Dear Readers,
Welcome to Volume XVII of The Grail, we convene again! This time, in the flesh! No, really, there is a person five feet away from us that is not, in fact, someone we live with. The lower halves of our faces remain mysterious to all except those in our innermost circles, but the eyes are the real windows to the soul, and we’re all so interaction-deprived it doesn’t really matter, anyway. In honor of our newfound face-to-face lives, we have aptly decided to theme our first issue ‘Bodies’. There are bodies all around us, we’ve never seen the pool hall this full, and now, it seems like it will never empty.
As we turn to reality, Jocelyn Olum reminds us of the childlike wonder we experience as we come into our bodies for the first time (3). Taylor Maxwell reels us into poetry that emulates the weight of water over our heads on a hot summer day while D. Mullen takes us to moments before submersion (4, 13, 6). hrt shows us the beauty of our natural forms in a photographed collage(13). Bee Yermish explores what else gets worn away when wisdom teeth and ugly truths emerge(5). Oh, how it feels to be forgotten: Nica Kinser takes us to days where we drift along with life moving around us (6). Prepare yourself for a sensory overload in part one of Albert Kerelis’ Escape while ellie s keeps our senses on edge with poetry made for the year 2051 (7-9, 10-11). Freya Schlaefer questions the very existence of our bodies in a soul-wrenching reflection of life (12). You’ll have to ask Will Stevens what Ghost Quartet is about again, and again, and again, and again (14-15). There’s fish in my blood, thanks Bahar Tarighi (16). emma fan offers a vivid meditation on corporeality (17). Astrally project inside yourself and become one with your chosen body part, courtesy of Bloody Knuckles (18).
For our next issue, cover your ears, and prepare for noiZe! Whatever noise makes you think of (or whatever song is stuck in your head) is worthy of a spot in our issue.
Love,
Your Editors
Bahar Tarighi, expert on fish who exist within bodies and lover of oolong tea
Erik Beserra, is not as impressed by the gata bread as he remembers from his 1 am homer’s hut runs freshman year
Chloe Hsy, god of InDesign and patron saint of dahlias
and Caroline Panden, chief apostrophe-spotter and resident Virgo
Poetry by Jocelyn Olum, Taylor Maxwell, Nica Kinser, Ellie Sharp, Freya Schlaefer, and Bahar tarighi
Fiction by Albert Kerelis and Bee Yermish
Photography by D. Mullen and hrt
Review by Will stevens and Art by emma fan
Astral projections by bloody knuckles
I am locked up in a cell. The captors are conducting medical experiments on us. They give us metal wires to stick in our necks, which I know instinctively will erase our memories.