Editor Note

Editor’s Note

By Molly Hill

Editor’s Note
Issue 21
March 2021

Dear Readers and Writers:

One of the things we’ve learned from putting twenty-one issues of student writing online is that not only is there no end of good writing out there, but every single issue always feels like our favorite. And we’re sticking steadfastly to the platitude that reading someone else’s writing can’t help but change you. It might make you angry, or hopeful, or empathetic, or leave you with a wow, I had no idea (!) kind of feeling. Our sincere hope is that we’ve given you some great reading to pass the time while you wait in line for your vaccine. We can hope!

We’ll let you get to skimming this note and scrolling through the issue instead, which is always our priority. Hope you approach each brand-new issue as a choose your own adventure exercise. Sometimes you’ll feel like an escape, and head for the fiction section. Come back later to dive into the personal essays, or check out the humor, craft, skill, emotion and construction of these poems. It will be hard to choose a favorite, so we’ll leave you with some great lines below to get you started. The rest is up to you.

Spring is coming, we promise.

Molly Hill
Editor

Lending him my laptop was easy. Letting him lean on me for the rest of the year was not. (Loathing, Rita Chernikova)

Outside the glass the field is white, sprung with down. Turn to see myself in the glass but see Imogen instead. (Snowday, Crystal Peng)

There is a version of this story in which they do not erase you. There is a version of this story in which mom smiled and dad frowned and at the end of the day we still gather round the dinner table. (Sundays, Amy Wang)

“Stand up for the national anthem or get the hell out of here!” Trying to keep my composure, I kept my head down and closed my eyes. I could feel everyone staring at my team…..(Why I Kneel, ZiQing Kuang)

I became addicted to the feeling of feeling empty, addicted to the way I can’t sleep at night because of hunger pains, addicted to the comments friends and family make about me finally losing weight…. (The Fear of Consumption No Longer Consumes Me, Miles Ortiz)

We’d gone 100 days with protests…… And then the smoke from the wildfires came and Portland reluctantly paused. It smelled and looked like mother nature had tear-gassed everyone. (Letter from Mateo in Portland to Stella in Cleveland, Mateo Sifuentes)

Editor’s Note: Winter Poetry January 2021

By Molly Hill

Editor’s Note
Winter Poems/January 2021

Dear Readers and Writers:

This week twenty-two-year-old poet Amanda Gorman became the youngest person to read a poem at the inauguration, when she stepped up to the microphone with The Hill We Climb.

When day comes we ask ourselves
Where can we find light in this never-ending shade?

We’ve always believed in the power of the written word as a means of connection, and a vehicle to discover our shared humanity. In our going-on six-years of online publication, we’ve showcased a few hundred poems from student writers who’ve impressed us with their ability to shape life experiences into art that is relatable, and meaningful.

…even as we grieved, we grew,
…even as we hurt, we hoped
…even as we tired, we tried

In our Winter Poetry Issue, we’ve selected poems about love, loyalty, Covid, identity, summer yearning, grammar, and polyester. As always, it’s a privilege to publish these students, and we’re delighted to do so in the same week that poetry shines on the inaugural stage.

Hope you’ll take the time to listen to Ms. Gorman’s incredible poem, and scroll through our most recent issue as well. Youth + creativity wins every time.

Happy New Year—

Molly Hill
Editor

Editor’s Note

By Molly Hill

Editor’s Note
December 2020
Issue 20

Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent entrusted to you.
Henri Frederic Amiel

Dear Writers and Readers,

Welcoming you to our 20^th issue is only partially accurate. While we publish four full numbered issues (March, June, September, December) every year, we also sneak in two poetry-only shorter issues in January and July. Still it seems significant in some way that our 20^th issue pops up online at the end of 2020. A quick dive into numerology reveals that the number twenty is powerful and related to the characteristic of unlimited potential. While it’s difficult to explain a lot of things we’ve experienced as a whole in 2020, we do recognize potential and are always impressed with the singularity, power, and originality of the writing voices, and the creative artistic skill in the submissions we receive.

This is our largest issue to date, the most submissions we’ve received, and the largest volume of work we have published online. We’re grateful to all the student writers who submitted work, because while it was a pleasure to select the work for this issue, we also regret having to say no to a lot of good work due to the large volume of submissions.

As with every issue there’s something for every reader. A quick flight to space? Per Aspera Ad Astra, by Freddie Coffey. A poem with an unusual theme? Try— Break-up Letter to Eczema from Evy Shen. Unexpected funeral behavior? — check out Lou Goes to Vermont (Ida Mobini), and Samantha Liu’s Funeral Day.

Don’t miss the strong voices in our non-fiction section—Why Africans Don’t Talk about Race but Blacks Do, from Nigerian writer Idowu Odeyemi, and Natalie Parker’s take on the issues ‘inclusive’ media have with queer women, in Erasure and Fetishization. Our non-fiction essayists also take on travel abroad, loss and lies, what’s in a name, and Sweet Misgivings (Brianne O’ Gorman).

Enjoy the writing, admire the art, and keep sharing your creative work with the world.

Molly Hill
Editor

Editor’s Note

By Molly Hill

September 2020
Editor’s Note:

Dear Readers and Writers,

A bit of an update and a review:

We’ve been an online literary journal for five years! And we’re celebrating with our first in-print anthology, due out in January of 2021. It was a challenge to distill so many great submissions into our first book, and the narrowing down process was difficult. We’re hoping this will be the first of many, and will provide details for ordering and availability when the time comes.

In the meantime, we’re proud to present our Fall/September 2020 issue, and we welcome back our returning editors as well as some new ones, who will help us review submissions throughout the school year. We have a rotating group of editors and sometimes have openings. If you have an interest in helping us read and review submissions, send an email to editorbluemarblereview@gmail.com, and we’ll discuss.

We continue to accept submissions on our website: www.bluemarblereview.com and welcome creative work that fits our guidelines:

Poetry: Any and all forms, max of 3 per submission

Non-fiction: This includes, book reviews, personal essays, and travel stories all with a max of 1500 words. We do publish the occasional school research paper as well.

Fiction: Short stories, or flash, experimental, hybrid—1500 words max, not more than 3 of these per submission.

ART: Send us a jpeg—4 pieces max

We try to respond in 4-6 weeks to all submissions, meaning this is our goal…. sometimes we’re much speedier, and others slower, but we do try to keep our writers informed. You can always email to check on how we’re doing with the queue.

We’re here for questions, and we’re as always grateful for the grant givers, the cheerleaders, and our student writers who keep us hopeful and optimistic during this time of Covid uncertainty. Thank you all, and enjoy the issue!

Molly Hill
Editor

Editor Note

By Molly Hill

Summer Poems/ July 2020

Dear Readers and Writers,

Thank goodness for summer, because how would/will we bear quarantine in February?

There’s a saying that goes something like — what you put your attention and focus on— will grow, which is downright cheerful when it applies to something good, but we seem to be awash in challenging, attention-demanding issues that can make day to day coping difficult.

We’d like to offer our 2020 Summer Poetry Issue as a form of annotation to your daily life.

While this collection of short poems certainly can’t explain what’s happening in our world, these student writers look at the world with a keen sense of observation and astute reflection, and we’re honored to share their work as both antidote and accompaniment to 2020 summer survival.

While these poems are short enough to be read on your phone during a zoom call, or while standing on that large disk six feet away from the next person in the coffee line, they’re long on inspiration, creativity and escapism.

Thanks for reading, and stay motivated*

Molly Hill
Editor

*Image of ART on plywood, created in Uptown, Minneapolis after the death of George Floyd.

Editor’s Note

By Molly Hill

June 2020/Issue 18

Dear Readers and Writers:

Working with student writers provides a front row seat to watching creativity unfold. It’s a chance to be a witness to challenging and growth filled personal stories, stunning art and photography, as well as the development of imaginative fiction and poetry. But the best part is that student writing has always been about dreaming too, and it’s such a privilege to have this small window to watch student writers make their way in the world,— figuring things out as they go, guided by that inner light as well as by family, friends, teachers and other mentors in the communities where they live.

The dreams are key because they help plot the way forward, keeping hope steady as obstacles are navigated, and motivating students— (well, all of us)—to continue looking ahead.

After our last issue went online in March, Covid19 made the world stop. For a while there was no more planning ahead, only adjusting to an indefinite limbo of uncertainty. Then here in our home city of Minneapolis, things got worse. Much has been written about the tragic death of George Floyd and the city-then-state then-worldwide reaction to long time societal structures enabling inequality and injustice to continue through generations. We’re reading and learning and doing along with everyone else, hoping to be part of something positive in the days and months ahead. We remain hopeful that as our city is rebuilt, a commitment to change grows along with it.

And here at our journal we remain committed as we’ve been since the beginning five years ago, — to amplify ALL voices, and showcase student work from all over the world. We’re grateful as always to our student contributors who have always been our teachers—may your dreams never be deferred.

Molly Hill

Harlem
By Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
Like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
Like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?