On Feeding on Flowers and Fireworks
Dorianne Laux is quoted as saying, “Any good poem is asking you simply to slow down.”
I imagine that any good editor is asking the same thing.
Anymore, I find myself struggling to budget my time wisely. Too often I catch myself, brain fried with the stress and burdens of work and living, that I just scroll aimlessly, mindlessly, trapped in a Bradburian social commentary. I’m not attending to much. Thinking of less.
I suspect that many of us find ourselves in these moments, slouched back and worn out. We do what we need to do, invest our time where it must go, and forget to enrich ourselves with anything worthwhile. I always return to Fahrenheit 451, and in it, the retired and afraid professor, Faber, tells Montag about the dire transformation of the world, illuminating the current state of humanity while dreaming of something better:
I imagine that any good editor is asking the same thing.
Anymore, I find myself struggling to budget my time wisely. Too often I catch myself, brain fried with the stress and burdens of work and living, that I just scroll aimlessly, mindlessly, trapped in a Bradburian social commentary. I’m not attending to much. Thinking of less.
I suspect that many of us find ourselves in these moments, slouched back and worn out. We do what we need to do, invest our time where it must go, and forget to enrich ourselves with anything worthwhile. I always return to Fahrenheit 451, and in it, the retired and afraid professor, Faber, tells Montag about the dire transformation of the world, illuminating the current state of humanity while dreaming of something better:
We are living in a time when flowers are trying to live on flowers, instead of growing on good rain and black loam. Even fireworks, for all their prettiness, come from the chemistry of the earth. Yet somehow we think we can grow, feeding on flowers and fireworks, without completing the cycle back to reality.
We have to complete that cycle back to reality and get ourselves into the good rain and black loam of quality, which I suppose is why I’m writing this letter now.
As poets, we know the struggle. We read collections and excerpts, we write, we submit, we publish. Finding the time to sit down and read everything in an issue of a litmag can be challenging. Luckily, Jarfly is a small magazine. It will not take you long to read through these short poems, but I think it is worth it. Spend some time with these poems and let them bring you back to the chemistries of the earth. Let this ground you to living and its realities.
Thank you for reading Jarfly.
Ian C. Williams
As poets, we know the struggle. We read collections and excerpts, we write, we submit, we publish. Finding the time to sit down and read everything in an issue of a litmag can be challenging. Luckily, Jarfly is a small magazine. It will not take you long to read through these short poems, but I think it is worth it. Spend some time with these poems and let them bring you back to the chemistries of the earth. Let this ground you to living and its realities.
Thank you for reading Jarfly.
Ian C. Williams
Jarfly News Bulletin
- Jarfly Editor-in-Chief Ian C. Williams has published his debut collection of poems, Every Wreckage (2024), from Fernwood Press.
- Issue Six contributor Danita Dodson has released a collection of poems, Between Gone and Everlasting (2024), from Wipf & Stock.
- Issue Five contributor Megan Jauregui Eccles signed a deal with 8th Note Press for her debut novel, Sing the Night, which will release in 2025.
If you are a Jarfly contributor and would like something shared in the news bulletin, please let me know and I’ll add your news and accomplishments to the next issue!
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Ian C. WilliamsIan C. Williams is an Appalachian poet and teacher, and is the author of the full-length collection of poems, Every Wreckage (Fernwood Press 2024). He is also the editor-in-chief for Jarfly: A Poetry Magazine, and his chapbook, House of Bones, is available in person or from the National Federation of State Poetry Societies. He currently lives with his wife and two sons in Fairmont, West Virginia.
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