This issue completes WRJ’s second spin around the sun, and if you’ve taken a close look at the published selections during this time, you’ll know that the seasonal cycle provides some loose themes for our issues.

With this issue, however, I have a stronger personal connection to these seasonal themes than usual. A lot that has transpired for me personally these past few months falls into the tropes of the autumn-to-winter transformation. Of course, on the surface, this is not a pleasant kind of transformation—once-vibrant leaves wither and drop, once-fertile ground hardens, once-warm embraces turn bitter cold. There is a starkness that confronts us in winter, a sparseness that is all too easy to miss within the abundance of spring and summer.

But despite all this, despite the regret of wasted opportunities, or the grief of the life not lived, or the abrupt end of a relationship, there is something that remains.

For many of the contributors of this issue, it is clear that there is a creative spirit that allows them to square up to the piercing winds, to stand up within the emotional depths. It allows one the abilities of careful introspection and renewed perception. It allows for some deep breaths and an open heart, and perhaps a place from which to transform once again.

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With this introduction to the issue, it’s also important to note that the placement of work is intentional (although unexpected connections certainly arise). This issue has more of a narrative arc than previous ones, and I found great solace encountering pieces that spoke to me personally, much more deeply than as “just” an editor or reviewer. I value the subjective reading as well as the objective, and admittedly, the presentation of the pieces in this issue reflects how they affected me. My fingerprints are on this one a bit more prominently than previous issues.

Figuratively speaking, if I designed the gallery in which these works are displayed—mapped the layout of the room and adjusted the lighting—I also, most importantly, hang a big “welcome” sign on the front door and invite all who pass to come in out of the cold.

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On a lighter note, we have a roundtable discussion available, which dives into three wonderful selections from the November issue (there are video recordings of our discussion posted as well). There is even an “after party” recording from when we kept rolling after our initial discussion in order to share some thoughts on the perennially poignant topic of break-up poems. Thanks again to Anna Genevieve Winham and Vian Borchert for being kind enough to join me and Chris!

If you have a topic or question (or favorite break-up poem) that you’d like us to cover in the next roundtable, please send a message to wildroofjournal@gmail.com.

Enjoy the issue!

Aaron Lelito – Founder and editor in chief