Soundings East is a beautiful and brave publication run by Salem State University Press.  My piece “Psalm Ambulista” was accepted to be printed in the Spring 2025 issue (Soundings East Volume 47), but I had to pull out because I had just signed over first serial rights elsewhere.  If you are looking for a good old fashioned literary magazine – full of varied, prescient and insightful voices – with just the right weight to hold in your hand, I highly recommend this imprint.

It starts off with Richard Hoffman’s heartbreaking essay, beginning with his personal memories of Mosab Abu Toha singing with him, and his confrontations with the narratives of warlords.  It continues with Stephanie Saywell’s confrontations with self.  It leaves us with Malak Mohammad Al-Hessi’s haunting photo of The Great Omari Mosque in Gaza. 

I used to sell zines of mine in the local bookstores with staples in them and my journal scribbles photocopied in black and white at the library.  Maybe to a fault, I tend to equate a certain polish with insincerity.  This book looks good on a shelf, but its real beauty lies with the words inside.

Oxford defines sounding as the action or process of measuring the depth of the sea or other body of water. A fitting title for a fine publication.