What Are You 'Ready To See'?

How uncanny that this issue of Cezanne’s Carrot, published on the day with the most light of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, is focused—without conscious intention—on works that dare us to see with greater light what the world customarily hides from us. The physical light helps us see this world more fully; the creative light that shimmers from this issue illuminates possibilities lying behind the veil that so often hides what is nonphysical.

Our Fiction section is filled with stories about ”seeing”—seeing more deeply, in a different way, even past the illusions of this physical world. Who is that ”man behind the curtain”? How is this physical life created? What’s real? What’s just a game? Let the expansive vision of Karen Aschenbrenner’s “Shifting Strategy” and Rebecca Muller’s “Musing” reveal new possibilities in these fascinating tales about the ongoing creation and construct of the physical universe.

Then turn to two extraordinary stories about what’s beyond this physical reality as we leave it: “Ready to See” by Mark Joseph Kiewlak (which inspired the idea for this note) and“Bobcats at My Door” by Levi Pendleton offer different but exciting questions about the death—or not death?—process.

And for those left behind, our final three fiction pieces offer breathless insight: from “Transilience,” Reihana MacDonald Robinson’s tale of a woman who watches her husband vanish from sight; to “The Topography of a Wake,” Stefanie Freele’s portrait of the thinning of “the veil” between death and life, and inner and outer lives; to “The Floating Woman,” in which Lee Upton takes us on a different path to where the curtain disappears.

A powerful lineup of creative nonfiction stories also presents a variety of ways in which we humans seek greater understanding and insight into our world. Travel a life-changing wild river with Stephen Busby in “The River,” as he makes startling discoveries. See a new perspective, from both real and imagined flights, in Stephen Mead’s “In My Dweems We Fwy.”

Discover how interconnected we are with all others, past and present, in two other stories. In “Lucky Fish,” Doris Plantus-Runey looks at the huge consequences that ripple out across the world, from just a minor act. And enjoy Karen M. Wilcox’s piece about how we are our myths and gods and goddesses in the poignant and funny “Once Upon a Myth in Montana.”

Our final nonfiction story, “The Fathers We Find,” is also the last chapter of Charles P. Ries’s memoir by the same name, and takes us on a journey of discovery through both mystical and mundane events in the father-son relationship.

And, as if to confirm the universe’s synchronicity in drawing in the perfect creative works for each of our issues, consider the art we are delighted to publish this time: There’s photographer Ashley Lorenz’s photo trio of imaginative perspectives of the human body, how we view it, and its relationship to nature. The breathtaking paintings by digital artist Randy Thurman are filled with new sights and insights about the nature of reality. And Christopher Woods’ amazing photographs of “real” objects invite us to see them beyond the way we’re accustomed to.

We found this issue of Cezanne’s Carrot to be full of “eye-openers” that entertained, intrigued, and delighted us, and we hope you, too, enjoy each of these incredible creations!

Barbara Jacksha & Joan Kremer