Kindness
by Theresa Senato Edwards
Home from college for the first time
a grown son asks,
What should the world
run on, if not money?
His mother answers,
a single mother who adds water
to ketchup makes it last longer,
a stepfather who takes a punch
to the jaw stops a teenager’s rage,
During his calm of deciphering,
a hill builds from sorrow.
a field of Ranunculus
without flood or drought.
Theresa Senato Edwards has published two full-length poetry books, one, with painter Lori Schreiner, which won The Tacenda Literary Award for Best Book, and two chapbooks. Her first chapbook, The Music of Hands, was recently published in a revised second print edition by Seven CirclePress. “Kindness” is from her newest manuscript titled “Fragments of Wing Bones”; and other poems from this manuscript can be found in Stirring, Gargoyle, The Nervous Breakdown, Thrush, Diode, Rogue Agent, Mom Egg Review, Menacing Hedge, Moria, and elsewhere. Edwards was nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize, received creative writing residencies from Drop Forge & Tool (2015 and 2018) and Craigardan (2019), and is poetry editor of The American Poetry Journal (APJ). Her website: https://theresasenatoedwards.wixsite.com/tsenatoedwards.
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What surprising, fascinating stuff can you tell us about the origin, drafting, and/or final version of “ Kindness”? “Kindness” began when my son and his friend were home from college a few years ago; and my son did, in fact, ask me the question in the poem, “What should the world run on if not money?” My answer was “kindness.” Afterwards, my initial thoughts and what I started to write about focused more on the comparison/contrast of currency and kindness. But the poem moved toward emotional place and conversation between a mother and son. After some constructive feedback and my own rethinking, I kept only the most important parts that I hoped would do more than show how to “pay” for things. I wanted to show selfless acts of kindness—how thinking about others and doing more for them first is what the world should be run on. How beautiful these acts are even amid and in the aftermath of sorrow. After this process, I thought of how compressed the poem had become but felt that it conveyed a lot in its short space; that’s when I decided to take a chance and submit it to Matter Press’ Journal of Compressed Creative Arts. Thanks for taking it! #BeKind #BeKindAlways #KindnessIsSelfless #KindnessIsBeautiful
Check out the write-up of the journal in The Writer.
Matter Press recently released titles from Meg Boscov, Abby Frucht, Robert McBrearty, Tori Bond, Kathy Fish, and Christopher Allen. Click here.
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Submissions
Poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction/prose poetry submissions are now closed. The reading period for standard submissions opens again September 15, 2025. Submit here.
Upcoming
09/15 • Abbie Doll
09/22 • Karen Regen Tuero
09/29 • Amy Speace
10/06 • Jennifer Edwards
10/13 • Joseph O’Day
10/20 • Carolyn Zaikowski
10/27 • Sunmisola Odusola
11/03 • Sara Cassidy
11/10 • Liz Abrams-Morley
11/17 • Alison Colwell
11/24 • Lucy Zhang
12/01 • TBD
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