About This Issue

Sanctuary can be a place. It can be a moment, it can be a plea, it can be a person, or even a state of mind. It’s a malleable concept to be sure, as prone to interpretation as the idea of safety itself. But the true paradox of the word “sanctuary” is the fluctuation of something that is equated with stability. Sanctuary implies transience and change, because stability implies everything else, after and before, outside of a safe space, well, isn’t. The inherent vulnerability of a sanctuary is recognizing it as such. Identifying something as a sanctuary means identifying everything that isn’t safe.

So, what does this mean for people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities? Safety is especially transient for us. The risk is greater, because every marginalized person must consider and sacrifice safety for existence at one point or another. Risk is unavoidable.

Every poem in this issue confronts the idea of a safe place and its complexities, because these poets have had to navigate safety so often that sanctuaries have more or less lost their meaning for them. But these poets endeavor to redefine what a sanctuary is, because it’s something they deserve. We all deserve to feel safe.

We can’t enter blindly, not while marginalization exists. But we have to move forward nonetheless. We need to because we’re human, and living is an intrinsic right.

Someday, maybe we will find ourselves feeling safe without trying.

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