Goodbye Blogspot, Hello The Bigger World

Dear Readers, Writers, and Wanderers in General -

I am very pleased to announce that starting on July 1, 2009, the Wanderlust Literary Journal will be relaunched as the Wanderlust Review. In addition to continuing to publish great, user-submitted art and writing, we will begin publishing in-depth feature articles that will hopefully continue to illuminate the shadows of our increasingly shrinking world.

I invite all of you to visit our new site (www.wanderlustreview.com) and to continue submitting your work to us. We are currently in the process of moving the majority of our archives from this site to our new home, so regrettably, new content has begun to slowly cease being posted here. However, please visit our new submission guidelines if you have a piece you'd be interested in submitting for the new site. We truly look forward to reading your work.

On behalf of myself and the other editors, I want to thank everyone who has written, submitted, and read our journal. You are the inspiration for our move to a larger venue where we can better cover the spectrum of travel, culture, thought and art.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions/comments/or concerns.

I look forward to seeing all of you (virtually) at the Wanderlust Review come this July! Continue to travel safely and to move with purpose.

Phil Duncan
Editor-in-Chief, The Wanderlust Review

Estonian Jewel

Deirdre Bey is a freelance photographer who resides in California. She has traveled the world for photo opportunities.

New Orleans

The French streets beat with feet,
In your home in the City of Dreams,
Rubbish and Whiskey from Tennessee

Where it’s certainly easy to do as you’re told
‘Cause Mama would never be so bold
As to bar you from those dirty sinning streets

Where the women open their second-story shutters
Calling you up from the gutters
That stream with bourbon whiskey

Tragedy descended quickly, the rain slows to mist
And the red-nosed aristocracy smile, blessed
On the dark streets that beat with feet

We tripped and skipped bourbon-drunk
Through damp bayou air and cigarette smoke,
Beads and whiskey from Tennessee.

God smothered what we thought He couldn’t reach,
Taught us what the Blues failed to teach
On those uncertain streets that beat with feet,
Lost souls and whiskey from Tennessee

Rachel Boury currently lives and writes in Chicago, IL.

The Beach at Douglas

a photograph of my mother’s family:
they stride through the frame in jumpers,
scarves, anoraks, each in a different direction.
Big Susan caught half leaping, my aunt’s
reaching arms, and Nana’s pointed nose
remind me of a flock of seagulls scattering,
about to rise.

My mother shakes her head fondly
at this photograph, saying what a funny lot
they are, and by funny she means peculiar,
and by lot she means group, clan, collection
of odd souls thrown onto a grey beach
in the ‘70s, with only blood to bind them,
scarves to shield them from the wind
rustling their anoraks, the wind
sweeping the sand into the sea,
the sea onto the sand, the wind
whipping between these frozen figures
held in flight; stopped from scattering.

In the picture, my mother wears flares, round
glasses, and the grimace she makes in the bright
sun, or the face of the wind. She was first to scatter
from the cold beach, the island of wet promenades
and palm trees, bent by Irish winds
where her sister still lives, dying
of decay in her brain, the grey
matter dissolving, synapses faltering:
her thoughts scatter, her hands shake.

My mother, flown across a sea,
an ocean, and stalled on a dry
continent far from the beach,
from anoraks and the reach
of the wind, shakes her head,
says what a funny lot, and drops
the photograph into the scattered pile,
the shriek of seagulls
caught in her throat.

Holly Kent-Payne will soon begin the MFA program at New York University. She lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.

The Man with the Beret

Biarritz. Hard to believe I’ve reached
this fabrication by the sea
where kings and empresses once held sway
and Picasso’s brushes
cut bathers into triangles.
        Sitting on a rock and watching
families, well-coiffed dogs, grand-dames
in white shorts and sandals, old couples
holding hands as they walk the quay,
I feel more invisible than air

more foreign than a phantom from the days
of Napoleon III who might at any moment
alight from the Rock of the Virgin.
I want to go home, as much as I first
wished to come here; begin to walk away
just as a man with a battered beret passes by,
as if part of an old cartoon.
Voila! I welcome the joy of cliches
that relieve by returning the familiar,
like a Picasso so often viewed

its angles now form another cartoon,
demanding no more effort than a ritual
performed over and over, reassuring
as rhymes, those predictable and
recollected sounds from earlier lines.
        I think about earlier times,
foreign as the landscapes
of memories,
as La Belle Époque
before the wars and fires.

--Biarritz, France

Barbara F. Lefcowitz has published nine books of poetry as well as fiction, essays, and poems in over 500 journals. She has won fellowships and prizes from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Maryland Arts Council, among others.

Upcoming Wanderlust Class In Seattle

What does it mean to tell a travel story? How do we write meaningfully and imaginatively about place, culture and ourselves? We can take our travel stories to the next level by understanding how we sift through our "data" to uncover true moments of insight--whether our travels are across the street or across the globe. In addition to a trusty pen and a passport, travel writing combines journalism, poetry, drama, and memoir. In this intensive workshop led by Matthew Ebnet, longtime journalist, editor, and traveler, we will learn how to put our experiences down on paper and how to bring the reader with us. We'll explore the fundamentals of what makes a piece work, including narrative structure, dialogue and characterization, with special attention to voice. You're invited to bring at least one example of your work, whether it's a collection of napkin notes, photographs, or a rough piece of writing. Join us as we read travel essays, craft new stories, and connect with other writers of all levels. We'll explore the art of the travel story so you'll be on your way toward crafting your own. After this class, students will have an opportunity to have their work published in Wanderlust, an online journal of travel.

When: May 28 - 30, 2009 // 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Where: Richard Hugo House, Winslow Classroom, 1634 11th Avenue, Seattle (link)
Cost: Free!

For questions and to RSVP please write Matthew directly at matthewebnet@yahoo.com.

30th Street Station

Jim Previti is a photographer who has shot for weddings, sports, and small business advertising.

Untitled Tanaga

Father crossed from Philippines.
He came in coldest winter.
Sought new life, home, beginnings…
A handsome orchid transplant.

Robert Francis Flor graduated from Seattle University with a B.A. (1966) and M.A. in Education (1975) and, in 1978, earned a doctorate in Higher Education from the University of Oregon. An emerging writer, he has had poems published in the Tamlyfur Mountain Poetry Review, Poets Against the War, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Field of Mirrors anthology. Robert is a member of the Washington Poets Association, the Filipino Cultural Heritage Society, Artist Trust and take playwriting courses at Freehold Theater in Seattle.

[Editor's Note: A tanaga is a type of short Filipino poem consisting of four lines with seven syllables each with the same rhyme at the end of each line... more info]

Balinese Gamelan

This photo was taken near the Besakih Temple in Indonesia where I had the privilege of watching a ceremonial Balinese Gamelan concert.

David Krieger works for an international development fund in Washington, DC and has spent the past year helping indigenous artisans generate sustainable livelihoods throughout SE Asia, Southern Africa and South America. Wandering through foreign cultures and environments make him smile.

Grand Turk

After a long day in the sun, we decided to take a break and sit down to eat in Grand Turk. This was about the 5th Margaritaville we visited in the last week and my sister was a bit tired of the menu, holding her head in anguish.

Shannon West is currently a student in Seattle, pursuing a career in Photography. This is her first publication.

Dong Ha Kids

I took this photograph in the course of a trip back to Vietnam in 2002. The children shown live on the site of the former U.S. Marine base in Dong Ha. No trace of that base now remains, and these kids live in peace with no knowledge of the war that ravaged their country.

Edward Palm is the Dean of Social Sciences and Humanities at Olympic College in Bremerton, WA. Dr. Palm is also a retired Major in the US Marine Corps and a Vietnam Veteran.

Ajijic

Robin M. Buehler is a photojournalist in southern New Jersey. She has had several of her photographs published online and in print in addition to having many exhibited in galleries throughout the southern New Jersey area. She is also a published writer and poet.

Thai Sunset

This photo was taken on the island of Ko Jum, Thailand as the sun goes down behind Ko Phi Phi, in the distance. Taken on the final night of my stay on the island, it was quite possibly the most beautiful sunset I was able to enjoy in Thailand.

Bridget Holmstrom is currently living in Philadelphia, PA. She enjoys traveling and photography, and recently returned from a four-month trip to Asia where she was able to do both.

Weather and Wine

On a recent trip to Sonoma County, I was struck by the colors of the storm rolling across the vineyards at the Frick Winery. The old water tower on the grounds is now home to barn owls.

Marta Taggart lives in Seattle and loves craft projects and photography.

Toothy Vendor

This photo was taken in the outskirts of Shanghai by Yang-chen lake. I had just gotten off a boat and was making my way back to the car through a sidewalk lined with vendors selling mainly local fruits and vegetables. I was particularly drawn to this friendly old man at the end of the line because he looked so content with life and happy spirited.

Chris Chang is a Seattle-based photographer. This is her first publication.

Gaggio Montano: Liberation from Germany, 1945

At thirteen, the grandson,
Braces on his teeth,
Gangly, alert, affectionate,
Is beautiful.

His grandfather, Fabbio, a man
Seventeen years older than I,
Is touchingly obsessed. He wants
Us to feel, to touch, history,

Those fierce days at Riva Ridge and
Gaggio Montano. He pillages
Cabinet after cabinet, showing
Artifacts: Grenades, unopened packs

Of Lucky Strikes, tooth powder, and
A full array of uniforms the Germans, G.I.’s,
Italians, even the Brazilian Battalion, wore.
And here he stops, a tear in his eye.

He holds a faded photo of a soldier
From Rio de Janeiro, “mi caro amigo”
He intones. The grandson says in English
What we had already understood.

Then the old man affectionately tries to
Place a Mussolini youth corps hat on his
Reticent grandson’s head, and he resists,
Playfully: “No, no, no,” he insists.

His grandpa doesn’t argue,
Just reaches somewhere else and
Hands me a medallion from 2005
Celebrating the 60th year of peace.

The boy’s sweet smile now illuminates
The scene, restores a bit of light
To a small but cherished room
In the mountains of now free Italy.

( July, 2007 )

Don Foran is a Literature and Ethics professor living in Olympia, WA. He has a strong commitment to creativity and sustainability. Travel, he says, enriches his life.

Finding Chris McCandless in Utah

of all places, in the empty orange and reds
dusted with dry thriving sage and
ancient twisted trees carrying leaves
like needles. Among slotted canyons, spooky
and narrow as the space between my
claustrophobic praying hands, I found him.
Reading a story I meant to open,
but never could indoors, he talks of a
predecessor who disappeared
in these sunset lands where I am standing,
with a map; my trail sketched free hand.
The dappled light from our dry brush fire
illuminates a camp made among
flash flood sands and debris; we pack
up for higher and less hallowed ground.
He wouldn’t have to tell us twice.

Brittany Faith Harmon originally hails from Yakima, WA, but currently calls Seattle home.

Hawaii Sky

Chris Gurly is a professional freelance photographer in Chicago. He has been shooting all types of photography for over ten years and has been published in Chicago Home, CS, and American Photo.

Call for Submissions

We are actively seeking submissions to help launch Wanderlust. Please review our submission guidelines and familiarize yourself with our FAQs before submitting.

We look forward to reading your work!

Artwork

Artwork is on its way. Please come back soon!

Have a piece of artwork you'd like to submit? Please visit our submission guidelines.

Fiction

Fiction is on its way. Please come back soon!

Have a piece of fiction you'd like to submit? Please visit our submission guidelines.

Non-Fiction

Non-Fiction is on its way. Please come back soon!

Have a piece of non-fiction you'd like to submit? Please visit our submission guidelines.

About Us

Wanderlust is an online literary journal that publishes travel-based non-fiction, prose, poetry, photography, and artwork on an a continuous basis. Whether the piece explores the winding markets in Marrakesh or a long, lonely road in Wyoming, it has a home here. Vagabonds, transients, explorers, adventurers, and casual wanderers are welcome.

The Wanderlust Staff

Phil Duncan
Editor-in-Chief

Favorite Destination: Germany and New Mexico, US

Favorite Travel-Themed Book: The Darjeeling Limited
Prettiest language: Portuguese
Most Awkward Travel Experience: Haggling for a cab in Ghana


Cindy Chang
Fiction Editor

Favorite Destination: Banff/Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada
Essential Adventure Item: Flip-flops (I could traverse mountains in those)
Brandt Guide or Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet
Most Awkward Travel Experience: Going to the bathroom in a pit next to curious pigs in the countryside of Hunan.


Matthew Ebnet
Non-Fiction Editor

Favorite Destination: Malaysia and Fribourg, Switzerland
Favorite Travel-Themed Book: The Horizontal World: Growing Up in the Middle of Nowhere.
Prettiest Language: Most surprisingly pretty language, Norwegian.
Most Awkward Travel Experience: Dinner with three lispy, chewy, privately unamused Mongolians who served horse.


Erin Foran
Poetry/Photography Editor

Favorite Destination: The Golden Temple, Amritsar, India
Favorite Travel Gadget: Inflatable pillows and sink stoppers
Brandt Guide or Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet
Most Awkward Travel Experience: Random marriage proposals in India and Ghana.

Contact Us

Please send all questions and comments (content or website related) to wanderlustjournal@gmail.com.

For information on how to submit to us, please read our Submission Guidelines / FAQs.

Wanderlust Launch!

Hello! Guten Tag! Buenos Dias!

Welcome to Wanderlust Literary Journal - a journal that tells the stories of travel through non-fiction, prose, poetry, photography, and artwork. Please bookmark us or subscribe to our feed to keep in the loop. We expect to have work up on the site starting in the next few weeks.

If you would like to submit work to Wanderlust, please do so! You can send your work to wanderlustjournal@gmail.com (but please, read our submission guidelines / FAQs before submitting).

Submission Guidelines / FAQS

Please read this entire section before submitting to us. It will not only make you a better person, but it will also raise your chances of having a piece accepted by us.

• What are the submission guidelines?
• When is the submission deadline?
• How long until I hear if my piece is accepted or not?
• What do you publish?
• Does my piece need to be travel-related?
• Do you publish previously unpublished writer/photographers?
• Do you accept simultaneous submissions?
• Do I retain rights to my piece if it's accepted?
• Will I be compensated if my piece is published?
• Do you publish everything that is submitted?
• How do I raise my chances of having my piece accepted?
• Do you proofread accepted pieces?
• How can I stay updated on everything Wanderlust?
• Is Wanderlust available in print?
• What about an anthology??!

Still have a question? Please e-mail us...

What are the submission guidelines?

General Guidelines: All pieces should be sent to wanderlustjournal@gmail.com as an attachment. In the body of your e-mail, please include a brief description of yourself (three sentences or less, which includes your name, location, and previous publications [if any]) that will be included with your piece if published.

The subject of your e-mail should read as follows: GENRE – Title – Last Name

Examples:
FICTION – Tale of Two Cities – Dickens
NON-FICTION – The Jungle – Sinclair
POETRY – Howl – Ginsberg
PHOTO – Rose and Driftwood - Adams
ARTWORK - Portrait of Suzanne Bloch - Picasso

Non-Fiction: We accept non-fiction essays (3,000 words or less). Please send these as an attachment (either a .doc file or a .rtf file [NOT a .docx file, please]).

Fiction: We accept pieces of short prose (traditional, experimental, flash fiction) that is 3,000 words or less. Please send these an attachment (either a .doc file or a .rtf file [NOT a .docx file, please]).

Poetry: You may submit up to three poems. If your poem uses non-traditional formatting or pagination, we will try our best to preserve this while formatting it for the journal, but if we’re unable to, we will contact you to see if you would still like it to be published. Please submit your poems attachments (either a .doc file or a .rtf file [NOT a .docx file, please]).

Photography: We accept one (either color or black and white) piece at a time. Please send these as an attachment [either a .jpg or a .png]. In the body of your e-mail, please include a 1-3 sentence caption describing or explaining your piece.

Artwork: We accept one (either color or black and white) piece at a time. Please send these as an attachment [either a .jpg or a .png]. In the body of your e-mail, please include a 1-3 sentence caption describing or explaining your piece. [top]

When is the submission deadline?
We are an online journal and we accept and publish submissions year-round. [top]

How long until I hear if my piece is accepted or not?
Due to the high volume of submissions and low-volume of Wanderlust Staff, it can take anywhere from two to four weeks (sometimes shorter) to hear from us. If you haven’t heard from us in four weeks, please go ahead and send us a friendly reminder. [top]

What do you publish?
We publish non-fiction essays (under 3,000 words), short stories (under 3,000 words), poetry, photography, and artwork. [top]

Does my piece need to be travel-related?
Yes, in one way or another your piece should deal with the travel experience (either foreign or domestic) – though this can be interpreted in many different ways. When in doubt – submit. [top]

Do you publish previously unpublished writer/photographers?
Absolutely. [top]

Do you accept simultaneous submissions?
Yes, but please let us know if the piece you submitted has been accepted elsewhere before we publish. [top]

Do I retain rights to my piece if it’s accepted?
Yes. We only ask for first publication rights of an accepted piece and the right to keep your piece in our online archive. [top]

Will I be compensated if my piece is published?
No. While we’d like to pay (and pay handsomely) for your work, Wanderlust is a little to no-profit endeavor. All we can offer is a forum for your piece to be read by the public. [top]

Do you publish everything that is submitted?
We don’t. [top]

How do I raise my chances of having my piece accepted?
Here a few tips on making sure your piece is as competitive as possible:

• Don't forget to spell check your piece. The quickest way to get rejected is to send us something rife with spelling and grammatical errors.
• Don't send us a first draft that you haven’t proofread.
• Don't ignore our submission guidelines
• Also, don't ignore the travel theme of the journal
• Don't submit without reading the things we have previously published. [top]

Do you proofread accepted pieces?
Yes and no. Egregious typos are a quick way to be rejected, but an occasional spelling or grammatical error in an otherwise stellar piece will be fixed at our discretion. [top]

How can I stay updated in everything Wanderlust?
Well, friend, there are many ways to do so:

• First of all, check back in often. (Make sure to bookmark us!)
• You can subscribe to our feed for constant updates.
• You can become a “fellow traveler” of our blog by clicking on the ‘follow’ button on the left sidebar.
• You can become our Facebook friend (check back soon for details on this group!!) [top]

Is Wanderlust available in print?
At the moment, no. We are strictly an online journal, however the possibility of publishing future print anthologies is on the table. More on that in the future… [top]

What about an anthology??!
It’s not the future yet… [top]