Letter from the Editor
Dear Readers,
When I came into my role as an Associate Editor at Glassworks at the commencement of summer, I really only had one goal: to deepen my understanding of writing. Putting together this collection with the other editors at Glassworks not only exceeded the expectations of my goal but also changed how I viewed the relationship between writing and the waking world.
Elizabeth Bishop once said, “If after I read a poem the world looks like that poem for 24 hours or so I’m sure it’s a good one.” I spent much of the summer traveling across the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, reading and re-reading the works of our featured authors and trying to puzzle piece their stories into the perfect order for readers’ consumption. I became so acquainted with these pieces that I began to see them in the places I was visiting, like Bishop described.
When I came into my role as an Associate Editor at Glassworks at the commencement of summer, I really only had one goal: to deepen my understanding of writing. Putting together this collection with the other editors at Glassworks not only exceeded the expectations of my goal but also changed how I viewed the relationship between writing and the waking world.
Elizabeth Bishop once said, “If after I read a poem the world looks like that poem for 24 hours or so I’m sure it’s a good one.” I spent much of the summer traveling across the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, reading and re-reading the works of our featured authors and trying to puzzle piece their stories into the perfect order for readers’ consumption. I became so acquainted with these pieces that I began to see them in the places I was visiting, like Bishop described.
Traveling on the New York thruway I could see the poem “After-Hour Flowers” by John Wojtowicz in the yellow and purple wildflowers that were passed so often without care. I could feel the poem “Summer of Mosquitos” by Christine Anderson on hot South Jersey nights when being bitten by a myriad of tiny insects along the Delaware River. Driving through Appalachia, I could relate to the anxiety of writer Grace Cornelison in her creative nonfiction essay “WASP” when I noticed so much discriminatory sentiment scattered across America’s lawns. Needless to say, the writing of our featured authors truly opened my mind to the world and poetry that exists around us every day.
I worked very closely with my fellow Associate Editor, Amanda Smera, and our Editor-in-Chief, Katie Budris, in assembling the magazine this summer, and I think I can speak for all of us when I say reading the pieces included in this issue and giving them a home has been such a profound and fun task. It has been a significant personal achievement and experience I will always treasure. I cannot remember a time in my life that I’ve been so ecstatic to read and talk about writing than when I was working on Glassworks Issue 25.
I hope that you can find that same joy in Issue 25 and in the hunt for meanings in our world these writings will inspire.
Sean Wolff
Associate Editor
I worked very closely with my fellow Associate Editor, Amanda Smera, and our Editor-in-Chief, Katie Budris, in assembling the magazine this summer, and I think I can speak for all of us when I say reading the pieces included in this issue and giving them a home has been such a profound and fun task. It has been a significant personal achievement and experience I will always treasure. I cannot remember a time in my life that I’ve been so ecstatic to read and talk about writing than when I was working on Glassworks Issue 25.
I hope that you can find that same joy in Issue 25 and in the hunt for meanings in our world these writings will inspire.
Sean Wolff
Associate Editor
