Issue IX marks Tryst's 2nd year on the internet. In two years, Tryst truly has been a journey filled with poetry, artwork and photography. It has been two wonderful years filled with a unique editorial experience I wouldn't trade with anyone.

This issue is overflowing with pride, with love, grace and depth. My thanks to all my contributors, past and present and readers who have written many selfless notes of appreciation. Tryst truly speaks for itself. Thank you for reading our journals. Enjoy! ~Tryst Editor.



[The photo to the left is a sculpture in alabaster, "Icarus" by Mia, ca. 1994.]

[The quote on the front cover is from "Alberto Rojas Jimenez Come Flying"
by Pablo Neruda]

Some notes:

-The Tribute to Israel Issue has been pushed back to September
-Nathan Brusovani will be making his third appearance in that Issue
-The art sale that was planned for this issue also has been pushed back
-Quite a number of contributors have released new chap/books
-All announcements will be in the News Section to be updated shortly

Once again I would like to welcome new contributors and dedicated past
contributors for inspiring another spectacular issue.


How to explain a Miracle

Well for one, this issue was a miracle. I never thought it would get started much less finished. There were so many foibles: the server was down, emails were lost, viruses, spam, allergies...etc.. But I've been thinking about miracles in general because people believe/hope in them. My girlfriend, since junior high, became a hellraiser after she graduated from high school. We kept in contact off and on while going our separate ways.

Roughly over 15 years passed before she looked me up on classmates.com. We resumed contact, caught up on everything. In the meantime Bernadine was on her second marriage, four children and she'd been battling breast cancer for five years. She was now a devout Christian attending a seminary school working towards her ministry to be a faith healer. In spite of her conversion Bernadine was still outrageously funny and laughed at all my sarcastic, bad jokes. It was good to know that I didn't have to act/behave a certain way in front of her. Changes happen in unnoticeable ways though. For Bernadine, who prayed daily for a miracle, her body became a host to cancer. Her spirit was certainly infallible, but cancer had its way and she died less than a year ago.

I really don't know much about faith healing and why it has to be tied to faith. Sometimes I get this feeling that I failed her because I didn't think that her prayers were going to be answered; especially, when she stopped going to the doctors, refused any more treatments because she was convinced that God would heal her completely. "Wasn't this testing God, not faith?" I asked her. I don't recall exactly what her answer was, something to the effect "only if one has doubts." I don't know what I was supposed to learn from that experience—if anything—but it was truly strange how Bernadine found me just in time to say goodbye.

What I can tell you is this: miracles do happen every day you wake up. I walked outside my front door and the first flower to bloom in my yard was the peony you see on these pages. Still wet from the rain, the peony was more alive in its skin, more vibrant than anything else I would remember that day. The photo of Icarus is another miracle. I won't go into the details, but the one day that I wanted to take a photo (after I had sold the piece), the lighting that you see, came through a stained glass window and I just happened to be there to 'catch' it.

Before Bernadine died I shared a poem with her by one of my contributors. It is comforting to know that poetry opened up another passage to her heart; she said it was like a prayer to her and it touched her deeply. Perhaps, it was a parting gift to bear her on her next journey—a miracle.

Mia

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