Issue 71!

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SR 71

We’re happy to announce that Issue 71 is finally out in the world! To purchase a copy, check out our Store.

And from Issue 71 Co-Editor-in-Chief, Samuel Rafael Barber: 

Dear Reader,

Some insist upon comparing the production of a literary magazine to childbirth (for the sake of compassion, we will preserve the anonymity of these actors). In all fairness it is true that in each context, a new entity is entering into the world. Were this book a baby, it would be arriving some three months past term (I am no doctor, but this seems concerning). Were a baby this book, it would never adopt a dog, nor would it understand its impulse to compose poems regarding the life and death of David Bowie, nor would this baby comprehend its all-consuming dread of lyme disease.

Of course, babies demand so much: your milk, your time, your love. Your patience, your money, your tolerance for being coated with fluids of unknown origin. Books, by contrast, require only time and a certain open mindedness. Compare the time required in raising a child to the period during which you will read this book object, Sonora Review issue 71.

Never mind that one can squeal with delight and the other cannot; can, rather, only induce squeals of delight when a reader such as yourself comes across a particular poetic formulation, or a certain uncompromising metaphor potentially overextended for the sake of provoking thought, or perhaps for the sake of entertainment. Never mind that one can consume and the other cannot. There are no perfect babies and there are no perfect books and there are no perfect metaphors.

So, you stand on the precipice. You are beginning to experience this book, but there is still time to have a baby instead. Your eyes dart to the clock, your palms begin to sweat. You begin to feel sick, begin to reconsider exposure to the artistic vision of 18 distinct human minds. Good. You’re ready for the next page.

— Samuel Rafael Barber, Co-Editor-in-Chief