Issue Fourteen

Welcome to Issue Fourteen of American Chordata. In these pages, talented writers and visual artists traverse a landscape ranging from “soldiers at checkpoints” to “ring pops” and laundry to a “monk at the carnival.” One garden after another. The work in this issue is as varied as the kaleidoscope of human experience; from the strange to the quotidian, it is all here, rendered beautifully. And what of beauty? Perhaps one purpose beauty serves is that of a balm, a savior of sorts, ferrying us across turbulent waters time and again for all of recorded history. Beauty, and its attendant renderings, is a reminder of both finitude and infinity. As my friend Mitchell rightly asked when I showed him this letter, what is the role of beauty in the Anthropocene? Reader, that is up to you.

Issue Fourteen, admittedly long overdue, is one we’re exceptionally proud to bring to you. I’d say we’re living in strange times but that seems an understatement to an extent that it’s nearly insulting. One of the biggest changes on the horizon for us here at American Chordata is the fact that Issue Fourteen will be our last print issue. Many factors have led to this decision: rising printing costs, the limited bandwidth of an entirely volunteer staff, and the ubiquitous shift to digital have convinced us it’s time to join our fellow mags on the worldwide web. Over the past 10+ years, American Chordata has been proud to feature innovative written and visual art on beautiful pages, a delight to hold in one’s hands. My hope is that as a digital publication, we’ll showcase art that moves you on a more regular basis, while staying true to the integrity of the multifaceted, world-broadening tone readers have come to know and rely on when turning to American Chordata.

Some of these poems come to you from beyond death with advice as salient as any. Lyn Hejinian writes in “Drum,”: “The future / will last and time will tell. Now sing the first measures / of your favorite song, play havoc in a comedy / mocking mediocrity. Now is the time for the next question.”

I write to you from February 2026, where it feels as though uncertainty is all we can count on. It is not. In these pages you’ll find art that is sustaining and optimistic alongside the heart rending. American Chordata is a magazine with a global focus, and has only benefited from the contributions of immigrants and the expansiveness possible only in a society shaped by the voices of many. I feel it is important to be clear: the America in the name of our publication is a place dedicated to a shared future of radical kindness, not one rooted in hatred, divisiveness, or the fictive violence world leaders call “borders.” Art knows no boundary, and nor does kindness, neighborliness, community.

Thank you for joining us in community as you turn to the writing and art that follows. Whatever it is you are looking for, I feel confident you will find something in these pages to sustain you.

Zoe Contros Kearl

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