Night Light, Tracy Whiteside Photography. In the dusk's embrace, a maiden sets the Moon adrift in the evening sky.
Note from the Editor
Wintertime has a certain otherworldliness; the days grow short, cold, and strange as our planet turns away from the sun.
Consider Día de Muertos, the Day of the Dead, celebrated just as October’s vibrant autumn leaves drop, leaving nothing but bare branches. Consider holiday traditions such as evergreens, symbols of life enduring amidst the lifeless. Persephone descended into the Underworld during this time of year, and Slavic goddesses rule both winter and death. At midnight on December 31st, the calendar begins a new year, popularly represented by an old man making way for an infant. The membrane between life and death is at its thinnest this time of year, at its most porous--yet the darkness of the Winter Solstice marks another turn, this time towards spring. As any mysterious fortune teller with a deck of well-worn Tarot cards will tell you, the true nature of Death is not an end, but rather a transformation.
The second issue of Twin Bird Review, released in the darkest part of the year, embraces the supernatural, the strange, the border between life and death. Ghosts linger on a serene beach, meditating on their lives and what lies beyond. Life-giving mushrooms rain from the sky in an otherwise lifeless place. A corpse is neither living nor dead. The best hot wings you’ll ever eat are from a stand just outside Heaven.
Spring will come. There is nothing to fear—only to celebrate.
This issue represents a wonderful collaboration between our editors and readers, everyone who has submitted, graciously donated, and you, our readers. We cannot thank you enough for your support!
Amanda K Horn, Editor-in-Chief
December 2023
Consider Día de Muertos, the Day of the Dead, celebrated just as October’s vibrant autumn leaves drop, leaving nothing but bare branches. Consider holiday traditions such as evergreens, symbols of life enduring amidst the lifeless. Persephone descended into the Underworld during this time of year, and Slavic goddesses rule both winter and death. At midnight on December 31st, the calendar begins a new year, popularly represented by an old man making way for an infant. The membrane between life and death is at its thinnest this time of year, at its most porous--yet the darkness of the Winter Solstice marks another turn, this time towards spring. As any mysterious fortune teller with a deck of well-worn Tarot cards will tell you, the true nature of Death is not an end, but rather a transformation.
The second issue of Twin Bird Review, released in the darkest part of the year, embraces the supernatural, the strange, the border between life and death. Ghosts linger on a serene beach, meditating on their lives and what lies beyond. Life-giving mushrooms rain from the sky in an otherwise lifeless place. A corpse is neither living nor dead. The best hot wings you’ll ever eat are from a stand just outside Heaven.
Spring will come. There is nothing to fear—only to celebrate.
This issue represents a wonderful collaboration between our editors and readers, everyone who has submitted, graciously donated, and you, our readers. We cannot thank you enough for your support!
Amanda K Horn, Editor-in-Chief
December 2023