Thoughts From The Editors - Elizabeth Ruth Deyro

​Persephone

Persephone was the woman held captive in the underworld, forced by Hades to become his bride. She was the face of abused ladies who never had a choice, who cannot break free and were forced to call their cage a home, only in her case, she became queen of the dead and damaged.

She is also the goddess of spring, of rebirth--a far cry from the image she became known for. In her return lie resurrection for the barren earth and in her departure, the rest of everything fertile and in bloom.

Essentially, Persephone is a paradox, reigning in both death and life, always pacing at the edge. There is something so familiar, so comforting about learning this apparent duality to her being. Are we not all paradoxes ourselves?

For Issue 4, I want you to find answers of your own to this question. Show me the two sides of who you are. Tell me about how you survive, how you thrive, how you are both darkness and light wedged together in this earthly body. Go beyond the barriers of genres; pierce through the mind of Persephone and tell me about the parallels of who she is to who you are. Give me truth rooted on mythology. Tell me about her secrets by telling me yours. In the midst of your own chaos, your own underworld, rise and conquer. May your reign, your mystical words bring these bleak spaces, these blank pages back to life.

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