I love how she takes nature as an inspiration. When I am amidst nature, I feel like I am filled with wisdom about life, so I really appreciate reading her words.

Who has inspired and/or supported you most in your writing journey?

Whenever I get the opportunity to sit still and observe nature and humans going about their lives, it inspires me to write. Inspiration usually comes in the most ordinary things. I will say that my husband has been my biggest support. He reads and compliments everything I write like it is the most magical thing in the world and encourages me to follow my heart. I love him for that.

What do you love most about writing?

It helps me to slow down, reflect and digest the beauty, harshness, hope, and struggle that life has to offer. It makes me appreciate all the little things and is also a great tool to manage my emotions.

What advice do you have for new writers?

Whether it’s on an Instagram page or submitting to a journal, don’t be afraid to write and share (even when you think it’s horrible).

What’s your vision for Yellow Arrow in 2023?

My vision is to be able to share as much as I can about Yellow Arrow with the wider Baltimore community (and beyond). I have always written but being a part of Yellow Arrow has made me into a writer. I want to work toward creating this reality for more women.

*****

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“Girl on a Beach” BY Sara Palmer from Baltimore, maryland

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Her View Friday

“Chritmas Call” BY Christine C. Hsu FROM San Francisco, California, for the Winter Wonderland Monologue Festival

“On Becoming the Type of Person Who Yells: Dinner!” BY REBECCA BROCK FROM LEESBURG, VIRGINIA

“RIDDLE” BY Ann Quinn FROM CatonsvillE, Maryland

“When Honey Wouldn't Do” BY REBECCA BROCK FROM LEESBURG, VIRGINIA

“One For Your Mother” BY Annie Marhefka FROM Baltimore, Maryland

PRIZES/AWARDS

“A Conversation with Henri Rousseau about his ‘Vue de Bois de Boulogne’” BY Joanne Durham FROM Prince George's County, Maryland

“Ten Days” BY Kay Smith-Blum FROM SEATTLE, Washington

Gratitude is a Divine Emotion: Yellow Arrow Interns

Natasha Saar, publications intern

From New York City but lives in Baltimore, Maryland

What do you do? I assist with everything to do with publications. This includes writing blog posts, running social media campaigns, and working with the Editor-in-Chief to copyedit and proofread exciting and upcoming publications.

Where do you go to school? I’m currently a senior at Loyola University Maryland, and if all goes to plan, I’m going to be graduating this May.

Beck Snyder, program management intern

Lives in Towson, Maryland

What do you do? I put together social media posts and schedule them, work on the monthly newsletter, copyedit Yellow Arrow Journal, and research for grants.

Where do you go to school? I go to school at Towson University, and I’ll be graduating in the spring of 2023, provided everything goes to plan.

What’s in a Name: Women in Literature

Living Life to the Fullest: Lifecycle of a Beautiful Woman by Ann Weil

Her View Friday

Meet a Staff Member: Allyson Waldon

Her View Friday

“Mothers and Brothers” by Gargi Mehra FROM INDIA

"The Blue Tin" by Diann Leo-Omine from Sacramento, CALIFORNIA

My Top 12 Books of 2023 to Read from Natasha Saar

All My Languages: A Conversation with Elizabeth M. Castillo

Finding Grace and Humor in Womanhood: A Conversation with Ann Weil about Lifecycle of a Beautiful Woman

Meet a Board Member: Nikita Rimal Sharma

“Girl on a Beach” BY Sara Palmer from Baltimore, maryland

“Finger Painting” BY Heather Brown Barrett from Virginia

“Chritmas Call” BY Christine C. Hsu FROM San Francisco, California, for the Winter Wonderland Monologue Festival

“On Becoming the Type of Person Who Yells: Dinner!” BY REBECCA BROCK FROM LEESBURG, VIRGINIA

“RIDDLE” BY Ann Quinn FROM CatonsvillE, Maryland

“When Honey Wouldn't Do” BY REBECCA BROCK FROM LEESBURG, VIRGINIA

“One For Your Mother” BY Annie Marhefka FROM Baltimore, Maryland

PRIZES/AWARDS

“A Conversation with Henri Rousseau about his ‘Vue de Bois de Boulogne’” BY Joanne Durham FROM Prince George's County, Maryland

“Ten Days” BY Kay Smith-Blum FROM SEATTLE, Washington

Natasha Saar, publications intern

From New York City but lives in Baltimore, Maryland

What do you do? I assist with everything to do with publications. This includes writing blog posts, running social media campaigns, and working with the Editor-in-Chief to copyedit and proofread exciting and upcoming publications.

Where do you go to school? I’m currently a senior at Loyola University Maryland, and if all goes to plan, I’m going to be graduating this May.

Beck Snyder, program management intern

Lives in Towson, Maryland

What do you do? I put together social media posts and schedule them, work on the monthly newsletter, copyedit Yellow Arrow Journal, and research for grants.

Where do you go to school? I go to school at Towson University, and I’ll be graduating in the spring of 2023, provided everything goes to plan.

“Mothers and Brothers” by Gargi Mehra FROM INDIA

"The Blue Tin" by Diann Leo-Omine from Sacramento, CALIFORNIA

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