Our Spring 2025 issue explores the theme of Maps—both literal and metaphorical. From cartographic poetry to stories that map emotional landscapes, this issue navigates the territories of human experience through diverse literary forms.
In this collection, our contributors chart new territories of thought, memory, and imagination, inviting readers to explore the many ways we map our world and ourselves.
Published: April 15, 2025
Editor's Note by Emily Chen
Maps have always fascinated us. They represent our desire to understand, to navigate, to make sense of the world around us. But maps are never neutral—they reflect the perspectives, biases, and intentions of their creators. They can reveal as much as they conceal.
In this issue, we've gathered works that explore the concept of mapping in its many forms. Our contributors have created literary cartographies of memory, emotion, identity, and place. They've charted territories both familiar and strange, real and imagined.
As you journey through these pages, I invite you to consider your own maps—the ways you navigate your world, the landmarks that guide you, the territories you've claimed as your own, and those that remain unexplored.
— Emily Chen, Editor-in-Chief
Poetry
A poetic exploration of memory and identity through five interconnected sections, examining how we collect and preserve moments from our past.
"Morning light fractures
through blinds, casting
geometric shadows across
the unmade bed. This is how
memory works: in pieces,
incomplete geometries."
Poetry
A meditation on spring, renewal, and the cyclical nature of time, set against the backdrop of a changing landscape.
"April arrives with its familiar promise,
rain-soaked and green-tinged,
mapping the contours of another year
with the same old coordinates."
Fiction
A haunting tale of a cartographer who becomes lost in the very wilderness he's trying to map, exploring themes of isolation and the limits of human knowledge.
"The compass needle spun wildly, as if the magnetic north had abandoned this place entirely. Marcus stared at his instruments, then at the endless expanse of unmarked territory stretching before him."
Fiction
A coastal story about a marine biologist who discovers that the tidal patterns she's been studying for years suddenly change, leading to unexpected revelations about memory and place.
"The water retreated further than she had ever seen, revealing sections of the ocean floor that hadn't been exposed in decades. Ancient shells and forgotten debris lay scattered like memories suddenly surfaced."
Art
A mixed-media installation that uses mirrors and maps to explore how we see ourselves in relation to place and geography. The piece invites viewers to consider their own position in the world.
"Each mirror reflects not just the viewer's image, but fragments of historical maps layered beneath the surface, creating a palimpsest of identity and location."
Essays
A philosophical meditation on the concept of the horizon as both a physical and metaphorical boundary, exploring how our perspective shapes what we can and cannot see.
"The horizon is always exactly as far away as we are tall, a personal boundary that moves with us wherever we go. It is the most democratic of all geographical features."
Art
A series of red ink drawings that trace the artist's daily routes through the city, creating an intimate cartography of urban life and personal routine.
"Each line represents a day, each intersection a decision. Over time, the accumulated marks reveal the invisible architecture of a life lived in one place."
Poetry
A sequence of poems that map the acoustic landscape of the poet's childhood neighborhood, exploring how sound creates its own geography of memory.
"The church bells still ring
at the same coordinates
where my childhood stood,
marking time in a place
that exists now only
in the echo."
Essays
An exploration of how political and personal boundaries intersect, examining the ways that borders—both visible and invisible—shape our understanding of home and belonging.
"Every map is a political document, every border a story of power. But the boundaries that matter most are often the ones we cannot see—the invisible lines that separate us from ourselves."