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      • The Art/The Poems >
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      • The Poems >
        • Megan Gerrett "Traveller"
        • Mary McDonald "Beyond"
        • Mary McDonald "Blink Back"
        • Hashini Puwakgolle Mudiyanselage "Silent Battles"
        • Jill O'Craven "She is an Ocean"
        • Elizabeth Sak "Stalemate"
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      • Poetry: Krista Bell
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      • On the Night Before Your Father's Funeral, By Katharine O'Reilly
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      • love song 2 By Joy Zhiqian Xian
      • Student Writer in Residence: Steve Slowka
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      • Poetry: Rayna Abernethy
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      • ALFRED R. POYNT AWARD IN POETRY >
        • Poynt Award: Emma Croll-Baehre
        • Poynt Award: Robyn Obermeyer
        • Poynt Award: David Witmer
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      • Judges: Issue 6
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      • Ficton: Sam Boer
      • Ficton: Sydney Brooman
      • Ficton: Erica McKeen
      • Ficton: Esther Van Galen
      • Creative Nonficton: Erica McKeen
      • Creative Nonficton: Brittany Tilstra
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      • Experimental Writing: Brittany Renaud
      • Short Film: Dejvi Dashi
      • Short Film: Matthew Carr
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      • Contributors: Issue 7
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      • Poetry: Michelle Baleka
      • Poetry: Jenny Berkel
      • Poetry: Kevin Heslop
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      • Poetry: Nathan Little
      • Poetry: Erica McKeen
      • Poetry: Kaela Morin
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      • Experimental Writing and Film: Shauna Ruby Valchuk
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      • Creative NonFiction: Noa Rapaport
      • Screenplays: Sydney Brooman
      • Screenplays: Nathan Wright-Edwards
    • Issue 8 >
      • Judges: Issue 8
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      • Poetry 8: Danielle Bryl-Dam
      • Poetry 8: Leah Kuiack
      • Poetry 8: Jameson Lawson
      • Poetry 8: Maxwell Lucas
      • Poetry 8: Kaela Morin
      • Poetry 8: Joanna Shepherd
      • Fiction 8: Mason Frankel
      • Fiction 8: Rylee Loucks
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      • Experimental 8: Lauren Lee
      • Experimental 8: Kirah Ougniwi
      • Experimental 8: Carlie Thompson-Bockus
      • Plays 8: Camille Inston
  • Issue 9
    • Contributors: Issue 9
    • Fiction 9: Chris Chang
    • Fiction 9: Tegan Wilder
    • Fiction 9: Hyacinth Zia
    • Creastive Nonfiction 9: Aidan Gugula
    • Poetry 9: Rachel Fawcett
    • Poetry 9: Matthew Simic
    • Experimental Writing 9: Shauna Ruby Valchuk
    • Screenplays 9: Naomi Barghiel
    • Screenplays 9: Alicia Johnson
    • Screenplays 9: Keaton Olsen
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  • Issue 10
    • Contributors: Issue 10
    • Experimental Writing 10: Akshi Chadha
    • Experimental Writing 10: Adelphi Eden
    • Experimental Writing 10: Nicole Feutl
    • Experimental Writing 10: Isabella Kennedy
    • Experimental Writing 10: Christopher Paul
    • Poetry 10: Meaghan Furlano
    • Poetry 10: Li-elle Rapaport
    • Fiction 10: Meaghan Furlano
    • Fiction 10: Carly Pews
    • Creative Noniction 10: Nicole Feutl
    • Creative Noniction 10: Courtney WZ
    • Screenplay 10: Margaret Huntley
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"Beyond" By Mary McDonald

After "Childhood Wonder" by Marissa Martin
“Susan Amantha Cottonwood was a little girl who was always good --
When the sun shone.”
 
I begged my father for this story every night
It sparkled and shrieked wool 
afghan into fantasy.  
 
This is a story creature,
repeated, repeated.
Psammead, sand fairy, sphinx, dragon--
words travel with us (for life) 
become our yarns
sparkling rough
dull   rich
with impossibility.
 
Unravelled, revealed
textured, re-texted.
Threads read
fabric fabricated
form
girls.
Inform girls
to say please
to please
to smile.
You are welcome,
here.
 
Psammead, sand fairy, dragon, sphinx --
Stay with me this night.
I want to look in your eyes
know your stories that
take me beyond
childhood.
Should we fly, or leap or slither?
 
But.
rewind, remix, repeat, repeat.
Fabricate threaded
revelations.
Please inform your
Welcome
wider.
I will fly and leap and slither, then.
Quote from Susan and the Rain by Madye Lee Chastain (pg. 145) Whitman Publishing included Susan and the Rain and Nellie in its 1944 collection, The Big Big Story Book. (republished 1965)
Mary McDonald is a writer who has settled in the London community, after living in West Africa, Indonesia, and Toronto. Mary is a graduate student of the Master’s of Educational Technology program of UBC. She has been previously published in The New Quarterly and her play, “13 inches of closet space” will be given a public reading in April.

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