Waterwheel Review

Literature Without Labels

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From the Editors | Issue #31

December 2023

From the Editors

Life changes in the instant. The ordinary instant. —Joan Didion

Editors Cheryl Wilder, Suzanne Farrell Smith, and Claire Guyton in front of the Atlantic ocean in North Carolina on a cool, cloudy day

Issue 31 comes in the month of winter solstice—the shortest day of the year, followed by deepest night. Even as the holiday season takes over, midwinter insists on its quiet still moment; a moment to look into the abyss. Look with Jason Ranek and his “Triptych for the Dead,” but not without a hold on at least one thought for the sublime: the memory, perhaps, of “a wild currant, its little nova on my tongue.” The narrator of Abigail George’s “Not Goodbye,” a lover on borrowed time, doesn’t want to acknowledge the loss and grief that’s coming. Don’t look, then. Just keep to the sublime—“Touch the story on her lips.” Or try looking past the abyss. Look at the moon. “When moon passes overhead, there is a tide that heaves stones up,” says Talley Kayser in “Moonsight,” a woman who sits in borrowed light, watching for shadowplay.

—Claire, Suzanne, Cheryl 

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We’re in our fourth season here at Waterwheel Review, and we couldn’t be happier. But we have big dreams. Right now we have two ways—in addition to being an author or maker—to be a part of our labor of love.

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From the Editors | Issue #30

November 2023

From the Editors

The real voyage of discovery consists, not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. —Marcel Proust

profile of editors Cheryl Wilder, Suzanne Farrell Smith, and Claire Guyton walking down the North Carolina coastline with calm morning waters and a cloudy sky

Our November issue is a study of dualities. J.R. Barner gives us “Two Pictures” to contemplate; so simple and spare, this piece, the lightness of the lines like the negative of a photograph, the revealed scaffolding of witness. If a mother could clone herself could the two carry on as one, asks Sara Weiss in “Fish-worm,” or is the twinning a lie? Once one becomes two, well; there can be no sameness, now. In “her.story,” Annaliese Jakimides poses again and again the before against the now. Between the two—that’s where you find the story. Mind that gap. As we move now from autumn to winter, stop for a moment. Consider how one reveals the other.

—Claire, Suzanne, Cheryl 

Join Our Growing Community

We’re in our fourth season here at Waterwheel Review, and we couldn’t be happier. But we have big dreams. Right now we have two ways—in addition to being an author or maker—to be a part of our labor of love.

1. Sign up for our newsletter.

You’ll know when each issue goes live and learn news about WWR and our authors.

*We promise never to sell or share your information. We hate spam as much as you do. For more info, read our full Privacy Policy.

2. Support literature without labels.

All expenses are out of pocket. Any help goes to our submissions manager and media. We would LOVE to one day pay authors, hold contests, speak at conferences… (slow down, deep breath). Thank you for supporting literature and art!

Support WWR

By

From the Editors | Issue #29

October 2023

From the Editors

All the scars on my body, all the bumps and bruises, all the muscles – that is a story of everything I have done. —Rose Namajunas

Editors Cheryl Wilder, Suzanne Farrell Smith, and Claire Guyton

The story of everything we have done is contained, yes, in our bodies. In our work, too; sliced or pruned or distilled as necessary to power the engine of a given piece. “No takebacks” in this life, says Karly Vance in “Supplication,” where we are all the playthings of “helpless, hapless gods.” No takebacks, so let’s get it right, at least the work. In “Your Ancestors I Found Online,” Laurinda Lind provides running, sardonic commentary on notes from a family tree—poor William, 1624, that’s all I’m saying. So everything we have done is contained in our bodies and in our work… and maybe everything our forebears have done, too? In “Some Chance for Precipitation” DB Jonas tells us “We are falling.” Some days we agree; we are all falling, and we wonder if the parachutes will save us. Most days we feel the ground under our feet and we’re grateful for these fragile, scarred bodies, and aging muscles. For everything we’ve done and made.

—Claire, Suzanne, Cheryl 

Join Our Growing Community

We’re in our fourth season here at Waterwheel Review, and we couldn’t be happier. But we have big dreams. Right now we have two ways—in addition to being an author or maker—to be a part of our labor of love.

1. Sign up for our newsletter.

You’ll know when each issue goes live and learn news about WWR and our authors.

*We promise never to sell or share your information. We hate spam as much as you do. For more info, read our full Privacy Policy.

2. Support literature without labels.

All expenses are out of pocket. Any help goes to our submissions manager and media. We would LOVE to one day pay authors, hold contests, speak at conferences… (slow down, deep breath). Thank you for supporting literature and art!

Support WWR

By

From the Editors | Issue #28

September 2023

From the Editors

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell the truth. —Oscar Wilde

profile of editors Cheryl Wilder, Suzanne Farrell Smith, and Claire Guyton walking down the North Carolina coastline with calm morning waters and a cloudy sky

During our first three seasons, Waterwheel Review existed as a new journal, our attempt to remove genre labels and supplement writing with all the other art we saw fit to print. With the first issue of Season 4, we recognize our longevity and endurance. Time is behind us and in front of us, our constant challenge, our steadfast friend. Season 4 opens with Deborah Adams in “My Bad,” proclaiming, “I can travel any when.” We happily doubt every word that we lap up as we ride a time wave. That wave sends us to a past/future meditation as Michael Waterson (re)introduces us to a laudable flop in “The Conqueror.” Finally, we land in the surreal “Please Advise,” Christine Aucoin’s telling take on what it means to spring from nothing, exist, and suddenly disappear.

—Claire, Suzanne, Cheryl 

Join Our Growing Community

We’re in our fourth season here at Waterwheel Review, and we couldn’t be happier. But we have big dreams. Right now we have two ways—in addition to being an author or maker—to be a part of our labor of love.

1. Sign up for our newsletter.

You’ll know when each issue goes live and learn news about WWR and our authors.

*We promise never to sell or share your information. We hate spam as much as you do. For more info, read our full Privacy Policy.

2. Support literature without labels.

All expenses are out of pocket. Any help goes to our submissions manager and media. We would LOVE to one day pay authors, hold contests, speak at conferences… (slow down, deep breath). Thank you for supporting literature and art!

Support WWR