Introduction

Welcome to the 2015 Autumn/Winter issue of Touch: The Journal of Healing.  We are excited to once again feature the artwork of Patricia Wallace Jones on our cover.  We first met Patricia’s work on the cover of Issue 17.  We are also excited to feature three poets who have two poems included in this issue, David Anthony Sam, Dianne Silvestri, and Marianne Lyon.

From over 200 submissions during the past 6 months, we have selected 15 for publication.  Each of these carefully crafted poems and essay have been chosen for their vibrant imagery, the uniqueness of their poetic voices, and the insightful clarity they offer to the scenes that unfold.  We gave them our full attention, and we hope you will too.

Whether grieving for ourselves, a love one, or someone we have only recently come to know, loss, in many of its forms, is a shared experience.  Rarely can we rise out of loss alone.  The same can be said for healing.  Not only must we rely on others to shore us up in our moments of need, often we must also count on them to bear part of our burden.  For only when we do can we experience Touch at its deepest and most meaningful level.

In this issue you will learn how pain can become a physical memory, how advocating for another can have long lasting benefits, as much as long lasting costs, how facing death can open our eyes to new understandings and acceptances, and how, at the end of the day, we can find triumphs in the smallest of things.

Thank you for joining us this issue.

O.P.W. Fredericks, Editor

Daniel Milbo, Assistant Editor