Editor’s note—
The concept for this issue was to create a forum for an absurdist, collaborative experiment, roughly based on the surrealist Exquisite Corpse experiments from the 1920s.
Twenty-eight writers were invited to participate and told they would be given one line of text as a prompt, a form to work with and 7 days with which to create their piece. The last line of their writing would then serve as the prompt for the next writer.
Once the four separate forms were decided upon names were drawn out of a hat to assign writers to each of the forms. This also determined the order. At that point, the first writer of each poem was given the line Among Clouds of Dust, Only Mountains—a Garden.
Most of the texts in the journal appear more or less as submitted, with only minor adjustments being made to ensure the form was consistent.
Craig Foltz
June 2018
Craig Foltz is a writer and photographer whose work has appeared in numerous journals. He has published two books on the inimitable Ugly Duckling Presse. These days, he lives in Auckland New Zealand, amongst limestone formations and dormant volcanoes.
♠ – Among Clouds of Dust, Only Mountains—a Garden
♥ – Among Clouds of Dust, Only Mountains—a Garden
♦ – Among Clouds of Dust, Only Mountains—a Garden
♣ – Among Clouds of Dust, Only Mountains—a Garden
Featuring:
Evangeline Riddiford Graham, Lee Posna, Alexandra Naughton, Ya-Wen Ho, Mattias Svalina, Bill Nelson, Rebecca Hawkes, Joan Fleming, Klare Lanson, Michelle Dove, Nina Powles, Hana Pera Aoake, Pam Brown, Jackson Nieuwland, Steph Burt, Samantha Stiers, Airini Beautrais, Kate Ingold, Essa Ranapiri, Samuel Carey, Lisa Samuels, Anna Jackson, Amy Brown, Quintan Wikswo, Dan Nash, Sarah Jane Barnett, Aimee-Jane Anderson-O’Connor.