Introduction

Welcome to the Spring/Summer 2014 issue of Touch: The Journal of Healing.  In every life, there are periods of challenge and at times intense pain, some we endure and some bring us greater depth of wisdom.  Likewise there are joys at times just as intense, which may pass us as life streaks by or be caught in our fonder memories to give us strength to grow.  What we have learned gives us perspective as life unfolds.  Whether we are looking from the top down on our moments of weakness, or from the bottom up seeking hope and greater acceptance of our place in life, sharing our vantage point with others not only frees us but helps us carry forward our strengths for another day.

In this issue, our contributing poets share many vantage points on life, on the unique struggles we face as women and as men, and how to see hope and richness in the moments we feel bereft of both.  We invite you to lose yourself in their stories, caught up in their carefully chosen words, colored by emotion and a keen awareness of their circumstance.  They bring us to the edge to see for ourselves that the feelings we all at times share can be understood and drawn upon in ways we had not imagined.  And in the end, when we look up, perhaps we will find that miracles are possible, even when they aren't given to us as we had desired.  For more often than not, there isn't a radical healing but rather a new found courage to accept and move forward.

I am also very excited to welcome back Larina Warnock as our Editor's Choice this month, as she continues to share, in her masterful style, her own growth, insight, and vantage point on loss, the struggles of daily life, and how poetry itself can be instrumental in carrying on.  Thank you for joining us this issue, and we thank all our contributors for making this issue possible.

O.P.W. Fredericks, Editor

Daniel Milbo, Assistant Editor