Editor’s Note

This issue comes in the midst of spring’s wild growth, its uncertain promise growing from decay. In a world that feels increasingly unstable—oppressed by petty tyrants and a pillaging billionaire class—I cling to art, to stories and poetry and the power of the written word to shape our fears and hopes, to shape reality itself.

Each piece in this issue is a liferaft against chaotic tides, an icy shelter in an oncoming storm, a clean burn to slow the advancing flames. Appropriate then that they are elemental in their fury, their grief, their bravery. These contributors explore landscapes of fire and ash, roots and stone, even the human mind and stars beyond its comprehension. They seek truth in the wild lands—beyond well-worn trails and the map’s edge. From bathroom stalls to college campuses to the backyard garden, they uncover the beating heart of our world.

What they allow us to see is not always hopeful, but it does give me hope: for art, for us, for the elemental forces we can bring to bear against an unjust world and those who seek to make it worse.

So step off the trail, join us in the underspace, the vast chasm where these stories wait for you.

Table of Contents

Title	Genre	Writer
This is What I Know of Living	Poetry	Oladosu Michael Emerald
The Visible Death of Stars	Flash Fiction	Sam Pisciotta
The Easy Part	Flash CNF	Daniel del Nido
Meeting Expectations	Flash CNF	Amy Allen
Of Course, Nature is a Mother	Poetry	Makayla Edwards
To the woman who left her green-apple flavored ChapStick on the toilet paper dispenser in a public restroom	Poetry	Alicia Swain
Word Search	Interactive	Vast Editors