Letter From the Guest Editor

Abbie Skinner

__________

What a strange and beautiful thing it is to share your life with an animal. Reading the submissions for this special edition, I was struck by this idea of intersections of life and how important those intersections can become in spite of their brevity. This idea was perfectly captured in our contest winner, Mark William’s, poem, “Walking on the Levee on Our Way to Angel Mounds”. Thank you for your work and for sharing the story of Keeper. Congratulations on your win!

I want to thank everyone who submitted and shared a special memory with pets both past and present and for the love in every word. I especially want to thank everyone for their donations to our local charities, Do Good Dogs and Hobo Hotel. If you are a reader of this edition, I hope you’ll enjoy reading the selected pieces as much as I did. If you are able, I hope you’ll take the time to find your own local pet rescue to donate to. And I hope reading these stories and poems will inspire you to give all your furry, feathery, or scaly companions a hug, a pet, or an extra special treat.

My continued thanks go to our editor, Lynn Watson, for her excitement and support for Boudin. I know this publication I cluelessly inherited as a second year MFA student has a bright future under your care. Thank you to Alexandria Knight for all her assistance on this issue and to the entire Boudin staff! And thank you to Ken Foster for lending us your judgement selecting our winner and runner-up.

My final thanks are, of course, due to my four feline companions. Lady, a true Queen. Atlas, my sweet singing boy (adopted from Hobo Hotel for Cats). Hera, full of “tortitude”. And Howl, whose inside VIP life has left all the birds outside quite a bit safer.

__________

Back | Next

To learn more about submitting your work to Boudin or applying to McNeese State University’s Creative Writing MFA program, please visit Submissions for details.