Pilgrimage – 2005

I have never been disappointed by an issue of Pilgrimage. In a world that is exceedingly desperate, both on and off the page, this exquisite little journal never fails to soothe and stimulate in equal measure, with intelligence, grace, and authenticity. This issue’s theme is “borderlands.” I have never been disappointed by an issue of Pilgrimage. In a world that is exceedingly desperate, both on and off the page, this exquisite little journal never fails to soothe and stimulate in equal measure, with intelligence, grace, and authenticity. This issue’s theme is “borderlands.” Editor Peter Anderson explains that stories “help us recognize those borders that may be necessary” and “also break down the borderlines that get in our way.” This issue’s “Words Along the Way” are from Jim Corbett, an early leader of the Sanctuary Movement, and his words are more apt in these post-Katrina days than they may have ever been: “…we are all refugees in need of congregational sanctuary.” If art has a role to play in creating this sense of community, the current issue of the magazine goes a long way toward doing just that. There are powerful, moving poems here by Aaron Abeyta (who also contributes the issue’s only short fiction), Kim Stafford, Mitchell Clute, and D.E. Steward, and finely crafted essays by Robert Branscomb, Ana Maria Spagna, Gaynell Gavin, and Kent Annan, among others. There is nothing self indulgent, ostentatious, sentimental, or arch in Pilgrimage. In these days of great devastation, I can’t help quoting Kim Stafford, from his poem “Prescott Rain”: “We are gathered into a story, you and I, in the sheen and slash of hard rain. / A story goes beyond us, my beloved— / shard, cob, figurine.” [www.pilgrimagepress.org]