One of the most profound ways in which humans have always sought hope, healed, and tried to make sense of the world is through the creation and experience of art in its various forms. Oyster River Pages was conceived at the dawn of what is already becoming one of the darkest chapters in postmodern American history. In dealing with this surreal landscape, many of us find ourselves exhausted into a kind of aphasia. But like every generation that has faced the challenge of living in an often baffling world, we find ourselves turning to lyric and narrative, metaphor and image in order to reclaim the ineffable beauty and indestructible compassion of humanity. And especially in this political moment, we at ORP recognize the power of artistic expression to stand up to the possessive investment in privilege and to disrupt the cycles of hegemonic oppression. ORP is interested in publishing voices that speak to what it means to be alive in this world. We look for language and stories and images that move us out of ourselves and into other spaces. We are a literary journal and we embrace the reality that the personal has become the political. This means that even though we are not seeking purely political submissions, we do actively seek to publish those who bring balance and diversity to historical institutions of power. We are committed to disseminating the voices of those who need to and must be heard—Brown and Black voices, Queer voices, decentered and marginalized voices whose words and images transcend ignorance and prejudice to reveal the nuanced, resilient, connective power of humanity.At ORP, art that is provocative and evocative has a champion, a fan club, a posse of groupies.