Seeing oneself reflected back in the land—being seen, unseen, or mistakenly recognized in nature—or in stories told about the land, is a complicated desire. Kai Minosh Pyle describes it best as they write an ndn “against the thicketed forest of nature poems”. There are questions asked here about how to write into and against this backdrop of idealized nature writing forged in the fires of the white gaze; questions of self-annihilation and self-preservation through the land and natural history museums; questions about what it means to find a relationship to the outdoors just as it starts to smolder. I hope you’ll read this offering of four pieces from four writers to watch as they continue to turn these themes over in their work.

 

Content note: work in this issue contains scenes of suicide, as well as references to sexual assault.

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—Cal Angus, Editor