editor’s note
Here we are saying goodnight to summer, in those last dregs of September, these first murmurs of October.
The high, holy season of shadow is nigh. As we find ourselves retreating & sifting through the rooms of the self, we may come up against the ghouls of night: anxiety, disquiet, seasonal mood shifts, loneliness, world-grief, self-grief, eco-grief.
This is the season for it. The juicy wildness of summer is dead. Now we sit with ourselves. Tend ourselves. We sit with one another at this table of words. We dagger the cruelty of this world with our poetry.
Lastly, we wanted to extend our deepest condolences to the family, friends, and community of the late Jennifer Martelli—our contributor in this issue (and in the past). Jennifer’s kindness, luminousness, talent, and devotion to community will be so missed.
May her words live on in this realm and in the eternal.
Riposa in pace, cara Jennifer.
september’s poets (AND A BOOK REVIEW):
‘the howling dark and bright’ — poetry by ire’ne lara silva
'in this in-between time' — poetry by Mira Mason-Reader
'Guernica and grief in the image' — poetry by Sal Randolph
'the tidal pull of night' — poetry by Jane Lewty
'this blood I libate' — poetry by Miriam Navarro Prieto
‘the hour of my deathspell’ — poetry by Shari Caplan
'we could be orchards' — poetry by Disha Trivedi
'This tentacled blue' — poetry by Jennifer Martelli
'the dark towards her' — poetry by Jordan E. Franklin
'I was aftermath' — poetry by Corey Mesler
'violence of a European summer' — poetry by Tess Congo
'the bottom of a black sea' — poetry by Makeda K. Braithwaite
Kelly Gray’s Dilapitatia — reviewed by Miranda Dennis
—Lisa Marie Basile
Lisa Marie Basile is an author, poet, and editor based in Jersey City, NJ and NYC. She is the author of a few books of poetry, including SAINT OF (White Stag Publishing, 2025), Nympholespy (Inside the Castle, 2019, which was a finalist in the 2017 Tarpaulin Sky Book Awards selected by Bhanu Kapil), Apocryphal (Noctuary Press, 2014), and Andalucia (The Poetry Society of New York, 2012). She’s also written non-fiction, including Light Magic for Dark Times. She holds an MFA from The New School in NYC and is the founding editor of Luna Luna Magazine.
Her essays, interviews, poetry, and other works can be found in The New York Times, Catapult, Narratively, Tinderbox Poetry, Lover’s Eye Press, Tin House, Best American Poetry, Sporklet (edited by Richard Siken), Best Small Fictions (selected by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Robert Olen Butler), and Best American Experimental Writing 2020 (selected by Carmen Maria Machado and Joyelle McSweeney).
Read SAINT OF.