December 31, 2022
Welcome to the “Tree” issue!
We created a forest of poems in the “Tree” issue of FERAL: A Journal of Poetry and Art; of course we did.
And as guest poetry editor I had the aerial view, climbing the trees and observing, then crawled underneath to lie down in the shadows of imagery and emotion. I was reminded as I selected from poetry submissions of the fecund imagery trees possess for us; how trees inhabit with us the spaces of memory, relationships, of family, of other than human relationships, of our being together, and our being. I experienced the subtlety of the new (to me) and different voices I was hearing, with reverence and respect and excitement.
Submissions were of a very high standard and there could have been a number of forests of poems. To now see how the art interplays with the poetry, how together they create such a sensual experience, delights me.
In recent years I have been asking poets in my city, Canberra, (a city of trees, no less) to write in response to a local tree. To widen my poetic tree conversations and knowledge through this experience with FERAL has been deeply moving and stimulating. The “Tree” issue contains aptly, our anxieties and fears, and pain, as well as wonder and understanding, and also many, many trees.
Sarah St Vincent Welch
Guest Editor