March 2024

       I have the distinct pleasure of penning Prairie Home's inaugural Letter from the Editor on the evening of a leap year--what fun!--and I'm listening to and re-listening to Gene Autry's Home on the Range trying to conjure up the immediate and greater meaning of Prairie Home, what I think it may end up signifying and mean to people. Perhaps the same warm feeling you get at Christmastime when you hear Gene Autry's voice--no, even before that when you heard the strings behind him--is a start. There is a romanticism about the country, of course, for all of its many imperfections, that inspired me enough to take me to take on the name Prairie Home, and I think they are considered in the lines of Home on the Range: Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam / Where the deer and the antelope play / Where seldom is heard a discouraging word / And the skies are not cloudy all day.

        Perhaps the more exact words I'm looking for are humble and simple. I was never a person to boast great numbers on the english portion of the SAT/ACT in school, but still found some higher callings in poetry and language in my secondary education and through a few college courses. Just reading some of the overwhelming amount of submissions I received, I found that others might too wish for a literary magazine embracing the humble and unpretentious in a literary landscape which often favors the polished and the sophisticated. I believe that poetry and prose need not be adorned with grandiose vocabulary or elaborate metaphors to resonate deeply with readers.

        I hope to provide a welcoming home for voices often overlooked, celebrating the raw authenticity of everyday language and experiences and embrace the power of simplicity, finding beauty in the ordinary, the heartfelt, and the sincere. It's been a joy collecting and reading other people's work and trying to curate the future direction of the journal. I've been surprised, shocked with how many folks submitted to a still-in-the-works website that barely has it all together in the last few weeks since the website and socials went live in early February 2024. Poetry is far from dead! I'm grateful for everyone who submitted or considered submitting to Prairie Home for its inaugural issue--we have some incredible and brilliant work here and it makes me thrilled about what the future is going to look like. 

        How often at night when the heavens are bright / With the light of the glittering stars / Have I stood there amazed and ask as I gaze / If their glory exceeds that of ours?

      Clearest of skies,

      Chris Stubenrauch

      EIC, Prairie Home Magazine