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Ian Cotter is a student at SUNY ESF in Syracuse NY.
He states “As I was writing “Power of Cold,” I wanted to make the reader feel what I felt when the story unfolded: the coldness and isolation, embarrassment and humility, and ultimately the lesson of slowing down to appreciate what you have.”

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Image credit: Merlin Kraus, Unsplash

shrouding my body
in evidence of
(i want to be holy)
i weep and ask each

fistful of mud to
inherit these hands
i pray from my igloo in

every soulful swallowing
from here, i am hidden
so i compost my tongue
and grow this body back from blue

to where i replace the
snow carefully
i stand and sink my
ankles into the cold

numbing the
earth warm and wet
under the crux i am

starved and trembling
i crouch low
lightly, lapping

spirals round my
thighs i dig and
dig and dig

in the bathouse at midnight

alone becoming black oil
shadowed against the
(dark blue)
the sun was tempered in a
net downtown
(dark blue)

somehow again
it is morning and
the newly vapored sun
has slipped through

i rise and flap my wings
panting, i plant my toes
sneak out the back door

The water rises, buckets
swallow the excess,
but I cannot.

Deckhands burned by
fleeting ropes, soothed by
the ocean’s mist.

I lay down on the deck,
like an anchor to
the ocean floor.

Breathe in the smell of
nothing is permanent.

~
Image credit: Abbey Leibert, 2025

Worry like a ship
stuck in a bottle
kept in check by my
ribcage.

The water rises,
competing with
an ascending airplane.

My lungs contract,
masts crack under pressure.
The water rushes into the fractures
with the spirit of glue.

My sails expand,
lungs capture the wind,
disguised as direction.

she creates art as a form of inquiry, healing, and connection, and she invites us to reconsider how we relate to each other and to the land.

Read the interview linked above to learn more!

Her commitment to community collaboration and spatial justice ensures that her work doesn’t just speak about people and places but speaks with them. In a time marked by great ecological and societal loss, Sheila’s work offers a compelling response:

From community-based storytelling to co-created public installations, each of Sheila’s endeavors creates space for shared discovery and mutual expression. By merging creative expression with environmental and social issues, Sheila not only raises consciousness but also fosters dialogue and empathy.

“Taken in the redwoods of Del Norte State Park, CA, Shafts is archetypal imagery representing that wet coast landscape: fog drifting through redwoods with shafts of light becoming palpable shapes.

[It’s] a wonderful place to witness the manifestation of light, or how light shapes and takes shape.”

Green is the author of 11 books including The Sound of Fish Dreaming (Bellowing Ark Press, 1996) and the upcoming Old Man Looking through a Window at Night (Main Street Rag). At the age of sixty-eight, he hopes his new work articulates a mature vision of the world and does so with some integrity.

Sneak peek of our Spring 2025 issue! Cover by Benjamin Green, 2026, titled “Shafts”.

All acceptances have been sent out! We received so many wonderful submissions for this issue that it was tough to make a decision.
Stay tuned for the spring publication during Earth Week!