Shelter.

noun: a place giving temporary protection from bad weather or danger

and

verb: protect or shield from something harmful, especially bad weather.

To shelter, be sheltered, find shelter, seek it–the more we thought about shelter, the less impressed we were by the literal definition of the word. The more we came to appreciate the vast and oceanic proportions of its implications. Dickenson finds shelter in the pen and the letter she shares with Higginson. We found the shelter of one another; the way words, poems, art, the acts of listening, hearing, and storytelling could build a fortress much stronger than a four-walled lodging. 

Koenig’s Mishigami starts by asking us to imagine shelter in the form of companionship; but not with human companion. They begin:

Truthfully, my countrymen

are not my fellow countrymen,

but the conifers and the isles.

And we are soothed, by this imagery of nature, taken in and held close by the copse of trees, the swell of song that we can imagine all around us. 

Shelter as nature, shelter as belonging, shelter as the universal order of things.

Iqbal’s You gives us similar comfort; in home, in the form of a watchful mother, in the respite of faith and hope. Shukria, by Noor Al-Saad invokes a similar sense of warmth. Her protagonist, Om Hawra, creates shelter with her presence, her solidity. Al-Saad writes, of her fiction’s hero, “I’m not sure if I ever knew her name before she died. Arab women are like this, we call them mother, Om, like it is a title, like we want them to be remembered for their children.”

Gilbert’s work, I’ve Got You, holds us close and carefully in the palm of the hand. Sorini’s Off Shift holds us similarly close and we try to reckon with the ghosts that follow us home. For the first time, we are delighted to publish the work of a student midwife- Bianca Cothen’s images of a birthing suite evoke shelter in many forms.

Shelter as passage. Shelter as sacrifice. Shelter as family. Shelter as protection. 

Finally, we are delighted to feature the work of artist, Dionna Bidny, this month. I’ll let you read their words about their project, Photosynthesizer, yourself, but, suffice to say, we are honored and humbled to include such a transformative piece among our pages. 

We were inspired this month by our guest editors, Sarah Jabour and Ruth Bishop, two activists and advocates who have set out to set the world on fire as future surgeons and internal-medicine/psychiatrists, respectively. This past year, Sarah and Ruth have sat with our neighbors experiencing homelessness and heard their stories. Please read these stories, and Ruth and Sarah’s accompanying words. We are so proud to share this work and so proud to call Sarah and Ruth our dear friends. 

Shelter as learning. Shelter as listening. Shelter as community.

Dear friend–

So begins Dickenson’s letter and so begins my letter to you. Welcome to the May issue of Auxocardia. Welcome to Spring, to burgeoning summer and our Auxocardia family. We are so delighted to have you. Welcome home. 

May you find whatever shelter you seek within this issue. 

Take care and be well. 

love,

molly