There is something to be said about transmitting information from one body to another, whether it be flesh, dust or ocean or the space between us, which, in itself, is time measured in distance. There is an infinite beauty in the way we change forms, at times seemingly intentional, and how we seamlessly move from one mode to another, from the quietness of a desert to a radio or mouth broadcasting at the ratio of rations that, when we stop and take a moment to listen and reflect, somehow seem rational. And the world begins to make a bit more sense.
As a community, the poets in this issue provide an honest and timely glimpse into that experience and what it means to live in a society where the most powerful voices and experiences are often overlooked. Each poem provides their own unique note in the symphonic ecosystem of the human experience, and moves through the layered world of transmission by transcription. It takes great skill to be able to capture what’s essential without disturbing the natural world these experiences inhabit, and each poet does so successfully. The poems vary in style and composition as much as the poets themselves vary in experiences and backgrounds. In an age where certain histories are being silenced and forgotten, the poets remind us of the importance of a pluralistic society and the language that binds us all.
Enzo Silon Surin is a Haitian-born, award-winning poet, educator, librettist, publisher and social advocate. He is the author of three previous collections of poetry, including When My Body Was A Clinched Fist (Black Lawrence Press, 2020), winner of the 21st Annual Massachusetts Book Awards for Poetry and the forthcoming collection, American Scapegoat (Black Lawrence Press, May 2023). He is co-editor of Where We Stand: Poems of Black Resilience (Cherry Castle Publishing, 2022), and the recipient of a New England Poetry Club grant, a Brother Thomas Fellowship from the Boston Foundation, a PEN New England Discovery Award and a 2020 Denis Diderot Grant as an Artist-in-Residence at Chateau d’Orquevaux in France .
Surin’s work has been featured in numerous publications including by the Poetry Foundation and in Poem-a-Day by the Academy of American Poets. Their librettos have been commissioned by the Boston Opera Collaborative and their 10-minute play “Last Train” was adapted as a short opera and debuted to critical acclaim in January 2023 as part of a series of Opera Bites.
Surin teaches creative writing and literature and is also Founding Editor and Publisher at Central Square Press and Founder/Executive Director at the Faraday Publishing Company, Inc., a nonprofit literary services and social advocacy organization.
