EDITORIAL PREFACE, MARK 1

CHRISTIAN DEVOTIONAL POETS ARE NOT ALL MEDIEVAL, METAPHYSICAL OR OTHERWISE DEAD—NOT EVEN CLOSE—BUT THOSE WRITING AND GRAPPLING INSIDE A DAILY LIFE WITH GOD CAN BE DIFFICULT TO FIND. THEIR WORK IS ALMOST ALWAYS SCATTERED ACROSS SECULAR MAGAZINES, COLLEC-TED LOOSELY INTO JOURNALS AND ANTHOLOGIES THAT CONSIDER THEMSELVES "SPIRITUAL BUT NOT RELIGIOUS," OR CROWDED BETWEEN FICTION, ESSAYS, ART, NEWS, ETC. IN EXPLICITLY CHRISTIAN PERIODICALS. IT CAN OFTEN FEEL THAT THE MOST VISIBLE CONTEMPORARY POETRY IN ENGLISH BEING PUBLISHED ABOUT CHRISTIANITY IS NOT BEING WRITTEN BY POETS WHO THEMSELVES IDENTIFY AS CHRISTIAN. WE ARE SO THANKFUL FOR THE POETS IN THESE PAGES, WHO OFFER THEIR WORK FROM THE SHARED, CAPACIOUS STANCE OF THE DEVOTIONAL WRITER: LISA RUSS SPAAR, TOBY MARTINEZ DE LAS RIVAS, JAMES DAVIS MAY, WILL BREWBAKER, TALIN TAHAJIAN, AND CHRISTIAN WIMAN. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TRUST IN US, FOR YOUR KINDNESS AND ENTHUSIASM, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY FOR YOUR WRITING. IN THE WORDS OF OUR FRIEND ETHAN SEELEY, REVIEWING THE POEMS OF ALAN DUGAN: "I LOVE THESE POEMS. I WANT TO FORCE EVERYONE ELSE TO LOVE THEM TOO."

WE HOPE MARK WILL SERVE AS A JOURNAL WHERE CHRISTIAN WRITERS AND READERS CAN FIND ONE ANOTHER. THIS IS A SMALL, AND PERHAPS, IN THE BIBLICAL SENSE, "SECRET" PLACE. HERE, WE DO NOT NEED TO EXPLAIN WHY WE ARE RELIGIOUS, OR EVEN HOW WE ARE RELIGIOUS; WE CAN SIMPLY BE THAT WAY. WRITE. READ. AND SOMEHOW, IN DOING SO, PRAY—AT ONCE ALONE AND IN THE COMPANY OF EACH OTHER—INSIDE THIS MYSTERY OF GOD. 

SAM BAILEY & EMMA DE LISLE
NOVEMBER 10, 2024