Blue Ink: An anthology by the Northern Writers' Club

By Northern Writers, Tanvi Kulkarni and Griffyn Williams

Blue Ink is the yearly anthology of poetry, prose, and art published by the Northern Writers, a collective of writers and artists at Forest Hills Northern High School in Grand Rapids, MI. In this Rebirth issue of Blue Ink, the 10th edition, the Northern Writers explore who they are and where they're going. F

• Language: English
• Publisher: Northern Writers
• Release date: May 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088101551

Book preview

Foreword

by Sean Duffie

Almost 2,000 years ago, the Slavic people of today’s Belarus and Ukraine venerated Dazhbog, the fire god of the sun. Dazhbog was the hero of heroes, known for his ability to protect the Slavic people and keep Earth spinning despite the terrors of demons and monsters at every turn. Fire, to Dazhbog, was both a weapon and a tool to bring about rebirth for him and for those around him. Unlike the phoenix, Dazhbog wielded fire before the fire got to him.

Originally, I was tempted to talk about the Northern Writers as a phoenix. For the first time in 13 years, Blue Ink took a 3-year hiatus from publication, but ultimately returned despite the odds. It would befit the situation to talk about this collection of writers like a phoenix’s rebirth, cleansed by fire and ultimately reborn. Yet, this feels disingenuous. A phoenix waits for the fire to give it rebirth. A phoenix is an object of its circumstances, awaiting the moment to redefine itself.

The Northern Writers are not the object of fire.

They are the fire.

In this Rebirth issue of Blue Ink, the 10th edition, the Northern Writers explore who they are and where they’re going. For high-school artists, this is a lot to take on. In her poem, Untitled, Tanvi Kulkarni takes on the feeling of oneness surrounded by so much uncertainty. Maria Hillary tells us in The Boy at the Bus Stop that it’s not exactly an easy (or sure) path to go it alone.  Hillary wonders, I chose instead to stand outside on that chilly day. But what if I had said okay? and we, the readers, identify with the unsureness of the decisions we make in this life as we evolve.

The fire among the