the muse is strong in issue 9

Although I always enjoy putting Cargo issues together, I particularly loved working with the content of Issue no 9.

Maybe it’s something about the promise of Spring in the Canadian air. Maybe it’s that all of our essayists have made quiet reflections with narrative ease. Maybe it’s because I’ve loved pawing through the images and expressions that we are publishing in this issue. Maybe it’s because my poets aren’t just poets, they’re haiku artists and travel sketching gurus.

Maybe it’s because I finally feel like we are doing something right at Cargo Lit. We have become more, more than I ever could have hoped for.

We are a vibrant community of travellers —a worldwide movement of fluidity— and our words and moments bind us together. All of my submitters have become my teachers. A world of depth and perspective. A world of difficulty and distain, but a world of transformation and of strength too. Travel teaches us the lessons that we didn’t know we needed to learn.

The Roundup…

In Essay, we have Tim Corrigan’s remembrance of Syria in “Quieter Suns”. Set between 2008-2011, this essay smells of peach and mint, and is much more than a historical walk through Aleppo. It is the recount of a people disarmed, of unity, and of lasting impressions of kindness and hospitality. “Muslims, Jews, and Christians,” he says, “we worship the same God.”

In “A New Regime in Paris”,  Justine Dymond visits her old neighbourhood and the condolence of change. See more than Memphis in  Evan Balkan’s story,  “A Beautiful And Haunted Tune, ” which takes us into the heart of the Mississippi Delta. 

And lastly, don’t miss Hilary Brewster’s, “Traveling in the Time of Trump.” This poignant essay follows a charged political atmosphere, the advice to feign being Canadian, and a traveler’s bird’s eye into the uncouth contest in Washington.  Can anyone else relate? “Hi, my name is Hilary, … and I promise I’m not voting for Donald Trump.”

In poetry we have the American poet Simon Perchik,  Hong Kong poet Pui Ying Wong with her poem “The Night Moves” , Caroline Cottom with “Places Called Home”, and an eye catching piece where photography meets haiku – in “In Japan: 5 Anti-Selfies” by Ellen Girardeau Kempler.

In photography we explore the boisterous colours of Charity Becker in “Perspectives” and the quietude of the Scottish Highlands in Beatrice Menendez’s  “The one who always goes out with his net will catch birds sometimes”, based on the Gaelic proverb. In Art, we get a peak at the journal of a real live travel artist – Autumn Toennis. 

Lastly, we are working on our first Cargo Literary Anthology, which will be forthcoming this summer from Tellwell Publishing. You will find on the website a new DONATE button! We have finally linked up with PayPal to make it easier to receive donations, so that we can continue to grow and carry on our editorial work. There are a lot of people involved in the production of Cargo, and in my CARGO OF THE FUTURE I want to pay my editors and my writers too. To give Cargo a boost, please click the link here: CARGO’s TRAVEL FUND.

We love you, dear readers! Keep reading, keep travelling, and most of all, keep sharing your amazing experiences.

—Mo