Editor's Note
“Then / the sun! a clutter of / yellow and blue flakes — / Hairy looking trees stand out / in long alleys / over a wild solitude.”
Since the pandemic and last year’s return to normal operations, The Penn Review continues planting its “hairy . . . trees” in the “wild solitude” of its readers’ minds. The lines quoted above are from William Carlos Williams’ “Blizzard.” Wanting to hew as close to tradition as possible and mimic my predecessor’s note for his Winter Issue, I almost used the poem’s last three lines instead for this note: “The man turns and there — / his solitary track stretched out / upon the world.” I was going to write about the “solitary track” of the literary magazine since its founding in 1951 and expound on the rich heterogeneity of literature and art produced during those 72 years. But, after re-examining the 22 works published in Issue 72 Winter, I realized there is no better way to describe these pieces than “hairy trees.”
In keeping with tradition, however, the poems, prose, and art in this latest issue do offer a rich heterogeneity of what constitutes a literary magazine in 2023. Here, you will discover diverse, strange work, bristling with the colored flakes and hairs of creativity. A look inside this issue reveals a hole full of bugs and syringes, a housewife convinced her neighbor is keeping a woman in his shed, and a man obsessed with Home Alone 2. Another glance encounters a hypothetical octopus speaking with its beak, a car crushed under a dream-like structure, the genome sequence of love, and more. Hairy trees are everywhere if you know where to look.
Of course, Issue 72 Winter wouldn’t be possible without the behind-the-scenes efforts of our content managers and staff. And like every other edition before this one, it is the result of actions both big and small from everybody involved—making the magazine what it is today. Thank you to our contributors, readers, and staff from everyone on the editorial board. Your enthusiasm for literature and art invigorates our publication.