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Spring ’24

R&S Uncategorized

Halcyon Panacea

by Amanda C. R. Clark with Sophia Du Val Halcyon Panacea hal·cy·on| ˈhalsēən | adjective denoting a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful pan·a·ce·a| ˌpanəˈsēə | noun a solution or remedy for all difficulties or

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coronavirus

Landslide

by Sara Whitestone January 21 “Well, Mom, it’s been 14 days, and Zhi and I have no symptoms,” my daughter tells me over the phone.

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birds

12.2, an Issue in Review

by Emily Hanson Every issue of Rock & Sling witnesses to a myriad of different ideas, feelings, and actions and each piece does so in

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Can You See Anything Now?

by Jessica Dundas The label “Christian Fiction” tends to turn me off. I expect another cleaned up, simplified version of life, where they always get

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art

Imprint

In the same way, if I spend so much energy and effort trying to create music or art or poetry that is meaningful, or beautiful, shot-through with light, grace, insight, and love, how can that not spill over into working for these things in the larger world?

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books

Sweet Child, You Are Loved

Every time I prayed, a gentle, insistent sense arose in me – Do this…You can do this…I want you to do this – the same sense that had been prodding me during the past six months as my husband and I discussed fostering a child and researched the process, and I, initially resistant to the idea, had begun praying about it.

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family

Make it New: Goals

We are stripping our house layer by layer, occasionally stopping to wonder out loud if it feels like we’re trying to erase her and purify this space. Our mother is in every facet of the house; she picked the colors, sewed the curtains herself (one handed, no less), and embroidered half of the wall decorations.

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11.2 Cover
11.2

11.2 Contributor Notes: Part Two

When we reach out in words, where we’re safe, we prepare to cross a boundary with respect at our next opportunity. We prepare to offer the comfort we weren’t able or brave enough to offer when our last chance arose.

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AWP 2017

Rock & Sling at AWP: AWP as Told by Elf

Bookworms and publishing nerds at AWP often feel like Christmas came again in the spring. You enter a magical wonderland with all of your favorite literary paraphernalia, and you go home loaded with gifts (for others, or for yourself).

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AWP Washington D.C.

Rock & Sling at AWP

AWP isn’t the frenetic overwhelming thing it once was. No longer do I stand paralyzed, unable to take everything in or even figure out where to begin.

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11.2 Cover
art

Contributor Notes: 11.2

hese poems are my way of honoring the mysteries of the natural world—weather, geology, our human impermanence—using metaphor and image, rhythm and form to understand our roles in such an intricate system.

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beauty and art

Reaching Out to Beauty

What can I offer them? What can I write to them when their fears and questions—along with mine—are so loud in our ears?

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books

Make it New: Libraries

What haunts my waking dreams is the library; a sacred space, richly textured with human spines and book spines, crinkly papers, and dusty tomes. How do I make these perennial objects of desire—those recorded and those we wish to find—new to those who do not see the library as I see it?

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blossoms

Death and Blossoms

by Karissa Knox Sorrell A couple of months ago, I went to a funeral. It was for a woman named Joyce whose husband had been

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Witnesses

by Karissa Knox Sorrell When I write, I turn my back to the saints. We moved into a new home in August. With our home

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Andy Zell

Expectations

  by Andy Zell As I write this, we are expecting our fourth child in a matter of days. A few days before the birth

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Rock & Sling Goes to AWP

by Lauren Klepinger As the end of spring break loomed nearer, I couldn’t help but wonder how I would survive the next week. I’d spent

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Our AWP events:

Stop and see us at table P24 in the bookfair. Freebie broadsides, poetry singles, buttons, back issues, and more. Plus t-shirts and issue 9.1, featuring

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Ninety Years Post-Wasteland

by Jeremiah Webster If Madame Sosostris shuffled her “wicked pack of cards” today, would there be the hanged man, the “lady of situations,” the great

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7.2 is en route

With delivery scheduled for Monday, here’s another look into the coming issue. Artist’s statement by Emelie Ånskog How I breathe I was in London and

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Schliemann in Seattle

Jeremiah Webster In 1858, Heinrich Schliemann (retired at thirty-six after success as a military contractor) set out to discover the walls of Troy that he

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Now at the printer: Issue 7.1

featuring work from: Tara Ballard Michele Burkey Jackson Culpepper Kristin George Michael Gray Matthew E. Henry Adam Hughes Jeremy B. Jones Laurie Klein Alyse Knorr

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Advent Two

Kathryn Smith What does it mean, in the year 2011, in an urban setting, to prepare the way of the Lord? What if a neighbor’s

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Advent One

Kathryn Smith What struck me about today’s gospel—in addition to the ominous imagery—is that notion that the Lord’s coming will surely happen at night. So

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Advent Comes Out Swinging

 Joshua Robbins As we enter Advent’s home stretch, I’ve found myself wishing the season’s anticipation would feel…well, more sublime. But, then again, I wonder if

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Landmarks

Kristina Pfleegor Jeremiah 31:21 A little girl climbing a tree falls on her back, lungs jarred. The sky is a darting school of minnows. The

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Anagnorisis

 Jeremiah Webster – noun ( /ˌænəɡˈnɒrɨsɨs/; Ancient Greek: ἀναγνώρισις) the moment in a play or other work when a character makes a critical discovery. “What is

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They Live, We Sleep

The Occupy Wall Street mentality is nothing new. Brian C. Baer I was lucky enough to catch a screening of John Carpenter’s cult classic They

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Here There Be Giants

Jeremiah Webster Last year I drove a friend from out of town (Midwest kindred sort) along a road that ran parallel with the Cascade Mountain

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In Praise of Blackberries

by Jeremiah Webster My two year old son has a Radio Flyer scooter: classic red with streamers that blow in the breeze with near-patriotic flair.

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We hear, our ears, we are.

Ben Everett Music. Music is bound within a web of outside influences which brand themselves onto each song we listen to. In essence, music is

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Lighting Up

by Sarah Glady See. You’re 16. You live in Phoenix. And you’re in love with lighters. Well, more or less. All your friends are lighting

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Let It Be In Blood

by Jacquelyn Wheeler In a sermon series about spiritual revival, John Mark Comer preached a sermon called, “Born After Midnight,” in which he asserted that

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Contributor Notes

We ask our contributing authors to consider the role of faith in their work, or in the pieces in our issue. It adds some depth

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Vigil, with Tarantino

by Claire LePage I watched Kill Bill while waiting for my grandpa to die last week. I wanted to watch A River Runs Through It,

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Honky-Tonk Bride

by Sarah Wells Jesus is dancing like no one is watching his partner. He smiles and twirls a girl in a satiny top and high

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