Dear Readers,
In these times of grief and upheaval, we’re looking at how storytelling and literature can offer utterance to truths. With joy, we bring Issue Eleven to you virtually, and hopefully, on your bookshelves. The issue holds works by our wonderful contributors and their meditations with syntax and narrative. These works cohesively embody a membrane of collective movement with engagement and remembrance. I recollect the words of Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī from memory: “Dance when you’re broken open. Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you’re perfectly free.”
As all of us live out the material experience of how history impacts the present. We strive towards changing the future in honor of those who have come before us and resisted— and for the protection and happiness of those who will come after us. We carry your stories and honor your experiences. We want to work towards creating a world that has senses open to that which is both; smaller and larger than oneself. We come from a heritage of imagination and limitless possibility. Beyond language, there is song, and we practice love with sonorous echoes.
As a small team of volunteers, Parentheses Journal relies on the support of our readers. We encourage you to request our journal at your local library, tell your friends who might be interested in our work, and join our endeavour in continuing to bring the best of contemporary literature your way.
It is also the birthday month of our Founding Editor, Harshal Desai. He is the force behind our web and print issues, and also the editor for all the art in our issues. Join us in wishing him all the success and joy.
On behalf of the editorial team.
Sneha Subramanian Kanta