Letter from an Editor

Lie still versus back up, slowly. Versus, run.
—“My Bible Verse Vs Your Bible Verse” by Lorena Parker Matejowsky

I love me a tree in September. How it clings to that summer green. Lies still with the verdant color a moment longer. How it backs that color up slowly, slowly. Giving way to hints of yellow, of fade. Along the leaf’s edge, atop the tree’s crown. Color that can run, take off overnight. Then it’s red, red, red. Past, present, future all contained in one beast of nature.

All the works in our September issue face down time in some way—containing past, present, future in one narrative space. Voice after voice searches backwards to understand forwards. The complex and nuanced flash by Janelle M. Williams lends a back-to-school vibe to the entire issue, as it’s set in a Harlem classroom in fall. The narrator of “Harlem Thunder” listens to the oldies music of the Isley Brothers and ponders her parents’ “fucked up” marriage while trying to understand what she wants from her own partner. Miranda Jetter’s poignant memoir, “5,000 Years Long,” takes the reader back back back to winter solstice at Newgrange—the ancient monument in Ireland. This historic ground serves as a frame for her memories of her father and for her present-day struggle to make sense of his alcoholism—and humanity.

“My Bible Verse Vs Your Bible Verse” by Lorena Parker Matejowsky, also offers a stunning back-and-forth rhythm, a build-up of surprising juxtapositions of old and modern, of yours and mine. The richly textured “Toyota Head” by Nicholas Guerreiro studies love and language in the before and after of a car accident. The narrator’s memory doesn’t always work right, and verbs go missing. Finally, Madison Luetge unifies our issue with her striking artwork, “I’ll Remember You This Way,” which examines failures of memory. She blends a stranger’s black-and-white photograph from 1965 and her own new design in blue pigment, making us think about what is lost and what is gained.

The autumn, with its changing colors and new school-year planners, is often a time of reflection. As we publish our September issue, Split Lip Magazine is looking backward to its history and forward to its future. We are still building out our exciting, new website. We have opened for submissions on new poetry and flash contests, judged by the talented Chen Chen and Bryan Washington (please submit!). We have reshuffled and brought on incredible new staff: M’Bilia Meekers as Poetry Editor, Krys Malcolm Belc as Memoir Editor, and Sara Ryan and Ruth LeFaive as readers. We are envisioning new projects and AWP adventures. But we are also looking with gratitude to Kaitlyn Andrews-Rice and Amanda Miska, our amazing former Editors-in-Chief, who built Split Lip Magazine into what it is today. In particular, we are thankful to them for their vision to make the magazine about more than just gorgeous, voice-driven poetry, fiction, and memoir. They also made it about community: championing our contributors, finding new and diverse voices, giving back to the larger community, and exhibiting mad-love for our readers. We are excited to carry on that SLM tradition. Thank you, reader, for joining us here now!

— Maureen Langloss, Flash Editor