Cirrus@Austlit

'Welcome to Meniscus volume 12, issue 1. We weren’t sure, twelve years ago, if we’d be able to get a new literary journal up and running, and thanks to our contributors and readers, it has after all been possible. Thank you for making our work (a) possible and (b) so rewarding.

'Each set of new submissions seems to illuminate the concerns of the moment / month / year; and the works of prose and poetry submitted to this issue of Meniscus shimmer with a sense of change. This seems appropriate, since many of them were submitted at the turn of the year, and are being published at the turn of the season, but we suspect they also gesture toward a broader sense of alertness to current global events, shaded with the memory of both delights and griefs from the past. Not that it’s all doom and gloom; a number of pieces included in this issue of the journal have tongue firmly in cheek, or are actively humorous or wry. Writers look at the world, after all, and reflect on it, and in the voices of these writers – who are located right across the globe (a majority of them based in Australia or the USA, but with representation from every continent except Antarctica) – we see the many perspectives that can be brought to bear by people skilled in observing, thinking, and crafting literary works. 

'​We are trialling a different organisation of the issue, on this occasion. Traditionally, the works in Meniscus have been set in alphabetical order, by family name; for this issue we have attempted to find threads, patterns and moods, and to organise the pieces along these lines. We trust you enjoy reading them as much as we did; and can linger over the pieces and taste their flavours.'  (Jen Webb and Deb Wain Publication summary)

'Why the theme TREAT? Because, as I said in the call-out for submissions, ‘Who couldn’t use a treat in these difficult times?’ Though the word ‘treat’ also has other meanings, which I encouraged poets to explore.

'Nearly half of the poems I selected for this issue address the most familiar meaning of treat, though the type of treat varies. There were many poems about food and drink – like Zephyr Zhang’s rambunctious ‘Cucumis sativus parvus’, a poem in praise of mini cucumbers, or Megan Cartwright’s ‘My shout’, which has fun with the office coffee run – and also food as a vital component of culture, as in Lesh Karan’s ‘My mother’s kitchen’. There are unusual treats, as in Diane Suess’s sly yet bold ‘Better than to receive a treat, I would like to know the taste of a treat in someone else’s mouth’. There are poems in which the treat is existence itself, as in Moira Kirkwood’s exuberant ‘Fullest’ (‘I’ve had it with eking’). There are celebrations of the natural world, of music, language, friendship, and the freedom of solitude.' (Tricia Dearborn : Editorial introduction)