Dear Reader,
Our fifth issue, In Parentheses, marks a new chapter for Write-Haus’s literary and art magazine. It is notably smaller in size, a portable artifact readily retrieved and read in cafes and on commutes, then stowed away for safekeeping once more. This new size is intentional, an attempt to curate a reading experience reflective of the works within. In Parentheses aims to offer a reprieve from the ceaseless chaos of the world today, inviting readers to return to the soft boundaries of the everyday. We meet in these intimate spaces, even for a moment, in real and surprising ways.
Indeed, in the call for submissions, we invited writers and artists to share works that clarify or complicate; that offer side notes or second looks; that reveal beauty in our experiences, whether big or small. We received submissions from around the world–resulting in our most international pool to date–demonstrating the theme’s global resonance and our own growing voice. Our contributors enchanted us with their authenticity, humor, and mastery of their respective craft.
In curating the magazine, we were thrilled by contributors’ innovative and experimental play with form–erasure poems that strip down existing texts to find new meaning and hermit crab essays that borrow bureaucratic paperwork to visualize a humorous and horrifying tale.
We were equally delighted to find that the works, while still reflecting each contributor’s unique voice, coalesced around a common idea–of finding both otherworldly and mundane shelters for safekeeping amidst profound transformations. These shelters are diverse in their structure. Some find (dis)comfort among reveling pilgrims, seeking out the wisdom of sages. Others find their revelation in the simple chores of daily life. Many more take refuge in the fragile embrace of those they love.
The contributors invite us to share in their transformations as they ache for lost love, ponder aging, and confront the realities of war through the subdued eyes of those with firsthand experience. Repetition and reflection are prevalent in both written and visual works, echoing the notion of transition, as well as the physical mirror of parentheses themselves.
We invite you now to explore these stories, poems, and pieces of art in the sincere hope that this chorus of suspended voices might serve as your shelter, transforming you piece by piece, page by page.
With love,
The Write-Haus Team
