Welcome to The Whirlwind Review

Welcome to the first issue of The Whirlwind Review.

The thirty poets and nonfiction writers presented here offer a wealth of approaches, ideas, and styles. Their work explores writing and healing, the challenges and blessings of the writing life, the purposes and meanings of literature, and the role of spirituality in art and of art in spirituality.

The healing power of writing is a repeated theme in this issue. Regina Brault’s “The Art of Camouflage”; Beth Paulson’s “Word Catcher” and “Labyrinth”; and Carol Ellis’s “Only a Few Words Away from Nothing” all take unique approaches to the ways poems can enable us to grow and live in a difficult world. Yaqoob Ghaznavi’s poem “Driftwood Court” asks what poetry can do in the face of tragedy. Lisa Nichols Hickman also looks at how writing can help us deal with tragedy in her essay, “What a Wonderful Wor(l)d” about writing in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

The writing process is another theme that weaves throughout these selections. Stephanie B. Shafran uses the metaphor of childbirth to delve into her process in “Birthing.” In “Ars Poetica,” Sharon Carter writes of patience and the quiet wait for the muse. The power of language—the importance of the “rawest, most crucial words”—is the focus of Sarah Rehfeldt’s “On Language.” The importance of process over product—of journey over destination—is explored in “Medicine Wheel” by Bradley Earle Hoge and, in a very different way, in Ryan McLellan’s “Nothing.” And Jeff Morgan considers writing in everyday life—the day-to-day objects and events that aid and hinder us — in his poem “The Creative Act.”

The role of the poet as a vessel for and voice of the Divine is the focus of three of the poems in this issue: “Not Mine to Say” by Carol Folsom, Frank Cavano’s “Take Not My Pen,” and “A Poetics for God” by Phillip K. Arrington.

Other works ask, What is a poem? What metaphors can we use to talk about poetry? Nancy Gustafson suggests one possible answer in “A Poem—or a Hair Shirt.” Paul Hostovsky looks at the issure from a different perspective in “Ars P. O.” And Sheryl Nelms offers a unique answer in “Food for Thought.”

The place of loved ones in our artistic and spiritual lives is the topic of Donal Mahoney's "Apple Fritter and a Single Rose" and Kyle Laursen's "Cafe Coyote."

A wide variety of traditions are represented in this issue. In his essay “The Unknown,” David Harris Ebenbach examines the nature of creativity and the purpose of art from the perspective of Judaism. Tamara Mikell-Choudhury, who spent part of her childhood on a Sufi Muslim commune, tells of the effects of that experience on her writing in “Red Ink: A Literacy Autobiography.” Gary D. Swaim explores his Christian faith in his poem “Apologia.” Traditional Indian astrology is the topic of Vivek Sharma’s “A Biography, Scripted by Astrologers.” And Irene D. Hays draws from both the Old Testament and Buddhism in “Precept Upon Precept.”

A potpourri of other topics and issues can be found among the works in this issue. Lyn Lifshin gives a frank account of one of the conventions of the writing life in “Writer’s Conference Brochure.” Cristina T. Lopez-O’Keeffe explores the barriers to true communication in “The New Border.” Siham Karami touches on the tradition of oral literature in “The Storyteller.” The very nature of poetry itself is explored in Peter Selover’s untitled poem and M. S. Rooney’s “Not the Sound.” Finally, for a touch of humor, we have Leland Thoburn’s essay “Divine Intervention” on the deities of writing—a collection of gods, goddess, angels and others who might, if we ask, help us write.

I hope you find among these works inspiration, joy, and insight.

About the Design

The Whirlwind Review is designed to be visually simple, clear, and uncluttered. With a single poem or prose piece on each web page, it is an attempt to avoid visual noise and busy-ness and offer readers a quiet and tranquil reading experience.

Blessings,

Jill Jepson, Editor
Writing as a Sacred Path