As my colleagues and I prepared this issue, I was struck by the gentle Quaker exhortation, “Mind the light,” included within the text—and referenced in the title— of Deborah Kelly Kloepfer’s essay “Minding the Light.” Though I’m not a Quaker, “Mind the light” seems to me excellent counsel—and a potent reminder to look for compassion, empathy, and the many forms of positive creativity in ourselves and harbored within most of our fellow human beings.

To me, positive creativity means not only celebrations of sunshine and sweet breezes, though I welcome salutes to both. Especially in the context of our magazine, I view positive creativity as well-rendered written, visual, and aural art that reflects and examines aspects of our existence, raises challenging questions, pokes fun in thought-provoking ways, and generally stimulates both mind and spirit. The arts have the power to do all these things in ways that resound unpredictably. As Emily Dickinson wrote, “The poet lights the light and fades away. But the light goes on and on.”

This issue of Persimmon Tree is filled with positive creativity—including fiction that deals with some of the darker aspects of life, and nonfiction that reflects the courage and curiosity that are among the better angels of human nature. Publisher Jean Zorn introduces varied and moving Short Takes contributions on “Legacies.” Music Editor Gena Raps reports on joining 96-year-old composer Thea Musgrave for the recent London production of Musgrave’s opera Mary, Queen of Scots. Art Editor Greta Berman introduces us to the multi-faceted creativity of Betti Franceschi. And Poetry Editor Cynthia Hogue presents examples of the sometimes harrowing but always compassionate poetry of Naomi Shihab Nye. You’ll also find in these pages, “The Creative Life,” a new section we plan to publish each spring, in which contributors deal with various aspects of, and challenges associated with, artistic creation.

Finally, in the Forum members of the Persimmon Tree community describe, with eloquence and haunting detail, their experiences surviving climate disasters, each contribution a testament to resilience, determination, and concern for our beleaguered planet. Climate change is only one of the challenges the human community is currently facing, of course. This seems an era of growing intolerance and political and social upheaval, leaving many in despair. So I leave you with the words of poet Gwendolyn Brooks, who wrote in her “Speech to the Young”:

Tears and Trombones

by Nanci Lee Woody

Persimmon Tree readers will love young Joey’s mother, Ellie, as she navigates through poverty and around a philandering, alcoholic husband to help her boy achieve his dream of becoming a classical musician. She scrimps and saves enough to take her nine-year-old boy to the San Francisco Symphony to hear Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, though she herself had never before set foot in a concert hall. Readers will follow Joey through his childhood with its real-life pain, and watch as he, too, navigates around his father and uses his creativity to passively “get even” for his dad’s cruelty, always knowing his mother will be there to rescue him. Though their relationship is not without its trials, she models for him loyalty, persistence and hard work and allows no excuses when times are hard. In high school Joey falls quickly and deeply in love with a curly-haired beauty, and is torn between his love for her and pursuing his musical dream. When another girl courts him and offers to help him pay his way through college and music lessons, Joey marries her, thus forming a tormented triangle love affair. You will follow Joey as he auditions for the Sacramento Symphony and Music Circus. You will be there with him when he plays his horn with Frank Sinatra, studio musicians from Hollywood, The Beach Boys, Dorothy Dandridge and Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. Having achieved his musical goal, will Joey ever be able to set his personal life right? Nanci's short stories and poems have been published in The California Writers Club Literary Review, a CWC Anthology, October Hill Magazine, The Fault Zone, the Sacramento Poetry Society’s Tule Review, Your Daily Poem, The Monterey Poetry Review, the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal and many other online and print publications. Check out Nanci’s website for samples of her writing and art, click here to listen to the music in Tears and Trombones, and watch for Nanci’s new book of poetry coming out this fall. Available on Amazon

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