Autumn 2025

An All-American Girl — for Gwendolyn Brooks

By Beth Brown Preston

Topeka, Kansas, June 7th, 1917

Keziah:
Our baby girl's birth was not an easy one.

Vita Poetica 10/14/25 Vita Poetica 10/14/25

Negative Space

by Steven Ovadia

"I have an errand for you, David," the voice said. It was in David's head. David knew it was God. Not just because of the reverb.

Vita Poetica 10/14/25 Vita Poetica 10/14/25

Seeing Small

by Cheryl Sadowski

Silence bleeds into time, and I am drawn ever closer to the details of divine composition—in pods, wood, leaves, and petals.

Vita Poetica 10/14/25 Vita Poetica 10/14/25

Leaving the Labyrinth

by Lory Widmer Hess

I saw a sequence of dark triangular shapes inserted between the pathway’s curves, like stepping stones in a flowing river. It wasn’t the way I’d expected to leave the labyrinth, but it would do. I’d carry my questions with me, and move on.

Ellie DuHadway 10/14/25 Ellie DuHadway 10/14/25

Red Sea Symphony

by Gerburg Garmann

Red Sea Symphony is a digital reinterpretation of my acrylic painting, Daybreak, an original work defined by a dark, chiaroscuro style.

Vita Poetica 10/14/25 Vita Poetica 10/14/25

Echoes of Infinity

by Natalya Raduenz

In my work, I explore the boundaries between the visible and the invisible — the realm where the divine intersects with the personal, and where infinity takes on form.

Vita Poetica 10/14/25 Vita Poetica 10/14/25

Pigments in Abstraction

by Ellen June Wright

Learning to control pigments while working in abstraction is a delicate balancing process.

Vita Poetica 10/14/25 Vita Poetica 10/14/25

Lay Me Down Gently

Vita Poetica 10/14/25 Vita Poetica 10/14/25

“Hear me, hear me, ye who are alive!”

A review of Dedicated to the Soul: The Writings and Drawings of Emma Jung, edited by Ann Conrad Lammers, Thomas Fischer, and Medea Hoch, translated by Ann Conrad Lammers and Alison Kappes (Princeton University Press, 2025)

By Susan Rowland

Dedicated to the Soul, a welcome volume of mostly unpublished material, features Emma Jung’s lectures, poems, a verse play, and records of dreams, together with invaluable introductory essays and notes by Jung scholars.

Vita Poetica 10/1/25 Vita Poetica 10/1/25

Havening with Affirmations

by Wai-Chin Matsuoka

I’ve been inspired by the Havening Technique and the essential human need to receive attunement and validation — the experience of being seen, heard and understood.

Vita Poetica 10/1/25 Vita Poetica 10/1/25

Strong Back, Soft Front, and Open Hands

by Eric Massanari

All too often, our so-called strength comes from fear, not love; instead of having a strong back, many of us have a defended front shielding a weak spine.

Autumn 2025

Contents

Editorial

Poetry

Fiction

Nonfiction

Visual Arts

Multimedia

Review

Contemplative Practices

An All-American Girl — for Gwendolyn Brooks

Negative Space

"I have an errand for you, David," the voice said. It was in David's head. David knew it was God. Not just because of the reverb.

Seeing Small

Silence bleeds into time, and I am drawn ever closer to the details of divine composition—in pods, wood, leaves, and petals.

Leaving the Labyrinth

I saw a sequence of dark triangular shapes inserted between the pathway’s curves, like stepping stones in a flowing river. It wasn’t the way I’d expected to leave the labyrinth, but it would do. I’d carry my questions with me, and move on.

Red Sea Symphony

Echoes of Infinity

Pigments in Abstraction

Lay Me Down Gently

“Hear me, hear me, ye who are alive!”

Havening with Affirmations

Strong Back, Soft Front, and Open Hands

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