Does the Fool fall or fly?

I decided that I was going to attempt to make an online literary magazine while on a cold, dark drive to work in Southern Ohio, in March. Probably somewhere around the ides. I had been playing with the idea for a month or so and then I watched Dae (@babiedaebie on IG) go from concept to taking submissions on a Clown magazine in what felt like a whirlwind weekend. First, I was jealous. Then I was mad. And then I submitted an essay. Finally, I put out my own call for submissions for The Bindle Rag. My essay was accepted and Clown is a really great magazine with its second issue out now, I believe. 

But I was mad and jealous because I tend to overthink all my processes and, honestly, have produced very little as a result. And here, this cute clown, probably half my age, very publicly takes the sting from a professional rejection and turns it into a successful project in no time flat. The audacity! 

In honor of that harlequin inspiration (harlequinspiration?) and with a head nod to my joyful love of the occult, the theme of the first issue of The Bindle Rag is The Fool.

 Traditionally, in the tarot, the Fool is the first card, numbered Zero, of the major arcana (face cards). The image depicts a whistling youth, stick and sack in hand, hobo-style, with a small dog at their feet, just as they are about to obliviously step off a cliff. The question that follows is “then what?” Does the Fool fall or fly?

The answer is “Yes.”

I spent all of April, starting on Fool’s Day, dressing up as a clown and promoting this absurd idea of a lit/art magazine to be edited by me, a nobody. I talked about it online, at the Dayton Poetry Slam, and in emails to friends far more talented than me. I waxed long about having something with both high lit sensibilities and a punk rock soul. And, little by little some really incredible work started to show up in my submissions folder. I got this perfect Coyote piece by Roger Ramirez. I got work from Claire Rice, one of the most slept on talents today. I got a short story by the brilliant Lauren Parker that I had the pleasure of reading in its infancy and practically begged for since. Bonus: she also sent me photographs that I think evoke just the right feel for this issue as both larger pieces and thumbnails. And all of the other incredible pieces of art and writing you’ll find here, like the poetic trilogy by Amber Davis Thompson, who swears she’s never published before and I want to call a liar because she’s just masterful. Or the incredible work by some of Dayton’s finest poets; Edd the wordsmith, Ayesha Alexander, Mike Fallen, and Queen Karah. I also received this incredible flash fiction by Ken Haponek and art by Banned by Uhaul that I can’t wait to share with you. Plus, the sickest postcard turned political cartoon from Paul Elliot (punk elite!) 

Then, before the month was up, my dad died. I had been served divorce papers. And everything about the job I had taken upon moving to the Midwest started to unravel. Per my father’s request, there was no funeral. I went and got a new job. As a Teen Librarian. Where I am regularly reminded of how the system is both broken and yet working exactly according to plan. I also auditioned for my very first singing part in a musical, and rode the struggle bus playing Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show all the way to opening night with some of the most beautiful, patient, and talented actors I’ve ever worked with.

And none of that was getting this magazine published. But it was all a part of the adventure of throwing oneself off a cliff. I do not believe that when we look at the Fool we are witnessing a leap of faith. The Fool walks towards the precipice because that’s just where they’re headed. There is no thought of what’s to come, only that that’s the direction they need to go.

Thank you for supporting The Bindle Rag. There’s no need to look down. We know which way we need to go.

P.S. And a special thanks to Ambrose Weidner for his extensive web help. Without him, there would be no TBR.

EiC John LaMar Elison