Shaping and Reshaping: Yellow Arrow Journal's (Re)Formation

“I think of the trees and how they simply let go . . .” From The Journals of May Sarton: Volume One: Journal of a Solitude, Plant Drawing Deep, and Recovering by May Sarton

Yellow Arrow Publishing, like many others, has had to adapt and reform during the current, tumultuous times we are living in. This (re)formation has been a challenge as well as a pleasure, and our contributing authors are prepared to share their experiences of formation and change with the world. The release of Yellow Arrow Journal’s (Re)Formation issue, Vol. V, No. 3 (fall 2020), is an opportunity for Yellow Arrow, the included authors, and all our readers to come to terms with the state of the world along with the state of ourselves. The theme (Re)Formation holds a certain duality that sets this issue apart from previous journals. Through varying takes on formation as well as reformation, contributors express the ways they have been formed and reformed over time. The era we are living through renders this theme especially pertinent and we at Yellow Arrow hope you will find some peace within this issue from the comfort of your own HOME.

Yellow Arrow Journal continues to support and inspire women in the literary arts by featuring poetry, creative nonfiction, book reviews, and cover art from any and all who identify as women. This issue of the journal serves as a collection of thoughts upon the way identity is shaped and perhaps reshaped throughout the hardships and joys of life. And by including synonyms for formation and reformation at the end of each piece, Yellow Arrow Journal authors are able to convey a sense of what these terms mean to them and just how much duality this theme holds in and of itself. Through stories of tragedy, hope, and soul-searching, we at Yellow Arrow hope this issue will inspire you to continue to evolve and to never stop pushing forward.

Paperback and PDF versions of (Re)Formation are now available at the Yellow Arrow store. You can also search for Yellow Arrow Journal or Yellow Arrow Publishing on any e-book or anywhere you purchase books. We would also like to invite everyone to our prerecorded A Reformative (Re)Formation Reading, which will be released on our YouTube Channel (and shared through Facebook and Instagram) November 25 at 6:00 p.m. The reading will feature several of our authors from this issue and will be hosted by our poetry editor, Ann Quinn.

Finally, if you would like to share any encouragement for our incredible staff or the (Re)Formation authors please do so through Facebook/Instagram or even in the video comments when the reading is released.

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Yellow Arrow Publishing is a nonprofit supporting women writers through publication and access to the literary arts. Thank you for your continued support.

the samurai by Linda M. Crate: discovering your strength within

Yellow Arrow Publishing is overjoyed to kick off the fall with the release of a new chapbook, the samurai, by Linda M. Crate. Since its establishment in 2016, Yellow Arrow has devoted its efforts to advocate for all women writers through inclusion in the biannual Yellow Arrow Journal and a multitude of writing workshops, community events, and volunteering opportunities. We at Yellow Arrow are excited to continue our mission by supporting Linda in all her writing and publishing endeavors.

The word ‘samurai’ can loosely be translated into meaning “those who serve.” In Linda’s chapbook, illustrated by Ann Marie Sekeres (annmarieprojects.com), this interpretation is especially pertinent. This collection of poems speaks of rebirth, reincarnation, and lessons from the past as a means to a better future. For Linda, this is through a past life discovered in a very vivid dream that had both awed and confused her.

Within this dream, Linda was visited by a strong, courageous woman—a samurai—who showed her how to listen to her past, learn from her mistakes, and inherit the future she deserves. The Onna-bugeisha (female martial artist) were female samurai. They were a type of female warrior who mostly belonged to the Japanese nobility. This collection was titled “the samurai” because this is what the woman in the dream wished to be known as. She was a fighter and a survivor, as is Linda.

The 21 poems included in this chapbook encourage readers to dive deep within themselves and to use the past as a tether to the right path for the future. The cover art was inspired by the 19th-century Japanese woodcut tradition and several prints by artists such as Utagawa Kunikiyo that focused on rooftop fighting and falling warriors. Butterflies represent the souls of the dead which inspired Ann Marie to include them both in the cover and interior illustrations.

Linda is a Pennsylvanian born in Pittsburgh but raised in Conneautville. Her work has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies, both online and in print. She is the author of six poetry chapbooks, the latest of which is More Than Bone Music (March 2019). She also is the author of the novel Phoenix Tears (June 2018) and two micropoetry collections. Recently, she has published two full-length poetry collections, Vampire Daughter (February 2020) and The Sweetest Blood (February 2020). Linda is also a two-time Pushcart nominee.

Paperback and PDF versions of the samurai are now available from the Yellow Arrow Publishing bookstore! You can also search for the samurai wherever you purchase your books including Amazon and most distribution channels. Connect with Yellow Arrow Publishing, Linda, or Ann Marie on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter to share some love for this chapbook. To learn more about Linda and the samurai, check out our recent interview with her.

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Yellow Arrow Publishing is a nonprofit supporting women writers through publication and access to the literary arts. To learn more about publishing, volunteering, or donating, visit yellowarrowpublishing.com.

Meet a Board Member: Sara Palmer

Interview originally from fall 2019

We at Yellow Arrow Publishing are thrilled to introduce one of our board members, Sara Palmer! She is our Grants Manager. Sara is a retired psychologist and author who has embraced her love for creative writing and generously wants to support other women who write by being involved with the Yellow Arrow community. Our Poetry Editor, Ann Quinn, asked Sara a few questions to introduce her to the rest of our community:

YAP: What can you tell us about your relationship with Baltimore?

I moved to Baltimore County with my husband in 1983, after living in New York and Seattle. We didn’t expect to stay here “forever” but Baltimore turned out to be a good fit for us. I found great opportunities as a psychologist with a specialty in physical disability; over the course of my career, I worked at Johns Hopkins, Sinai Hospital, and in private practice. I’ve been active in various local professional and community activities such as serving in the past on the board of directors for Maryland Psychological Association, Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, The League for People with Disabilities—and now Yellow Arrow Publishing. I attend many concerts, plays, and art exhibits in Baltimore. Some people say that Baltimore is cliquey but I’ve made wonderful friends here. In 2008, my husband and I moved to Federal Hill, where we are active members of the Light Street Library book club and enjoy easier access to theater and other cultural events. 

YAP: How did you get involved with Yellow Arrow?

I got involved with Yellow Arrow when I received an email from the Y:ART Gallery, announcing that they were hosting a series of writing workshops organized by Yellow Arrow. I had been on Y:ART’s mailing list after attending an art exhibit there in which one of my friends had some paintings. I was just starting to take creative writing courses (again) and I quickly signed up for the three-session series. The classes were inspiring and I was impressed by Gwen [Van Velsor] and Ariele’s [Sieling] mission, vision, and dedication.  

YAP: What would you like to share about reengaging your creative writing after retirement?

In addition to the classes I took through Yellow Arrow, I took classes last year in self-expression and playwriting at the Everyman Theatre. I had never explored writing a play before, but I found that I liked writing scenes and building characters with dialogue. I’m continuing to work on a couple of “scene collections” from which I hope to create a short play. I joined a writers group at the Light Street Library and also started meeting informally with two friends who are writers, to share work and get feedback. This enabled me to begin revising some of my old poetry with a fresh perspective and to write some new poems. I participated in Yellow Arrow’s First Friday Literary Event last year, reading three of my poems. I am exploring the personal essay and keeping a notebook of ideas and projects. My biggest challenge is disciplining myself to write every day.

YAP: Anything else you would like to share?

My husband and I are both retired now. We spend a lot of time visiting our sons and our two grandchildren. I volunteer as a Board Member for Cure HHT, a nonprofit advocacy foundation for a rare genetic blood vessel disease. When I’m not volunteering or writing, I like to hike, bike, read, walk my dog, knit, cook, and hang out with friends. 

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We are so fortunate to have Sara, with her experience and passion, on our team, and look forward to reading more of her work. Yellow Arrow Publishing is a nonprofit supporting women writers through publication and access to the literary arts. Thank you for supporting independent publishing.

the samurai: a conversation with Linda M. Crate

They say to let go of your past, but I think that this is a mistake.

Sometimes the past tethers you on the right path for your future.

The word ‘samurai’ can loosely be translated into meaning “those who serve.” In Linda M. Crate’s soon to be released chapbook, the samurai, illustrated by Ann Marie Sekeres (annmarieprojects.com), this interpretation is especially pertinent as her collection of poems stems from a dream in which a samurai appeared and inspired her to heal from past experiences to activate her full potential. Linda’s upcoming Yellow Arrow Publishing chapbook about rebirth, past lives, and learning from experience is now available for PRESALE and will be released October 2020.

A Yellow Arrow editorial associate, Siobhan McKenna, interviewed Linda about the samurai, reading messages from our dreams, and learning to choose how we move forward after darkness threatens to saturate our lives.

YAP: The basis of this chapbook came from a vivid dream you had, could you speak a little more about that? 

When I have dreams, most of them I remember in bits of pieces, but I don’t really remember them very well. But the [samurai] in [this] dream was very quiet and subtle—she had a presence. I’ve [even] had a few daydreams about the figure from this book. She is very prominent when I see her in my dreams, but the one dream I had at first was just the one where she’s fighting for her emperor—the ruler of her country—and ends up falling off the roof. The dream was terrifying because I felt the falling [of the samurai] and it triggered something. I woke up scared and had to remind myself that I wasn’t falling off a building. It was very lifelike and it felt like it was happening to me in the moment. 

YAP: Why do you believe you were having these dreams?

I believe that we have past lives. I didn’t always believe that, which I talk a little bit about in the chapbook. And when a fellow student at school mentioned a past life, I thought, eh, I don’t know about that, but this dream was so powerful and she was so prominent that I thought, well you know maybe there is something to that. Because why else would I be having a dream about somebody who is so different from me and [had] a very different life? Now, sometimes [dreams] are just your subconscious babbling but sometimes they are messages.

YAP: What made you want to turn this dream into a collection of poems? 

I thought that I needed to honor [the samurai]. I felt like I needed to put down in words what happened in my dream and make it more of a reality—I wanted to share my experience. And I feel like there are unexplainable things in life and connections that we don’t really understand, and I feel like our past lives could be key to parts of our personality.

YAP: Why did you think the format of a series of poems rather than a short story served this dream better?

I think that with a short story you start at one point and then end up at another and what you originally set out to write isn’t always what comes out in the end, but you can get some of the concepts that you want in there. But ultimately, the characters take the reigns and make it theirs—at least mine do—mine are very vocal. So I thought I’m going to sit down and write this and see if this works. And I feel like as a cohesive form, [a series of poems] did work as a stream of consciousness [for me to convey] what I needed to say. 

YAP: Zen Buddhism, introduced into Japan from China, held a great appeal for many samurai and in Zen Buddhism, there is a belief that salvation comes from within, which is a prominent theme in your chapbook. Did you think about this belief system as you were writing?

Oh very much so—I’m very Zen! In college, I took a lot of theology courses because I wanted to know what other cultures believed in. I wanted to know more about what people believed and why people are the way they are. I’m also very connected to nature, and I feel like we have to save ourselves. As much as we like the hero to save us, sometimes we have to be our own hero because there isn’t always going to be someone there for you. Unfortunately, people have let me down a lot in my life, and I’ve had to rely on myself. And in a way it’s sad, but I’m glad I’m this way because it [has made] me stronger. 

YAP: Historically, samurai were mainly men, and female warriors were known by a different name [Onna-bugeisha]. Did you research more about Japanese culture after dreaming about the samurai woman and how did you navigate using this traditionally masculine term? 

I did. I feel like [the term] samurai just captured how I felt about her and how she felt about herself. I know there is a different term, but why does it have to be that way? Why does it have to be that the man gets more recognition than the woman? Why does the woman have to be lower than a man? It was very important for me to place [the women in my dream] on equal footing, and I knew people were more familiar with samurai. It’s important to have a term that people understood. Some people might have found it interesting [to use the female term] while other people would’ve said, “I don’t know what that is.” A lot of people do their research, but then there’s others who just want something to read that they can relate to or are intrigued by. 

YAP: In this chapbook, there is a theme of choosing “tranquility and places of hope” such as in the poem, “the kindest moonlight.” Do you think we have a choice when it comes to focusing on the light versus dark in our lives?

Oh, absolutely. I mean no one chooses to go through dark periods and dark phases, but I feel like there is always that little glint of hope, that little horizon, that light at the end of the tunnel. And I think if you try to focus your sight on your future and getting out of the present darkness—that’s a lot easier. If you dwell on the darkness, the bad times, the bad things, you’re going to feel like there’s anger dragging you down because there’s no hope. And I’ve never wanted to live in a world without hope. I’m the eternal optimist I guess. The one that’s always going to push forward; always going to believe that we can achieve better things and better worlds. You can’t choose if you have a mental illness or somebody dying, but you can choose to either dwell or choose to overcome. My mom told me when I was younger that you have two choices: you can be a victim or a survivor. So I’ve always chosen to be a survivor because I refuse to be in that vulnerable place where nothing can be better than this right now. 

YAP: What are your thoughts on the cover image and how your chapbook is represented at first glance?

I absolutely adore the cover image. I think it's a good representation of my dream and of the content in the chapbook. I also love that the exterior has butterflies as they're representative of the idea of rebirth and reincarnation, which are also themes that I cover in the chapbook. I think the idea of connections [to the] past and present is nicely conveyed here. I really appreciate the time and input each of the editors took in trying to help me polish my book. I'm also thankful that Anne Marie was so receptive to my ideas and curious to understand the chapbook and the ideas that were in it. I think that's what makes the illustrations work so flawlessly with my words.

YAP: I know the interior images haven’t been released yet, but how do you think they relate to the themes in your book?

I think [the woman] is a good depiction of the strength and ferocity of a warrior—she also has that schooled face which doesn't betray her emotions, which is something that I touch upon in the chapbook. I think the interior [images work] well with not only the title, but my depiction of the woman in my dream.

YAP: In your profession, you write a great deal of fiction, how do you find the process of writing fiction versus poetry different and/or similar?

It’s different in that with poetry you can talk about yourself and anybody else in your life or situation. But when I’m working on novels or short stories usually a character comes to me and I build around a theme until it develops into something else. And they’re similar in a way because it is a process and it doesn’t always come out right the first time so you have to think [about] what works and what doesn’t work and go from there. But to me, it depends on the day and what I’m feeling—what mood I’m in. Sometimes I feel like writing more fiction and then there’s other days when poetry is what comes more naturally. It’s funny because people ask, “How do you decide?” and it’s just my mind has a switch and whatever the switch says is what we go with.

YAP: In the past, you have published with Yellow Arrow, why did you choose to publish with us again?

I always like them and their philosophy. I’ve always felt that they are very respectful of my work and me. I usually write darker themes and writing [for Yellow Arrow] allowed me to focus on something positive and [the samurai] is a pretty positive figure in my life so I wanted to see what I could come up with. It was a different experience for me and it’s good to challenge [myself] once in a while so that’s what I did.

YAP: What do you hope people take from the chapbook?

We can learn from the past, but our lives aren’t set in stone. If you are going through something negative in your life, it can get better. And sometimes you need to listen to that little voice inside your head that keeps telling you to go forward because it’s important to follow your dreams, to have hope, and begin again. As painful as it is to lose your old self, you have to in order to grow.

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Every writer has a story to tell and every story is worth telling. Thank you Linda and Siobhan for such an insightful conversation. Yellow Arrow Publishing is a nonprofit supporting women writers through publication and access to the literary arts.

Yellow Arrow Journal Submissions Now Open!

Yellow Arrow Publishing is excited to announce that submissions for our next issue, fall 2020 (Vol. V, No. 3) are now open September 1–30 on the theme:

(Re)Formation

Spending the time to create something—to give shape to a place, a person, yourself, or an idea—is a significant step in life. Then imagine needing to reform it, make an improvement.

What does it take to shape or form something? Ourselves? How do we sustain what we form? Why is it meaningful?

How do we know when reformation is necessary? Why is it necessary sometimes? What can we gain through such a transformation?

Can a personal (re)formation become a community act? How? Why might this be necessary at times?

For more information regarding all journal submission guidelines, please visit yellowarrowpublishing.com/submissions. Please note that our guidelines have recently changed; read them carefully before submitting. To learn more about our editorial views and how important your voice is in your story, read About the Journal. Every writer has a story to tell and every story is worth telling.

The journal is just one of many ways that Yellow Arrow Publishing works to support and inspire women through publication and access to the literary arts. Since its founding in 2016, Yellow Arrow has worked tirelessly to make an impact on the local and global community by hosting literary events and publishing writers that identify as women. Creating diversity in the literary world and providing a safe space is important to us. Yellow Arrow proudly showcases the voices of women from around the globe.

You can be a part of this mission and amazing experience by submitting to Yellow Arrow Journal, publishing full-length creative nonfiction and poetry chapbooks, joining our virtual workshops and events, volunteering, or donating today. Publications are available at our bookstore, on Amazon, or on any eReader. Click here for information about current and future changes to the Yellow Arrow family.

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Yellow Arrow Publishing is a nonprofit supporting women writers through publication and access to the literary arts. To learn more about publishing, volunteering, or donating, visit yellowarrowpublishing.com.

Closed Doors, Open Hearts

Dear Yellow Arrow friends, 

We are writing today to let you know about the conclusion of Yellow Arrow House. While the doors on our dream of creating a physical, communal space for writers to gather, learn, share, and create have closed, we assure you that our work supporting women writers and artists continues.

After a final blessing of the House last week, in gratitude for all the good energy and passion you all brought to the space, our Board of Directors gathered to reimagine, refine, and breathe life back into our original vision, which was to create a refuge for writers. This time, in a different way.

The community we’ve enjoyed being part of here in Baltimore, and especially in Highlandtown, has been truly restorative and inspiring. We want you to know the impact you’ve made on women writers everywhere by supporting their work. As our mission evolves, please know that we carry this same spirit of hospitality in our hearts and in our hands. And as always, we will let you know more about our shifts and transformations in the upcoming moments as transparency and inclusion always remain important in our hearts.

It has been a long and emotional road to finally let the dream of the House go. At the beginning of the year, we knew this was a risky endeavor with a high potential for failure. We did it anyway out of a desire to create a refuge for women writers. A place to gather and support one another. While the closing of the House is a combination of financial and staffing concerns, especially given the current worldwide pandemic, we also see this as a necessary opportunity to dismantle and start again as we have come to understand that we went about creating a “safe space” in a problematic way. We encourage you all, in your personal quests to support women, to embrace intersectional feminism as our lives and our hearts do overlap. If one of us faces a problem, we all must face that problem. We appreciate those that contributed to our collective wisdom process earlier in the summer, it has been extremely helpful and healing.

As our publication capacity expands, it is also changing. While our volunteer team will no longer be folding and stitching our publications by hand, we are excited to offer a full slate of chapbook releases through 2021 in addition to the biannual Yellow Arrow Journal. Learn more about self-healing from our first chapbook, Smoke the Peace Pipe by Roz Weaver, released earlier this month. Discover your inner warrior with Linda M. Crate in the samurai, to be released in the fall. Look also for our Writers-in-Residence 2020 publication as our four residents explore their year with pen and paper. And stay tuned for incredible heartfelt publications from our authors in 2021. As for the journal, we can’t help but feel we chose a meaningful theme for the next issue (fall 2020, Vol. V, No. 3; submissions open September 1-30): (Re)Formation. Especially now as everyone’s lives have been transformed, for better or worse, emotionally and physically, personally and communally. One final note about publications: we have decided to dissolve our journal subscriptions program (current subscriptions will be fulfilled) and focus on each issue, each group of authors. Check our website periodically as we begin updating and exploring our new options. Every writer has a story to tell and every story is worth telling.

Logistically, everything that is currently on our calendar will remain in a virtual context. All workshops will continue online through 2021, including “A Year in Poetry” with Ann Quinn and “Elements of Story” with Ariele Sieling. We are also looking into adding new online workshop opportunities, which we will share as they emerge. 

At the housewarming gathering back in January, we shared a nondenominational blessing together that we find even more relevant today as our focus shifts. Written by Alyssa Kaplan, former Vicar at Breath of God Lutheran Church in Highlandtown, we hope you find some comfort and hope in the prayer below. 

As we gather today to honor this new chapter in the life of Yellow Arrow, we recognize that this is but one piece of the story of this place. 

We honor this place and the fullness of its history. We honor the different families and businesses of 335 S Conkling. We acknowledge the ways that this place was a sacred vessel for those in its past, holding grief and joy, peace and conflict, anxiety and possibility. 

We acknowledge that long before this land was dominated, divided, and commodified with street names and numbers it was cared for and treasured by the Piscataway people. In inhabiting this place we again remember that we inhabit their land. And we pray that this acknowledgement would transform our hearts and make us better partners with and protectors of our earth. 

And so as we seek to bless the community that will grow here and the stories that will be shared here, we ask that this place would also give its blessing to us. 

May this be a space of radical welcome and grace for all.

May this be a place where all may come to know the vital importance, and Holy uniqueness of their own story.

May this be a house which is attentive and responsive to the realities of the pain and suffering of its neighbors. 

May this space become such a powerful holder of Divine creativity that once one enters here, they cannot help but see themselves in that same way--as beautiful vessels of Divine creativity. 

May the justice cultivated in this community be an antidote to the sins of patriarchy, queer and transphobia, white supremacy, greed, and violence which infect our neighborhood, city, and world. 

May this home offer rest to the weary, comfort to the hurting, inspiration to the stagnant, direction to the aimless. 

May this place radiate love, warmth, peace and goodness. 

In the name of the Holy Creating Spirit which enlivens our world we pray. 

Amen. 

With love,

Yellow Arrow Publishing Board of Directors

Gwen Van Velsor, Kapua Iao, Sara Palmer, Gina Strauss, Kerry Graham

Hope and Healing

Smoke the Peace Pipe

Yellow Arrow Publishing Releases a New Chapbook!

Baltimore, MD

A new chapter opens in the story of Yellow Arrow Publishing with the release of our first chapbook, Smoke the Peace Pipe, by Roz Weaver. Since its establishment in 2016, Yellow Arrow has devoted its efforts to support all women writers through inclusion in the biannual Yellow Arrow Journal, our Writers-in-Residence program, and a multitude of writing workshops and community events. We at Yellow Arrow are excited to continue our mission by supporting Roz in all her writing and publishing endeavors.

Smoke the Peace Pipe is a collection of poems inspired by the author’s experience of trauma and how this settled in her body, sometimes as her own worst enemy. Through this chapbook, Roz encourages the possibility that we all can find hope and healing by showing up in the present moment, in the environment and with people around us, and through a shared appreciation of nature, spiritual exploration, and sacred connection with the Earth. By sitting and sharing a peace pipe with ourselves, we have an opportunity to bear what we thought was unbearable and make space for the possibility of a bigger picture. The 26 included poems bring every reader on a journey, from pain, trauma, and separation, toward recovery in the form of transformation, healing, self-love, and spirituality. The cover art by Joanne Baker was inspired by Roz’s poetry, the feeling of emotion, ideas and words, ebbing and flowing like an ocean. All-consuming but cleansing.

Roz is a current resident of West Yorkshire, England, working as a social worker and therapist while studying for her MA in Creative Writing at Teeside University. She began writing poetry in early 2017 as a solitary means of exploring her experiences of trauma and was subsequently published for the first time in January 2018. Roz then began developing some of her writing for spoken word. Her most recent work has been on exhibit with Awakenings, a Chicago-based arts collective of survivors of sexual violence, as well as the London Design Festival, and performed at Leeds International Festival and the renowned Edinburgh Fringe. Roz is currently teaching a (sold out!) Yellow Arrow workshop, “Poetry as Therapy,” in which classmates can explore the therapeutic aspects of poetry as a way of creatively expressing their thoughts and feelings. You can learn more about Roz in our interview with her from last month.

Paperback and PDF versions of Smoke the Peace Pipe are now available from the Yellow Arrow Publishing bookstore. You can also purchase paperback copies from Amazon and e-book copies from most distribution channels. You are welcome to leave reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, your own websites/platforms, or by sending us a direct email with your thoughts. Connect with Yellow Arrow Publishing or Roz on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter to share some love for her chapbook. If you don’t have time to send a review, just know that we appreciate you.

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Yellow Arrow Publishing is a nonprofit supporting women writers through publication and access to the literary arts. To learn more about publishing, volunteering, or donating, visit yellowarrowpublishing.com.

Literary Night 2020

On August 7, 2020 we had planned to host the 2nd annual Literary Night, a celebration of Baltimore area authors, writers, small presses, and literary organizations as part of the Highlandtown First Friday Art Walk in partnership with Highlandtown Main Street, Highlandtown Arts District, and Southeast CDC. Check out highlights from 2019 here and here and here.

This year, since we are unable to gather in person, we’ve opted to share information on each of the literary organizations and authors who had planned to join us below. Please take a moment to learn about the vibrant literary scene right here in Baltimore and support them by reading their publications or spreading the word about what they do.

We’ve also organized a virtual reading with a wonderful group of local writers, which you can watch here: A Celebration of Local Authors.

Thank you for supporting our mission and the voices all around Baltimore!

Literary Organizations

Zora’s Den

Zora's Den Writers' Group is a sisterhood of Black women writers. 

https://www.facebook.com/ZorasDen/?ref=page_internal

Roots & Raíces

Roots and Raíces is a platform for artists, musicians, and activists to highlight, support, and celebrate immigrants in Baltimore through the arts and civic engagement. We also curate a rotating selection of artwork from local artists on our website in our online market and at our bi-annual EL MERCADO in Baltimore, MD.

Attracting over 2,000 visitors in our events, Roots & Raíces is becoming a recognizable platform in Baltimore. Although our events are diverse in programming, at the core of our work we embed civic action opportunities for the community to support immigrant communities both in Baltimore and nationwide. In addition to our events, we also have worked on a regular basis with over 58 students from 5 different high schools in developing their skills in art, design, event production, and advocacy.

Through our media platforms we collectively have over 3,000 impressions with our posts, stories, and promotions on a weekly basis.The success of work is best seen and heard from our community members who participate and attend our events and programming. We have received an abundance of positive feedback from the community. This work would not be possible without the generous support of our past funders.

https://www.rootsraices.org/about-us/

Revolutionary Summer

A Revolutionary Summer is an intensive critical reading and writing program dedicated to shifting harmful narratives about Black women and girls through both the meaningful study and creation of art and the deliberate application of self-inquiry. We exist to keep Black girls whole, to balance the scales, to offer up a Nobel Laureate, radical painter, love song, and afro picked to perfection for every stupid, shallow representation of her. A Revolutionary Summer validates Black girl language and Black girl thought, Black girl hair and Black girl thighs. It traces, analyzes, justifies, and celebrates Black girl herstory. It contributes forcefully, unapologetically to a sound and solid Black girl future. 

https://www.arevolutionarysummer.com/home

Mason Jar Press

Mason Jar Press has been publishing handmade, limited-run chapbooks and full-length books since 2014. The Press is dedicated to finding new and exciting work by writers that push the bounds of literary norms. While the work Mason Jar seeks to publish is meant to challenge status quos, both literary and culturally, it must also have significant merit in both those realms.

masonjarpress.xyz

Lines + Stars

Lines + Stars is a Baltimore-based literary journal and small press. We publish seasonal online issues, annual poetry chapbooks, broadsides, and other projects.

www.linesandstars.com

Ligeia Magazine

Ligeia is a literary magazine based out of Baltimore. Ligeia publishes poetry, short fiction, nonfiction, artwork, and interviews in quarterly issues. We support and contribute to a global writing community—but we also plan to build a local network of lit lovers.

https://www.ligeiamagazine.com/

The Inner Loop

The Inner Loop is a literary reading series and network for writers in Washington, D.C. that aims to create a space for both emerging and established writers to connect with their community and to transform the written word into a shared experience through the act of reading aloud.

www.theinnerlooplit.org

Enoch Pratt

Public Library

prattlibrary.org

Dewmore Baltimore

Dew More seeks to foster civic engagement with historically marginalized peoples through innovative art-focused programming and community organizing via purposeful partnerships with community organizations, schools, and governmental agencies that foster empowerment, capacity for change, and community development.

Our Vision: Dew More aims to leave individuals and communities in a more actualized, engaged, and connected condition.

Dewmorebaltimore.org 

Baltimore Stories

Baltimore Stories is the creative collaboration of local literary and visual artists. Writer Kerry Graham will read vignettes about her experiences teaching high school English. Each short but impactful story is accompanied by either the artwork of painter Joann Dewwealth-O'Brien or photographer Rachel Shifreen. The visual art, inspired by the vignettes, reveals glimpses of each artist's individual impression of Baltimore. Follow them at: www.facebook.com/artistswithadayjob/

An Evening of

Vintage Smut

Baltimore's Randiest Reading Series

www.facebook.com/EveningofVintageSmut

Authors

Linda Gail Francis is a Baltimore-based poet who has always enjoyed words, whether they are flying through the air or sitting still on the page. Following earlier experiences as a waitress, teacher, and radio host, she has worked for many years as an editor. Her poems illuminate the startling richness to be found in ordinary experience and imagination. Linda is the author of the chapbook Coming Across: Poems and Lunch, available on Amazon.

Edward Swing is a writer of stories, software developer, avid gamer, and otaku. He has been a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, learned taekwondo, traveled both within the United States and internationally, and studied diverse topics including astronomy, mythology, and mathematics. He lives with his wife, three children, and several pampered cats.

wordsbyedward.com

Courtney LeBlanc is the author of Beautiful & Full of Monsters (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press), chapbooks All in the Family (Bottlecap Press) and The Violence Within (Flutter Press). She has her MBA from University of Baltimore and her MFA from Queens University of Charlotte. She loves nail polish, wine, and tattoos. Read her publications on her blog: www.wordperv.com. Follow her on twitter: @wordperv, and IG: @wordperv79. 

www.courtneyleblanc.com 

Cheryl Woodruff-Brooks, MBA/MA is an author who completed her first book, Chicken Bone Beach: A Pictorial History of Atlantic City’s Missouri Avenue Beach (Sunbury Press) in 2017, which was nominated for a 2017 Literary Award with the Schomburg Center in New York City, used in classrooms at Purdue University and referenced in The Oxford Handbook of American Folklore and Folklife Studies. Cheryl’s second book, Golden Beauty Boss is a biography about an African-American entrepreneur who became a self-made millionaire in the 1940s. 

cherylwb.com

Amanda McCormick is an experiential performer & writer whose work has appeared in a variety of forms & mediums over the past two decades. She is the founder of Ink Press Productions in Baltimore where she explores publishing as its own artistic medium and means to connect. She received her MFA from University of Baltimore where she now teaches. Amanda is the author of several books including & THE GREEN, a feminist retelling of growth and loss, taken from the source text Sir Gawain & the Green Knight, and AMANDA, a project of poetry that deals with the physical, experienced, and internalized selfhood of the artist-human who navigates society and the natural world in a slant framework of love and existence.

inkpressproductions.com

Transformation Through Poetry: A Conversation with Roz Weaver

Roz Weaver is a poet and spoken-word artist who grew up by the beach in Fornby, near Liverpool, England. She now resides in Leeds where in addition to writing poetry she works as a social worker and is a licensed therapist. Weaver’s upcoming Yellow Arrow Publishing chapbook on trauma and transformation, Smoke the Peace Pipe, is now available for presale and will be released August 2020. Beginning Tuesday, July 21, Weaver will host a six-week “Poetry as Therapy” online workshop with Yellow Arrow.

Yellow Arrow editorial associate, Siobhan McKenna, spoke with Weaver about her new chapbook, spoken word, and her thoughts on using poetry as a therapy tool at a time when our world is in need of great healing.

YAP: How did you begin writing poetry?

I enjoyed drama as I was growing up and about three and a half years ago, I started writing and reading poetry. After I watched a TED Talk by Rupi Kaur, I read some of her poetry and started writing. I think some of the stuff that she talks about in her poetry is something that gave me the confidence to think about how I would word what I wanted to talk about. [My poetry] was all really terrible to start with, but then I went from there.

YAP: How did you start performing as a spoken-word artist?

Similar to how I started writing, I had in my head for about a year a piece that I thought would be really good as a spoken-word piece and there was a spoken-word night in Manchester and I put my name on the list, but I backed out a few days beforehand because I was terrified. It took about a year after that to try again, and I still have never performed that poem! But after that, I never started to specifically design my poems for spoken word, but I would go up on the stage more often. [Spoken word] still makes me feel anxious most of the time—I don’t really like it! But you have to keep putting yourself in that discomfort zone. I do get that buzz from performing, but all before it I’m a bunch of nerves!

YAP: What does spoken word bring to poetry?

I think it can bring something really different from page poetry. There are some great places around where I live that do spoken-word events and the poetry can blend to almost being like music or song—its lyrics, its rap, some of them have live bands that will improvise to the rhythm of how someone is speaking. And sometimes, there will be someone sitting in the audience who needs to hear what you’re talking about whether it’s a shared experience, a reframing of perspective, or they’re ignorant to the thing someone is talking about and they need to have that learning. There is also a community feel [during spoken-word performances] when everybody clicks their fingers when they agree with a bit in a poem—rather than clapping or whooping, which might interrupt the speaker—I find [the clicks] really cute and adds to the vibe.

YAP: How do you translate spoken to written?

When I am doing a spoken-word poem it takes me forever because I start it and then I try to find the next line and it will take me hours or days or weeks to put one together. And generally for spoken word, in order to speak long about a subject, I need to be pretty passionate about a subject that I can’t just summarize on a page.

YAP: Do you find different meanings coming through when performing spoken-word poetry that you didn’t realize when you originally wrote the piece?

[One poetry line] that I may think is a very significant line in a piece, someone else will jump to something completely different and say that was the bit that they really identified with, which is often similar to page poetry. Lines can be interpreted in really different ways and whether its spoken-word or page poetry, once [a poet has] written something we don’t have a say in what it means to other people. I really don’t like when someone introduces their piece and the introduction about their piece is as long as their piece. I think it prevents somebody in the audience from interpreting the piece in a different way and sometimes the way in which someone interprets your poem is better than what your original meaning was and you say [jokingly], “Oh, yeah, I totally meant that.”

YAP: How can poetry be used as a type of therapy?

Poetry is a form of expression, and I’ve found it’s easier to put things into words in a poem rather than speaking to somebody face-to-face. For example, sometimes in a conversation with someone they want to find a solution, and with a poem, you can leave it hanging with the raw emotion and you don’t have someone else giving you advice. Sometimes, you have the words for something, but you don’t know how to feel about it yet or you can be quite numb to something and it’s only after I wrote a poem that I’ve really connected what is going on for me.

YAP: What inspired you to create the “Poetry as Therapy” workshop [now sold out!] for YAP?

I’m in my final module of my creative writing masters and in my first year, we were asked to build a set of workshops. I have quite a lot of personal interest around therapy and poetry therapy because it is a bigger thing in America, but it doesn’t exist in the UK so I wanted to build on that idea. So I created the workshops for a university module and they were sitting there and I thought it would be nice at one point to do something with them. The original ones that I put together were for women who had experienced violence so for the Yellow Arrow sessions I adapted them.

YAP: Who should attend your workshops?

Anybody! I think if people are interested in poetry, creative writing in general, or if people are trying to work through things that are going on for them then it might be a good tool to start that journey. I am a qualified therapist but the workshops aren’t therapy. People don’t have to share anything that they don’t want to. A lot of [the workshop] will be [completing] different exercises and prior readings and going away and trying some of the [activities] out by yourself. I’m sure I’ll do all the exercises along with people—I probably need it right now as well!

YAP: Why were you drawn to publish with Yellow Arrow Publishing?

I love Yellow Arrow. It’s been two years since I was first published by [Yellow Arrow Publishing] in one of their journals. I’ve been published two or three times, and I’ve always found the process lovely. Gwen [the YAP founder] would handwrite thank-you notes and post me this hand-bound journal from America and it’s just lovely. I find it to be a very supportive environment, warm, welcoming, and I love that it promotes writers who identify as women. It feels like so much care is taken with people’s work. They care about you, and I really love the ethos of the organization.

YAP: The title of your chapbook, Smoke the Peace Pipe, sounds like a direct call to action and almost invites the reader to join with you as well, was this intentional and how did you settle on the title of the chapbook?

I wish that is why I chose that! I settled on it after I had already ordered the [poems in the] chapbook to flow from a place of challenge and dark to moving into the light and [“Smoke the Peace Pipe”] worked perfectly as the final poem. I was trying to think of titles, and I liked it as the overall theme of the book—finding peace with yourself. [Smoke the Peace Pipe] has that meaning with me.

Sometimes we are our own worst enemies, and we have all these different parts of ourselves, which we don’t let exist at the same time. We lock-off bits, we avoid things, and we don’t see how we can feel different feelings at once; we feel like we need to be on this linear trajectory. There’s a poet named, Ijeoma Umebinyuo and she has a poem that says sometimes, “Healing comes in waves / and maybe today / the wave hits the rocks / and that’s ok” and I wanted to get that across.

I suppose the peace pipe, in terms of symbolism as well, is a link to something spiritual, nature, mother earth, and to the things that can help heal us. The peace pipe as a symbol is something really sacred, and I wanted to honor where that comes from and not use the phrase lightly. I’m really aware that the meaning and the history are not mine. And I wanted to pay tribute to [the fact] that we learn from other communities and other ways of being, other ways of knowing.

YAP: How did you choose the cover art for the chapbook?

The cover [was] designed by a tattoo artist in Scotland, Joanne Baker. She was a fine arts grad before she got into tattooing. She did one of my tattoos that was in part inspired by Rupi Kaur. I love [Joanne’s] artwork and I wanted to do it with someone British and after thinking about how we could make it work, Joanne was up for it. I sent Joanne a few poems and she came back with a few different ideas and it worked like that. She’s just an amazing artist and she had never done a book cover before so for her it was something to add to the portfolio. It felt really good to collaborate with her rather than pick an image that didn’t have any meaning for me.

YAP: 2020 has been a turbulent year in many ways. What role does poetry play in the face of an ongoing pandemic and fervent call for action against racial injustice?

I think people have had a lot of alone time whether to read or write. And linking back to poetry as therapy, poetry is definitely a way to express frustrations, fears, or keep a record of the small daily things to be grateful for. I think for me I’ve seen more impactful poetry, not around coronavirus, but more around Black Lives Matter. I’ve seen a lot of spoken word that has shown up, and I hope that stays. There are a couple poets on Instagram who I follow with minority backgrounds and some of the work they share is so inspiring it just leaves me at a loss for words. I think poetry sparks debate and conversations. And I think that’s needed whether it is because people are feeling lonely or as a way to continue to inspire us and to think about and change how we do things and move to a new normal in terms of coronavirus or a new normal around Black Lives Matter or trans rights. And none of this is new; it was just buried. The other day I was listening to a poet in the UK, Benjamin Zephaniah. He is a spoken-word/music/performance poet and he wrote a song called, “Dis Policeman Keeps On Kicking Me to Death.” And he wrote that almost 10 years ago in relation to one of his family members who had a similar death to George Floyd, but in the UK. So one story just hits the news, but it’s been happening everywhere all the time, which is really scary.

YAP: Is there a limit to how poetry gives us access to someone else’s lived experiences?

I think someone has to be in a place to hear it, especially if it’s something that challenges their world views or something that could be triggering. At spoken-word events, some people will have trigger warnings before a piece. And it’s ok that we don’t get something that someone is talking about because it is beautiful that there are so many different perspectives—as long as it’s not harmful to somebody else.

YAP: What knowledge or feelings do you hope readers gain from reading your chapbook?

To put some context to it, the trauma I refer to is related to my experience with sexual violence. I didn’t want to expand loads because trauma can come in so many different ways for people, and I wanted it to be relatable to people who have been through anything. I hope that people can know that things get better. In terms of my healing, [it has been helpful] knowing that there are other people out there who get it and that you are not alone. If it reaches one other person and that makes them realize that someone has gone through something similar, survived, and is all right, then that is really important.

There is an article in The Independent that in the UK only 1.5% of rapists that are charged by police are prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service. I don’t know what world we are living in, but it’s not one that feels like it takes this stuff seriously. I think systems are failing so many people. And sometimes I read stuff like that and I think about all of the people who don’t report things to the police and why would they when that’s the statistic. And why would they when a lot of the police in the system treat women like they do—because it is majority women who experience [sexual violence]. For me, it is finding alternative ways for healing when you don’t always get the response that you want from the systems around you, from the people who you would want to get criminal justice from, and from people who are close to you who don’t know how to respond. [My chapbook] is something that can say that you are not alone and there are ways you can explore this and things that you can do to start to feel better.

*****

Every writer has a story to tell and every story is worth telling. Thank you Roz and Siobhan for such an insightful conversation. Yellow Arrow Publishing is a nonprofit supporting women writers through publication and access to the literary arts.

We are seeking collective wisdom

“The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”   Maya Angelou

Earlier this month, we canceled our Home Sweet Home reading out of respect for the grief and suffering in our midst and in recognition of protests and community activities planned for that night. As part of the Highlandtown Art Walk and launch of our latest literary journal, our reading was meant to be built around the theme of HOME. Sadly, our shared home, our country, is torn apart by racism, violence, and injustice. The Yellow Arrow Publishing family wants to express our outrage at the killing of George Floyd by the police and our solidarity with the racial justice protest movement sweeping the country. We know that for some, America can be a hostile, dangerous place rather than the peaceful home we desire, based on ideals of liberty and justice. We are committed to continuing our mission to provide a safe and welcoming place for all self-identifying women and promoting opportunities for their voices to be heard.

The Yellow Arrow family welcomes women of all colors and backgrounds to be part of our community of volunteers, writers and readers, instructors and students. Our intent is to foster diversity in all of our work in order to create richer experiences and space to learn and grow from each other. Women writers have many obstacles to overcome to get their work published and all deserve to have their voices heard.

We’ve been working since 2016 to lift up women’s voices. While we made it a priority to reach out to writers of all backgrounds, we must admit we haven’t been systematically intentional about this. For example, we don’t have a way of collecting data on the racial or ethnic background of our writers or staff. We assumed that diversity would naturally work itself out. We were wrong. We do know that our organization is majority white. We realize that Yellow Arrow House, while intended to be a place of refuge, has largely become a white space. And we know that most people who submit their work to us for consideration are majority white. 

We are actively working on ways to challenge ourselves to change, both in the short and long term. The Yellow Arrow Publishing family would love your feedback and input on how we, as a publishing company, can better involve and support all women. If you would like to add your collective wisdom, please send us an email at info@yellowarrowpublishing.com with your thoughts on how we can ensure Yellow Arrow House becomes the home we hoped for.

Thank you for your support of our mission.

The team at Yellow Arrow Publishing

New Release: HOME

Like the rest of the world in this time of pandemic, the volunteers of Yellow Arrow Publishing are experiencing Home in a new way now. However, they have mustered all of their resilience showcased in the most recent issue of Yellow Arrow Journal to push forward with the release of the new issue, HOME. As stated by Ella Peary in Authors Publish, Yellow Arrow sees “creativity as an act of service and a path toward communal empathy.” This connection and empathy is needed now more than ever. The theme—originally intended to represent the organization’s move into its own offices at  Yellow Arrow House—has become impactful and relevant beyond what YAP’s board and editors could have imagined. As a result, this issue has become a masterful piece of collaboration among strong women working to create, illustrate, and define “Home.”

As always, Yellow Arrow Journal supports and inspires women in the literary arts by featuring poetry and creative nonfiction from women writers as well as one art piece per issue to serve as its cover, but the HOME issue introduces several new developments that promise to make this the best issue yet. It’s no secret that YAJ is growing in popularity, and in size as well. After receiving around 300 submissions—a record high for the young journal—Editor-in-Chief Kapua Iao made the decision to extend the journal so its readers would not miss any of the engaging pieces and promising writers connected to YAJ for lack of space. With creative nonfiction, one of our authors, Roberta S. Kuriloff, takes the reader through the experience of literally and figuratively building her home in “Unearthing Home.” Poets such as Paula Bonnell, Ann Howells, Stephanie Kadel Taras, Hannah Rousselot, and Cynthia Gallaher have contributed some of the issue’s poems sure to inspire conversation and community. In exciting news, the journal will include a book review for the first time ever, opening with local writer Kara Panowitz’s review of Landing on Your Feet and Putting Down Roots: 21 Rituals to Transform Your Life and Interior Space by Sherry Burton Ways. Her review inspires energy and persistence in the current world, making this a promising addition to the journal’s lineup and a form sure to be included in future issues. The amazing writers mentioned here are only some of those included in the issue. HOME features women writers from all over the United States as well as Canada, Germany, and Pakistan. 

Perfect-bound and PDF versions, as well as our annual subscription, are available at the YAP store. You can also search for Yellow Arrow Journal on any e-book device. Although Yellow Arrow traditionally produces a limited edition, hand-bound version of the journal in an effort to emphasize the humanness behind the writing, YAP trusts that this will shine through in the writing itself, despite the hand-binding process being on-hold for the moment.

YAP’s founder Gwen Van Velsor states in her introduction to the issue, “It is our mission to always bring hope and positivity to our publications and to our work. And now, more than ever, we offer this issue to you as a font of goodwill during a time when great healing must be our task.” Yellow Arrow would like to encourage its readers to support small businesses, literary magazines, and presses as we all struggle through this tough moment in history together. They hope they can count on your support and look forward to the day when their other programs can resume and allow everyone to gather again in creativity and community. Buy HOME and join us for a virtual reading  on June 5th from 6 to 7PM featuring authors from the issue and hosted by writer-in-residence Stephanie Garon.

Art in the Time of Social Distancing

by Annie Marhefka, Highlantown Writer-in-Residence March/April 2020

Well, this is certainly not what (or how) I was expecting to write when I found out that I had been awarded the spring Highlandtown writing residency at Yellow Arrow Publishing. I had envisioned myself cozied up in the newly created writing studio on the second floor of the Yellow Arrow House, looking out the window at the corner of Conkling & Bank Streets, continuing work on my manuscript along with the requirements of the residency. My very first task was to write a blog post about the upcoming Art Walk in April – an art walk that is now going to be virtual, rather than a steady stream of local art-lovers strolling from one venue to the next. 

I had plans to walk around to the Highlandtown businesses and introduce myself, inquire about what types of exhibits they would be sharing at the Art Walk, ask what artists they planned to feature, and learn how they intended to capture April’s theme of “collage.” Instead, on the weekend before the first COVID-19 cases in Baltimore had been confirmed, I nervously entered shops, awkwardly standing at least six feet away and giving a shy wave as I introduced myself from afar. There was a sense of nervousness and unease, a feeling that the doors were about to be shut, and I felt like I was wasting the shop owners’ time as they anxiously awaited what was to come, the events that would be cancelled, the customers that would not visit, the income they were to lose. 

In the days since my introductions, those businesses have changed drastically – some have closed indefinitely. Some have transformed their business models. Off the Rox is no longer hosting wine tastings on-site, but is still open. DiPasquale’s, which used to be my go-to destination for Italian subs, is now one of the only places I can buy milk for my baby when the big chain stores have all sold out. Peak Performance’s gym is closed, while owner Paul Breen is finding ways to offer virtual fitness options for members. Similarly, Rust-n-Shine’s owners are looking for creative ways to stay in business – perhaps posting photos of vintage items available for curbside pickup. The Creative Alliance is no longer hosting shoulder-to-shoulder crowds for performances, but instead a series of “Sidewalk Serenades” where you can pay to have local musicians perform outside your home. I find myself at home on my laptop, searching the local businesses’ social media pages to find ways to support them from afar. This is not how I pictured Highlandtown opening its arms to me during my writing residency.

But I can’t allow myself to wallow in my disappointment of this residency not being all I had dreamed it to be. For many, entire livelihoods have been disrupted, even halted in their entirety, while my stay-at-home-mom gig has only slightly transformed. I used to pride myself on being the stay-at-home mom who never stayed at home. Now – I epitomize the term, as do all other Baltimore mothers. But for me, this change is not devastating, as it is for many who have lost their income, had surgeries cancelled, are terrified for elderly relatives whom they can’t even visit, have postponed weddings, or cancelled funeral services.

So I need to suck it up, and do what I’m supposed to be doing - writing about next month’s art walk theme, collage.  As I go about my daily routine, I try to imagine what collages might line the walls of Highlandtown Gallery, the shelves of Y:Art, or the display racks in Night Owl Gallery.  That’s the tricky thing about art – it is really difficult to see if you can’t go into the galleries. Imagine that! 

Then, it occurs to me early on Thursday morning that my daily routine is now entirely comprised of collages, in the form of virtual video chats spread out across my day. What used to be in-person interactions have been reduced to collections of tiny square images of individuals quarantined in their homes, displayed on my laptop screen. 

In the morning, my local moms-only workout group that used to meet up in Patterson Park is now a virtual workout led from the instructor’s living room. Each woman is in some six foot by six foot space of her choosing in her own abode, and the majority of us have kiddos climbing on our backs as we try to hold a plank. I’m using my daughter’s playroom and trying to avoid stepping on legos as I do jumping jacks. But there on my laptop screen are ten other isolated mamas, trying to get in some type of exercise in whatever form it may come, all reaching arms over head in unison, in tiny little squares, forming a perfectly in-sync montage. 

Later in the afternoon, I’ll video chat my daughter’s grandparents so they can get a tiny glimpse of the little girl they are terrified will forget who they are by the time this is all over. My one-year-old doesn’t understand video chat; the side by side faces confuse her, and she mostly tries to grab the phone out of my hand, her tantrum of tears when I won’t let her hold it probably feeling like confirmation to my mother-in-law that she has, in fact, forgotten them. 

Later that evening I’ll have a conference call with my peers to hold a virtual meeting for the non-profit board we serve on, and again we will be tiny squares of faces on a screen, comprising a larger picture. And to end the day, my husband and I will put our daughter to bed, pour some wine, and have a virtual toast with friends who have set up a live streaming session for Baltimore musicians who are suddenly out of work. They will name virtual bartenders, also now without income, for us to tip via Venmo as we imagine the familiar faces passing us a Natty Boh across the bar. They’ll strum their guitars to the requests that are coming in via the chat feature, and when we all send our collage of clapping and heart emojis at the end, they’ll give us a little bow to the camera and sign off.  

I’m also spending my days building puzzles – a hobby that has suddenly become trendy but has been an obsession of mine for quite some time (so much so that my husband has jokingly suggested a monthly cap on the number of puzzles I order, as the storage shelves in our basement have now overflowed into wobbly stacks of boxed puzzle towers). These puzzles bring me great fulfillment – I love organizing the pieces, taking my time selecting just the right one to get me one step closer to this large collage.

Today, I’ve chosen a puzzle from Zwiebach Creations at the Highlandtown Gallery; I only have the border assembled so far, but it will be an image of a charcuterie display inside DiPasquale’s Marketplace. It feels a bit surreal to be living in this time, and as I piece the puzzle together, I am keenly aware that when this crisis is all over, we will all be piecing little bits of our lives back together. Unlike my puzzle, with a clear image on the front of the box to guide me, the image of what our world, our Baltimore, and our Highlandtown will look like is uncertain. My little perspective is one story that will combine with thousands of others; together these stories will develop into one big mosaic of what this crisis was, how it impacted us, how it changed us. We don’t know the ending yet. But we’ll build it anyway, together, and I have a feeling in the end, we will make one beautiful collage.  

***

Annie Marhefka is a freelance writer, HR consultant, and mother residing in Baltimore, Maryland. She earned her BA in Creative Writing from Washington College on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and an MBA with a concentration in HR Management. Her career includes 15 years as an HR executive & COO overseeing all HR functions, operations, and communications for a leader in the education technology industry. Annie serves on the Board of Directors for St. Francis Neighborhood Center in Reservoir Hill, and is the Vice President of the board for The Barbara J. Dreyer Cares Foundation. She lives in Canton with her husband John and their daughter Elena. Her love of writing was shared with her late mother, who inspired her to write about the complexities and intimate nature of the mother/daughter relationship. 

Annie is the Highlandtown Writer-in-Residence for March and April. The residency program is sponsored by Yellow Arrow Publishing, the Highlandtown First Friday Art Walk, Highlandtown Arts, the Southeast CDC, and Highlandtown Main Street. 

Meet the Instructor: Ann Quinn

We decided it was time to include Ann Quinn in our series about local writers. Ann, who became poetry editor for Yellow Arrow Journal in time for our latest issue, “Resilience,” taught the very first class in our new space, Yellow Arrow House. The students went home with a poem each, and another in progress, a fitting beginning for our new space. Ann has an MFA in poetry from Pacific Lutheran University, and has a chapbook of poetry, Final Deployment, published by Finishing Line Press.

We are thrilled to have Ann teach a series of classes for us—A Year in Poetry. Sign up for the year, or come as you can, the first Saturday of each month starting in March.

What do you like about Baltimore?

I actually live in Catonsville because: trees, but I love that Baltimore is planting more trees. And, fun fact, in high school, when I lived in Northern Virginia and played in a prep orchestra at Peabody, I had an intuition that I would live in Baltimore someday, and here I am, since 1994. I love that people in the area love Baltimore, and I love that the city is knowable: in one week I can spend time in Highlandtown, Sandtown, Cherry Hill, and Mt. Vernon—each so different but so much part of the whole, and so easy to get to. (Because I have a car—and that of course is one of Baltimore’s biggest challenges). I have recently become a rower--I row recreationally with the Baltimore Rowing Club. Being on the water is a whole other way to experience the city.

How did you get involved with Yellow Arrow?

I was looking online for local reading series when my book came out and I found YAP and got on the mailing list. When a poem I submitted for the journal was accepted and Gwen sent me a check, I was hooked. I love Yellow Arrow’s innovative ideas for involving community and their commitment to inclusivity and to nurturing women writers.

What do you love most about writing? 

Those somewhat rare moments when it really takes you on its own journey, when you are being used to create something bigger than yourself. I also love the feeling of participation in a conversation that has been going on since we figured out how to tell stories and sing.

Who has inspired you most in your writing journey? 

Probably Lia Purpura, with whom I took two classes at UMBC when I was getting into poetry (at age 50). She is a wonderful teacher and writer, and I try to emulate her style in my classes.

What are your classes like?

I like to challenge my students by giving them a lot of poetry to read and think about, and then come back and talk about—because we learn so much from one another. And I find that using masterful poems as models helps leapfrog the question of how to start a poem, what form to put it in. Often when you can start by copying from a model, your own poem takes over and almost writes itself. Of course we work on revision as well. I don’t workshop poems in every class—we’ll share bits and pieces of our writing in each class, but I find that we learn more by spending time discovering what is great about masterful poems before diving into discussing one another’s work.

You can read some of Ann’s work or order her book from her website, www.annquinn.net

2020 Highlandtown Writers-in-Residence

Meet the 2020 Highlandtown Writers-in-Residence!

This residency program is sponsored by Yellow Arrow Publishing, the Highlandtown First Friday Art Walk, Highlandtown Arts, the Southeast CDC, and Highlandtown Main Street.

Yellow Arrow Publishing is based in Highlandtown and loves supporting our neighborhood events. A large tenant of our mission is to support other writers by providing opportunities to gain visibility in the community. This residency was created for those what want and need time to work on their writing, but aren’t able to leave home for weeks or months at a time. 

You can meet them during the Highlandtown First Friday Art Walk, furiously scribbling at Yellow Arrow House, or perhaps wandering around Highlandtown in an inspired daze.

2020 Highlandtown Writers-in-Residence

Annie Marhefka is a freelance writer, HR consultant, and mother residing in Baltimore, Maryland. She earned her BA in Creative Writing from Washington College on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and an MBA with a concentration in HR Management. Her career includes 15 years as an HR executive & COO overseeing all HR functions, operations, and communications for a leader in the education technology industry. Annie serves on the Board of Directors for St. Francis Neighborhood Center in Reservoir Hill, and is the Vice President of the board for The Barbara J. Dreyer Cares Foundation. She lives in Canton with her husband John and their daughter Elena. Her love of writing was shared with her late mother, who inspired her to write about the complexities and intimate nature of the mother/daughter relationship. 

Annie will be the writer-in-residence for March and April.

India Kushner is a writer with a BA in Communications/Journalism from Goucher College. Fueled by tea, poetry, and her love of Harry Potter, India has always believed in the power of words to create positive change. She has previously published work at TheTempest.co and in The Corvus Review. 

India will be the writer-in-residence for May and June.

Barbara Perez Marquez was born and raised in the Dominican Republic and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Manhattanville College. She writes short stories and fiction, usually using coming of age and LGBTQ themes in her work. During her career, she has also been an editor for several publications and projects. Her work was first featured in a student collection in the 7th grade, the same year she decided she wanted to be a writer. Since then, she's been featured in Manhattanville College's Graffiti  and Tinta Extinta. Her latest work, The Cardboard Kingdom, is a graphic novel about a neighborhood of kids having a summer adventure and is out now from Knopf Books for Young Readers and Random House Children's Books. Book two, The Cardboard Kingdom: Roar of the Beast, is due out in 2021. Barbara lives in Baltimore, MD with her fiance and their dog, Eliot.

Barbara will be the writer-in-residence for September and October.

Stephanie Garon received dual science degrees from Cornell University, then attended Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Her environmental art has been exhibited internationally in London, Colombia, and South Korea, as well as across the United States. Her writing, a critical aspect of her artistic process, has been published in international literary journals and performed adjacent to her artwork. When she’s not in her studio, she’s jumping across river beds to comb through pine needles. 

Stephanie will be the writer-in-residence for November and December.

We are RESILIENT!

It’s time to celebrate the launch of the latest Yellow Arrow Journal, RESILIENCE. As a Baltimore-based nonprofit, Yellow Arrow Publishing prides itself on supporting women writers and ensuring their voices are heard.

Yellow Arrow Journal features poetry and creative nonfiction from women writers as well as one art piece per issue to serve as its cover. The works included showcase feelings of optimism and hope and proudly represents voices of women from around the globe.

This issue features work by: Margie Deeb, Stephanie Garon, Haadia Hyder, Sandra Kacher, Kimberly Knowle-Zeller, Martha McLaughlin, Rissa Miller, Meesh Montoya, Sarah Nelson, Ariele Sieling, Gina Strauss, Taína, Claire Taylor, Naomi Thiers, and Gail Thomas

Cover art by: Megha Balooni

To purchase an issue or subscribe annually, visit the YAP store. Yellow Arrow Journal issues are also available on your eBook.

The journal is just one of many ways that Yellow Arrow Publishing works to support and inspire women through publication and access to the literary arts. Since founded in 2016, Yellow Arrow has worked tirelessly to make an impact on the community by hosting literary events and publishing local writers, because of the importance of sharing the underrepresented voices of women in literature. To Yellow Arrow Publishing, creating diversity in the literary world is deeply important work. Furthermore, creating space in which women can participate in the literary arts gives an opportunity for social change and the expansion of literary norms. The RESILIENCE issue, as with all Yellow Arrow projects, is about contributing to the voice of the community by sharing the voices of women in the hopes of creating a cultural ripple effect of empathy, compassion, and understanding. As it states on the Yellow Arrow website, “Expressing who we are and sharing our experiences, strength, and hope, deepens the understanding of the human condition, allowing us all to better empathize with one another.” You can be a part of this mission by subscribing to Yellow Arrow Journal. Each subscriber gets a limited edition hand-bound copy of the journal twice per year.

If you are in the Baltimore area, please come celebrate the launch of RESILIENCE at Yellow Arrow House on February 7th. Many of our contributors will be reading their work and discussing what resilience means to them. Full details on the event here.

Welcome to our home

We are thrilled to announce the opening of the Yellow Arrow House in January. Located in the heart of the Highlandtown Arts District, we look forward to bringing writing workshops, classes and events to the community.

Please join us on January 4th from 10am-12pm for a house warming and blessing of the space. We are welcoming donations at that time of new and used items to stock our location, see a complete list of needed items below.

If you aren’t able to make it, please consider contributing to our GoFundMe campaign.

Our number one goal is to provide support and encouragement for emerging women writers, and having a space will allow us to do this in more ways than we could ever imagine.

We are so excited about the growth and development of Yellow Arrow Publishing, and we are thrilled to have your support. See you there!

Donation list of items needed (new or use)

Anything yellow!

Desks

Lamps

Water cooler (with hot water function)

Coffee maker

Garbage cans

Cleaning supplies

Broom, Mop

Tablet for payment processing

Chairs

Tables for workshops

Mini fridge

Faux fireplace

Book shelves

Outdoor furniture

Meet our Editor-in-Chief

On November 1st we opened submissions for the Winter 2020 issue of the Yellow Arrow Journal. We wanted our readers to become better acquainted with the journal’s wonderful Editor-in-Chief, Kapua Iao. Currently Kapua resides in Montréal, Québec where she does freelance editing for a variety of archaeological journals and manuscripts. Each summer she takes up residence on Crete, Greece where she works for the Gournia Excavation Project. Kapua originally hails from O’ahu, Hawai’i and holds two M.A.’s—one in Art History from the University at Buffalo, SUNY and another in Museum Studies from the University of Toronto.

We asked Kapua a few questions about her role with us and her life outside of Yellow Arrow.

YAP: How did you get involved with Yellow Arrow?

KI: I was in the Art History Department at the University at Buffalo, SUNY with Gwen’s sister from 2003 to 2005. In 2005, her sister and I participated on the Galatas Survey Project in Crete, Greece. Gwen came to visit for a couple of weeks and ended up working with us! Since then, I’ve stayed in touch with Gwen throughout the years. When she released her Follow that Arrow memoir, I became aware of Yellow Arrow and followed that arrow. Timing worked out perfectly when she started to look for volunteers, and the rest is history!

YAP: What is your role within Yellow Arrow?

KI: I am Editor-in-Chief and am incredibly blessed to find myself in such a position. I largely focus on the Journal and manuscript submission/publication, but as we have a small staff, I also help with branding, the website, and editing/designing other zines/books we publish. We are all learning as we go.

YAP: Who is your favorite writer and why?

KI: I sadly don’t have a favorite writer at the moment. Generally, I love to read nonfiction or science fiction—very different genres! At the moment, I read a tremendous amount of archaeological publications and nonfiction/poetry daily and don’t spend my downtime reading. Growing up, I absolutely loved to soak in books so it would be great to get back to reading for fun.

YAP: Can you tell us a bit about the work you do in Greece?

KI: I started working on archaeological projects in Greece in 2005 and have spent every summer since then on the island of Crete. At the moment, I am Registrar and Project Organizer of the Gournia Excavation Project for the archaeological site of Gournia in east Crete. The site was first dug in the early 1900s by Harriet Boyd-Hawes, a pioneer archaeologist and someone to read about if you get the chance. As Registrar and Project Organizer, I care for all objects and bulk finds (ceramics, lithics, mudbrick, plaster, flora and faunal remains, and so forth), both intellectually and physically, ensure that all publishers (including myself!) have access to the information they need, and do general day-to-day logistics every summer we work.

YAP: What do you love most about the work you do there?

KI: Besides the intellectual aspect of working on an archaeological project, the village we work and live in, Pacheia Ammos, has become a second home to me, and the villagers (as well as the people I work with) are all part of my extended family. I have learned so much from everyone over the years.

YAP: As someone who has spent time living, working, and traveling all around the world, what is one of your favorite places on the planet and why? 

KI: Everywhere I travel holds a special place in my heart for different reasons. At the same time, however, no other place will ever compare to Hawai’i as it holds my history, all of my childhood memories, my oldest friends, and much of my family. I still call Hawai’i home no matter where I am living or visiting and always will.

To find out more about Kapua and the rest our staff please visit our about page. For information on submitting to the Yellow Arrow Journal please click here. Finally, if you would like to know more about the Gournia Excavation Project you can find their website here.

Guest Post - The Outcast Woman

Hi Everyone,

Brad here – I’m a new volunteer here at Yellow Arrow. (Learn more about the rest of our staff here.) One of the things that has drawn me to YAP is the part of its mission that involves giving a voice to the voiceless. This attraction is, in part, because YAP’s mission dovetails with my own academic interests, which have most recently been focused on a modernist technique that I usually refer to as “textual exclusion.” Textual exclusion is the manner in which authors silence marginalized – often female – voices in their texts, rather than simply describing characters’ alienation and exclusion and letting the reader draw his or her own conclusions. For the last couple of years, I have worked pretty exclusively on exploring this technique in a single, almost forgotten Italian novel called L’esclusa.

L’esclusa translates in English most happily as “the outcast woman” – my own translation of the novel is called simply The Outcast. This is the earliest novel written by Luigi Pirandello, who completed a first draft in 1893. The novel was eventually serialized in 1901, then published as a stand-alone volume in 1908, and finally published in its definitive edition in 1927. You struggling authors out there know very well that it can take many years for projects to see the light of day, but The Outcast’s road to publication was particularly long, dark, and twisty. The funny thing is, Pirandello wrote many highly regarded novels and short story collections early in his career, and later, when he shifted his main literary output from literary fiction to drama, his work gained international recognition, inspired Absurdism and any number of other modernist movements, and he eventually won a Nobel Prize for works like Six Characters in Search of an Author and Henry IV. So why did this novel have such a hard time finding its way to publication?

The Outcast tells the story of Marta Ajala who, as our story begins, is a young wife who has been kicked out of her marital home by her husband, Rocco, after he has discovered her standing in their kitchen, reading a letter from a man he suspects is a potential suitor, Gregorio Alvignani. The strictures of 19th-century Sicilian village life being what they are, Rocco is compelled to “send her back” to her father’s house, despite her not having committed adultery, and indeed despite her being several months pregnant with their (Marta and Rocco’s) first child. This act puts into motion a series of events, including the death of her baby in childbirth, the loss of the family business and their home, and the death of her father, who agrees with Rocco’s decision and has retired from public life out of shame. She and her mother and sister are plunged into poverty. The people of the village, led by Rocco’s corrupt father, turn on her, and despite acing the national examination to become a teacher, she is not allowed to work for “moral” reasons. She flees to Palermo and starts a new life, but despite her ingenuity and drive, she encounters many of the same problems there. With nowhere left to turn, she is – irony of ironies – driven into the arms of Alvignani, who by that time has become a senator and is in a position to help her. In the end – spoilers ahead – Rocco has a change of heart as he and Marta sit vigil before his dying mother, who was kicked out of her home by Rocco’s father for reasons similar to those that compelled Rocco to send Marta packing. Rocco’s mother has, we come to learn, almost certainly committed suicide. In a final climactic scene, Rocco sees the error of his ways, and even though she is now pregnant with Alvignani’s child, he offers Marta his forgiveness, and the novel leaves us there, with what seems like something of a happy ending.

But it’s not a happy ending at all, and the deeper below the surface of the novel one gets, the clearer it is that Pirandello’s intentions are not to point us in that direction. Rocco has attempted a reconciliation more than once over the course of the novel, and whenever he has done so, Marta reminds anyone who will listen that it is not up to him to forgive her; she has not forgiven him (or her father, or the townspeople), and remains vehemently and consistently opposed to returning to her previous life, even if it means poverty and difficulty for her and what remains of her family. Of course, in that final scene, we don’t get to hear Marta’s response to Rocco, which is presumably why many critics have mistakenly reported that Marta and Rocco are reconciled at the end of the novel. In fact, we don’t get to hear Marta say a whole lot in the novel. She doesn’t even get to speak in earnest until Chapter 4 of The Outcast, at which point all of the major characters have discussed her situation at length, and her fate has been decided. Marta is young, capable, intelligent, and resourceful, but her patriarchal society does not recognize those qualities as being valuable in a woman, and as a result, they shut her out. Rather than just describe this exclusion, Pirandello opts to reinforce this point by what amounts to excluding her voice from the novel, at least at key points.

And this, I think, is why the novel had such a difficult road. It’s not because of the subject matter – there are plenty of late-nineteenth-century novels that take adultery as their theme, and plenty with wronged women and strong female protagonists. Pirandello is doing something different here. By excluding Marta’s voice, he makes a leap towards the modern by making us feel her absence. She is silenced. Her voice is lost, and, despite the novel’s faux-happy ending, that voice is not recovered. Indeed, the death of Rocco’s mother reinforces the potential tragedy of this loss of voice. Later, more outwardly experimental writers would use this sort of metatextuality to incredible effect – one can hardly imagine the masterpieces of high modernism and, for that matter, postmodernism, without it – but in the 1890s and 1900s, I’d like to suggest, the world just wasn’t quite ready for it yet.

Most novels try to uncover lost voices – to demonstrate oppression and exclusion – by telling. What I love about this novel and novels like it is that it does just the opposite; it shows us exclusion, and, in doing so, makes us as readers of the novel complicit in Marta’s silencing. That wasn’t easy for readers to understand a hundred years ago. But we’re catching up.

All the best,

Bradford A. Masoni

Notes on Notes: The Intersection of Music and Writing

The Yellow Arrow Publishing Buffalo in the Book Reading Series presents:

Notes on Notes: The Intersection of Music and Writing

Readings and Song Writing Workshop

Sunday, November 3, 2019

6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Atomic Books

3620 Falls Road
Baltimore MD 21211

Talia Segal

Zakiah Baker

Kristina Gaddy

Join us as we celebrate the interplay between music and literature. The event begins with short readings by featured authors and song writers who all have literary ties to music. A brief panel discussion will be moderated by Kristina Gaddy, an award-winning writer who believes in the power of narrative nonfiction to bring stories from the past to life in order to inform the world we live in today. In 2018, Kristina received a Robert W. Deutsch Foundation Ruby's Artist Award for Well of Souls, a literary exploration of the little known history of the banjo in the Americas, its role as a a spiritual device in the hands of enslaved Africans, and the instrument's legacy in today’s culture and society.

The panel will also feature Zakiah Baker. Baker is a writer residing in Southern Maryland and the author of To Be Her. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts from the University of Baltimore. She has an interest in historic and generational perspectives of black girlhood and womanhood. As a singer and lover of music, Zakiah's work also has threads of sound and music. Although her work is inspired by true events, Zakiah decided to become a fiction writer because she finds great pleasure in allowing her imagination to take full control of her stories.

The audience will then engage in a workshop style songwriting exploration led by Talia Segal, in which participants will have the opportunity to write their own songs, all abilities welcome. Segal has been singing for as long as she can remember. When she was a little kid, she picked up a pencil, started writing, and hasn't stopped, since. She grew up a little, grabbed a guitar, and realized that she could combine her love of music, singing, and writing in exciting and gratifying ways. This led to several years of almost non-stop songwriting and touring around the country; playing coffee shops, college cafeterias, and farmers markets. In that time, she released 3 albums of original material. Segal has earned a degree in songwriting from Berklee College of Music, in Boston. Her original songs have won first place in the Hazel Dickens Songwriting Contest, and have been finalists in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, the Telluride Troubadour Songwriting Contest, the Rocky Mountain Folks Fest Songwriters' Showcase, and the Mid Atlantic Songwriting Contest. She's currently recording her fifth studio album, which is due for release next year.

The event will conclude with music by panelists.

Absolutely no experience necessary in order to participate, young adults and families welcome.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1156492387871665/

November 3, 2019, 6-7pm

Atomic Books
3620 Falls Road
Baltimore Md
21211

This event is brought to you by:

Free Fall Baltimore is presented by BGE, and is a program of the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, an independent 501(c)3 non-profit organization. 

RESILIENCE

Yellow Arrow Journal Announces New Theme

Submissions open November 1st and your voice is needed!

With the official start of Autumn, Yellow Arrow Publishing has turned its attention to production of the upcoming winter issue of the Yellow Arrow Journal with the announcement of its new theme: Resilience. As a Baltimore city-based nonprofit, YAP prides itself on supporting women writers and ensuring their voices are heard. This cannot happen, however, unless they have the work of women to share. Submissions will be open for “Resilience” from November 1st through November 30th. 

The Yellow Arrow Journal features poetry and creative nonfiction from women writers as well as one art piece per issue to serve as its cover. The works included showcase feelings of optimism and hope. Creative nonfiction submissions must be between 500 and 5,000 words upon submission and only one submission per author is accepted per issue. Poetry, on the other hand, can be any length and five submissions per author are accepted for each issue provided they have all been compiled into one document for submission. Yellow Arrow proudly represents the voices of women from around the globe and accepts works in languages other than English as long as the author also provides an English translation for their piece. When it comes to the cover, the Yellow Arrow Journal excitedly welcomes paintings, drawings, prints, photos, graphic design, comics, and anything else related to the theme of “Resilience,” that women artists are able to dream up. As a special thanks, all contributors receive $10.00 USD and one free hard copy of the issue in which they are featured. More information regarding the submission guidelines and process can be found on the Yellow Arrow website at https://www.yellowarrowpublishing.com/submissions.

The journal is just one of many ways that Yellow Arrow Publishing works to support and inspire women through publication and access to the literary arts. Since being founded in 2016, they have worked tirelessly to make an impact on the community by hosting literary events and publishing local writers, because` they see the importance of sharing the underrepresented voices of women in literature. To Yellow Arrow Publishing, creating diversity in the literary world is deeply important work. Creating space in which women can participate in the literary arts gives opportunity for social change and the expanding of literary norms. The upcoming “Resilience” issue of the journal, as with all Yellow Arrow projects, is about contributing to the voice of the community by sharing the voices of women in the hopes of creating a cultural ripple effect of empathy, compassion, and understanding. As it states on the Yellow Arrow website, “Expressing who we are and sharing our experiences, strength, and hope, deepens the understanding of the human condition, allowing us all to better empathize with one another.” You can be a part of this mission by contributing to the Yellow Arrow Journal.