Dear Readers,

When you walk down a country road in the winter, do you notice the bare-branched trees scuffing the grey sky? Do the resilient calls of hearty robins and crows remind you of the birds in your childhood backyard? Within your daily walk through life and within the pages of a well-constructed essay, such imagery evokes powerful feelings.

Inside the Creative Nonfiction section of Mason’s Road you will discover essays full of images that ring true, both in physical detail and in emotional resonance. Our two selections for this issue offer fine examples of why imagery is a writer’s indispensible tool:

• “Parts Unknown” asks the reader to imagine what it might feel like to be within another’s skin, with true knowledge of another’s heart.
• “Fish Tale” is a powerful snapshot of a relationship in ruin, victim of a lie within lies.

As you read these two wonderful stories, we know you will be engaged and enriched, just as we were.

Sarah Z. Sleeper and Daisy C. Abreu
Creative Nonfiction Co-Editors