Editor Note

By Molly Hill

Spring 2023
Issue 29

Dear Readers and Writers:

Eight years ago we first constructed our website (thank you Sumy Designs!) and then we waited. The first submission that appeared in the inbox was a poem from a young writer in Indiana. Although we’ve received countless stories, essays, book reviews, photography, and travelogues since then, our poetry submissions outnumber all the others by about three to one.

It could be that British poet W.H. Auden was onto something when he said:

Poetry is the clear expression of mixed feelings.

And while we’ve received poetry in many formats— sonnets, haikus, odes, and ghazals, we’re just as glad to see students abandon official structures, and explore their own creative forms.

The poems in our spring issue are all over the board, which is just how we like it.

Northwestern University student Maddie Kerr starts off her poem into congruence, with hair clippers in hand ‘buzzing a lullaby.’

Ivi Hua describes herself as an Asian-American writer/dreamer/ poet, and muses about life in all the things I tell myself.

The opening lines of Potential Potion for a Wildlife Brew (Peas in a pod are accustomed to company, but I am not) find writer Kamilah Valentin Diaz pondering a major life decision.

In our nonfiction section Addeline Struble uses poetic and poignant language to hold a lost sister close in past, present, future.

And in answer to the perennial question — do we ever publish the same students more than once? Yes— see The Physician from the prolific and talented Nigerian writer/poet Samuel Adeyemi.

When we accepted Pantoum for the Departed from A.R. Arthur he wrote in an email— “hey, thanks for homing my poem!” Which reminded us again of our main mission—to discover and bring all these gems of student writing first HOME to our site, and then out into the wide world.

Enjoy the spring issue!

Molly Hill
Editor

Editor Note

By Molly Hill

Winter Poems
February 2023

Dear Readers and Writers,

An Editor’s Note is kind of like the warm up band at a concert. You may be willing to see it through, but you really came for the main event. And here it is:

This issue is smart phone and laptop ready and just about poetry only, with the exception of two incredible art selections from Ina Yoonseo Lee, and Grace Zhang. There are poems here about dreams, anxiety, leaving, birds, fire, foliage, and even a special homage to ‘thick-skulled annoyances.’ In other words, something for everyone. Read on and thanks for starting another year with us.

Molly Hill
Editor

Editor Note

By Molly Hill

December 2022
Issue 28

-For My Children-
What does the world require of you?
Nothing.
So find in yourself what you require
and go.
—Kate Baer

Dear Readers and Writers:
We’ve written our way to Issue 28 and proudly present(!) writing and art perfectly suited for snow days and waiting-for-the solstice nights. This year we’ve published three (Jan, July Nov) lite, online poetry supplements and wrap up 2022 with our last FULL issue. It goes without saying that we recommend it ALL.

When you finish the poems, stories, essays, and art— here are some other suggestions for waiting out these short days and long nights:

Kate Baer’s new book of poetry And Yet. See above poem, but go ahead and purchase/read/peruse anything else she’s written.
courtneymaum.com/subscribe— a newsletter of publishing tips for those that aspire…
Smartwool
@talkwithzach on Instagram. Mental health/youth focused, spot on.
Rhodia notebooks
Hot Cocoa almonds from Trader Joe’s
The Tattoo Edition of Sleet Magazine: sleetmagazine.com
Lovely art on Insta: @lydia.jung.h
Litmags!——> lumierereview.com and icelollyreview.com
newpages.com/young-writers-guide/

Let us know your recs, and don’t despair. More LIGHT on the way.

Molly Hill
Editor

Editor Note

By Molly Hill

November Poems 2022
Editor’s Note:

Dear Readers and Writers:

Because our submission numbers are so much larger than the amount of writing we are able to publish, we’ve added a November Poetry issue this year to showcase more good work from our student writers. We still end up turning down more work than we accept and students often email to ask us what type of writing we’re looking for. The best answer is to read the type of work we’ve already published.

Regarding poetry, certainly we’re open to a variety of forms, and publish haiku, odes, elegies, ghazals, sonnets, prose poems etc. But we also welcome hybrid and unconventional forms as well. In our FALL submissions queue this year, there was a LOT to like. And while it feels like the writing gets stronger, the longer we publish, this is just a small sample —a bit of the ‘best of’ our FALL reading.

In this issue—

Cameroonian writer Hyla Etame writes about longing in Love Letter to My Fatherland. And in Beautiful Marigold, high school student Mustafa Dost shows how an unconventional style can really work— this is not a typical ‘flower poem.’

Kevin Song successfully builds beautiful lines into strong stanzas in Triggers and Disappointment, while Quinn Murphy confides a very relatable worry in A Seething Fear.

In Wheel of Fortune (X), Filipino poet Rigel Portales manages to combine in a short poem—cobras, dice, Twilight, and heart surgery— with excellent results.

Isabel Isaac creates a beautiful, intimate scene in kitchen light, and Haze Fry explores the state of the world in her poem Sixteen.

Sandra Lin covers culture clash in ESTRANGED and wow, — Arim Lee shows off some skill weaving memory and image in k-summer.

Amelia Glass’ reflective voice begins with one bed:empty, in her poem thinking on the meaning of the word ‘gone.’

Something for everyone here. Please send more.

Molly Hill
Editor

Editor Note

By Molly Hill

Issue 27
September 2022

Editor’s Note:

Dear Readers and Writers,
As we watch (and enjoy reading) the many literary magazines that proliferate the internet we want to say thank you — to those who stop by our site to read the latest issue, and to our many (!) contributors who keep our submission queue at flood stage. We know you have a lot of choices for reading and we DO appreciate all of you.

We’re also aware that this is back to school, return to the office, things-might-be-back-to- normal time of the year again. Exciting for sure, but nerve wracking if you aren’t especially feeling like your shiniest, have it all together self. Our Fall issue is showing up just in time, to calm you down or rile you up, depending on which selections you are reading.

We’d also like to leave you with a little Maggie Smith. Her book Keep Moving, has a permanent spot on the editor desk, and well,— there’s this:

Accept that you are
A work in progress,
both a revision and
a draft: you are
better and more
complete than
earlier versions of
yourself, but you
also have work
to do. Be open
to change. Allow
yourself to be
revised.

Keep moving

—Maggie Smith

Feeling more like a rough draft than a polished manuscript??
Same.

Enjoy the issue!

Molly Hill
Editor

Editor Note

By Molly Hill

Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Ferris Bueller

Editor’s Note
Summer Poems 2022

Dear Readers and Writers:
Summer is fleeting, — which is why we’ve called upon the tried and true wisdom of Ferris Bueller, to introduce our Summer Poems 2022 online issue. As life speeds along, we read hundreds of poems for every issue, and the ones we select for publication are those that make us pause, because they show us life presented in a fresh and original way.

For example, we receive many poems about beloved pets, but a Ghazal* of Jealousy about an English Bulldog? Haven’t seen that before (well done Tyler Sookralli). And while we weren’t specifically looking for poetry about The Life Cycle of an African Bush Elephant, Lucy Somers showed us why this was exactly the poem we needed, and that it wasn’t really completely about elephants,— was it?

Sometimes when we turn down writing, students email and ask what did I do wrong? Instead of our responding: write more like this, we can only send encouragement to write more like your own self. Because ultimately, we are asking for what happens when you stop and look around once in a while. What do you see, from your corner of the world? Write, and send it to us so we don’t miss it. The idea being that each Blue Marble Review issue then becomes a collection of all of these disparate points of view.

Summer is flying, and there’s something out there you shouldn’t be missing. Make sure you get it down on paper.

Molly Hill
Editor

* (Pronounciation: “guzzle”) Originally an Arabic verse form dealing with loss and romantic love, medieval Persian poets embraced the ghazal, eventually making it their own. Consisting of syntactically and grammatically complete couplets, the form also has an intricate rhyme scheme. Each couplet ends on the same word or phrase (the radif), and is preceded by the couplet’s rhyming word. (www.poetryfoundation.org)