all aboard: issue #2.

There is a music that moves us through the summer months. You can feel it in your bones, as you pound foot to pavement. We, your editors, are children of the sun, and so we couldn’t help ourselves. While you’ve been gone, we ran around and swayed under the suns of foreign countries (like Queens) and southern states lulled by the music in the poems of Bushra Rehman and Bianca Spriggs. We hummed lines by Ocean Vuong under our breath, in bars across the sweet streets of Brooklyn. We surprised ourselves staring into the mirror at Saeed Jones, Aricka Foreman, Elana Bell and Karen Finneyfrock. Rolando Pellot’s provocative and macabre photography challenged our definitions of brutality and beauty, while Melissa Febos and R. Dwayne Betts alternately soothed, stunned and spun us in circles.

We’ve a special treat for you as well.  Marie-Elizabeth Mali went off to AWP and got down and deep in discussion with one of our heroes.  In this issue, Chris Abani speaks to her about faith, sacrifice, X-men and the craft of writing.  In addition, our regular contributor, Jon Sands, chimes in with poet Jack McCarthy on The Conversation, about happy accidents, iPods and the future of art. Lastly, Saeed Jones joins our team to keep us up on what to read in our new feature, The Playlist.

All we can say now is welcome to Issue #2 of Union Station Magazine.  What are you waiting for? This is your summer reading.  All aboard!

Syreeta McFadden
Editor

Lynne Procope
Editor