catapult magazine

RESET: The Poetry Series

by Michelle Julianne Gallagher

catapult magazine has often been a source an inspiration for me, the aspiring writer. Many of you can probably identify with the magazine’s ability to get you off your butt and just make something. catapult is helping me yet again as I make an intentional choice on the verge of this New Year. I am choosing to make something.

An occasional submission to magazines is the closest I have come to consistently writing for others.  I usually write when inspiration sweeps through my mind. Like a giant scythe, it scatters both wheat and chaff; I arrange these pieces on the threshing floor, and find a deep gladness there. These moments of golden inspiration are entirely legitimate, but they are not enough. Writing is not just for the self, it is for other people. Writing for other people requires diligence. The writer must know who the writing is for (the self, the niche audience, the broader audience), and the writer must write and not stop. The writer must also recognize that while he or she writes alone, he or she is never really alone. The writer is surrounded by people who pour their stores into the writer’s lap, whether they are aware of it or not. And sovereign over this giving and receiving is the Lord God, the Maker of all things, the First and the Last.

A writer, or any artist, doesn’t just fear physical hunger. Artists also fear creative emptiness, loss of inspiration, the drying up of wells. This is where I have been as a writer for many years. And so I propose a change.

God is calling me to make something, and in that process, to rely on His provision, and to take part in the giving and receiving of writing. For the next nine months, I will write a poem for each issue of catapult, based on the theme chosen by our very own editor Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma. Undoubtedly, this will challenge my ability as a writer. I will be experimenting not only with an increased rate of production but also with different themes and poetic forms. This is where you come in. You, cino*, are my community, and I need your support. I need you to keep on writing. I would also love to hear from all of you personally, whether it is a critique on a poem, or a poem you think I should read, or a word of encouragement — my ears and eyes are wide open!

Suddenly, I feel the need to say thank you. Thank you, God for good things to do, and good people to do it with. Be blessed this New Year, *cino. The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy (Zephaniah 3:17).