New Magazine Showcases Young Writers and Well-Crafted Works
Blueshift Journal is a new literary magazine which aims to publish online twice a year and once a year in print. It describes itself as “the yearning, the telltale sign that we have never been alone.”
On their Founding page, Editor-in-Chief Tyler Tsay asks the question we all ask when a new publication comes out: is this going to “add yet another head to the Hydra” of lit publishing?
Yes and no. If you can navigate your way through Tsay’s somewhat rambling mission statement, you’ll find that this is a journal created by and especially welcoming to young people. He says that he’s scared that young writers chase the elusive acceptance email, and become panicked by rejections – but if the journal succeeds, then it too will become part of that. “Submit to us if your writing deserves a voice,” he says, and although you may not be published you will be treated with respect.
Issue 1 is available online or you can download a PDF. It’s very well-designed and features poetry, fiction and art. The beautiful cover is by Oliver Charles, and other artists have contributed paintings and digital media. This issue was heavy on the poetry and prose-poetry, with only two long prose pieces.
Every single piece in the journal is well-crafted and each has a few lines or sentences that are absolute gems, the sorts of lines that make you want to pull out your (digital) highlighter and say yes! Megan Sims advises us in "How to Treat a Stab Wound:" “If she starts breathing just a little too quickly, turn on a metronome and run your fingers through her hair like hammers on piano strings.” Sally Oliver’s protagonist in "Last Meal" doesn’t “want the responsibility of holding up my core any longer; it was back-breaking work.” And Erin M. Bertram wonders about “The knot of pulpy twine we unthinkingly call the heart.”
The two poems by Kay Cosgrove and Lauren Hilger are impressive. "A Real Knack for This" and "The Real / Polly Pocket" are far and away the standouts in the journal. Cosgrove and Hilger are a formidable pairing, and their two poems are very tight and precise. I was interested to read in their interview that they find collaborating together a freeing rather than a limiting experience. I found the poems very controlled and sure.
The two most confident poems in the collection are probably "Elegy for Birthmarks" by Shakthi Shrima and Sue Hyon Bae’s "Domestic Ghosts." There’s no hint of hesitation in Bae’s lines. We start in the house across the street, and move ever smaller and closer to “The thumbtack holes / painted over. Something / very small lives in there / still.”
While reading, I did have the impression that this is a young journal. I read all the stories before I read the bios and About pages, but I wasn’t surprised to find that almost all of the contributors are either current students in, or recent graduates of, an MFA. The masthead includes an impressively comprehensive list of people involved, many of whom are fairly young – high school seniors and university freshmen feature strongly. Tsay himself is a high school senior. The youthfulness of the editorial and creative team hasn’t stopped them from producing a high-quality journal.
It’s also worth mentioning that The Blueshift has a series on their website called “Stories of the Invisible” which features an interview or essay from Black writers and poets each week. This looks to be an ongoing project, with an already impressive line-up of artists.
If you fancy submitting, Blueshift uses Submittable. The guidelines run the usual route of poetic un-specificity so common in journals these days, “Show us the connection in the air between words.” Make of that what you will.
