Tag: arts

Table of Contents: Cobblestones Spring 2025

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Fiction
Granma’s Dumbwaiter by Christopher Sloce
Squirrel Rain by Tilden Culver
Night Kitty by Christine Stoddard

Visual Art
Step One by Jean Barrie
In Your Dreams by Grace Oxley
Cobble, A Good Boy by Savannah McLaurin
Swimming by Gabba Heinz

Poetry
Digital Echoes by Sneha Rajan
A Townie’s Brush with the Bourgeoisie by Jena Salem
The Outside Sill by Kylie Grunsfeld
Three Poems by P.H.G.
The Cicadas Cry by Casey Kendle
Tourist by Jozlyn Basso


Editor’s Note: It is with profound gratitude that we present the Spring 2025 issue of Cobblestones. Our most sincere thanks go out to all the writers and artists who chose to share their work with us, whether or not they were selected to appear in this issue. Journals such as this could not exist without their hard work and their courage to share that work with the world. Readers, it is our fondest hope that you enjoy this inaugural issue of Cobblestones as much as we enjoyed producing it. Happy reading!

Step One

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By Jean Barrie



Biographical Statement: Perpetually frazzled, the artist survives off of nicotine, caffeine, and desperation. They may be a cryptid according to their neighbors. What happens when a possum learns to draw? Now we know.

Artist’s Statement: This piece was for a book that didn’t pan out, though I still intend to use it someday to avoid drawing at least one cityscape page again in my lifetime. Perfectionism gets in the way of me finishing work, so I’ve developed a method of finishing art that bakes flaws intrinsically into each panel of a page. It’s a lot easier to get things done if the flaws become a feature rather than a bug.

Cobblestones Deadline Reminder: March 31st

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Hello readers, writers, artists, and miscellaneous miscreants!

This is your reminder that the Cobblestones open submission period ends in two days, on March 31st. Submissions sent after March 31st will not be reviewed. Our submissions form can be found here and our editorial guidelines can be found here.

It has been a wonderful submissions season so far and we are elated with the quality of the work that all of you brilliant creatives have produced, but we still have room for more pieces! If you have been wondering whether or not you should send your work to us, take this as your sign that we would love to see it. If you have any questions, our editor will be monitoring comments on this post.

Happy reading!

Cobble, a Good Boy

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By Savannah McLaurin



Biographical Statement: Savannah McLaurin is local to Richmond, Virginia.


Note from the Editor: Savannah was kind enough to allow us to use “Cobble, a Good Boy” as the site’s new header image, and to adopt Cobble the possum himself as the new Cobblestones mascot. We foresee him appearing in all his scraggly goodness in future Cobblestones promotional material.

Swimming

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By Gabba Heinze




Biographical Statement: Clown enthusiast.


Note from the Editor: To answer the inevitable question in advance, the artist behind this unique piece provided no further context. In this editor’s humble opinion, it needs none.

Cobblestones is Open for Submissions!

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Hello readers!

As of today, Cobblestones is open for all submissions. Our editor will be reviewing submissions in the categories of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and visual arts on a rolling basis until the end of March 2025. Please use our submission form to submit your work. Work submitted by any other means (comments, emails, etc.) will not be considered.

If you have any questions about the submissions process, please reference our editorial guidelines. If the answer to your question is not in our guidelines, feel free to post it as a comment on this post. Our editor will be monitoring comments and answering questions throughout the submissions cycle.

Once your work has been reviewed, you will be notified of our decision via an email to the address you entered in the submission form.

Happy reading!

Cobblestones Editorial Guidelines

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Hello readers!

A publication must stand for something, or else why does it exist? Cobblestones was conceived as a practical editorial exercise, but if artists are asked to contribute their hard work to a publication, then the publication must stand for and center them. These simple principles are intended to articulate exactly how Cobblestones will do so in actual practice. They will serve as touchstones when a theory of publication is inevitably tested by real conditions over the course of this directed study.

  1. Listen to the artist. Without artists, there are no publications. The artists are the purpose and the stars of the publication. It is presumptuous to speak for them. Every artist will be invited to submit a biographical statement and an artist’s statement about their piece(s) for publication alongside their creative work.
  2. Pay the artist. Art is work. All work deserves pay. Even if the amount that can practically be paid is relatively nominal, each artist whose work is accepted must be compensated. Cobblestones will pay $20 per accepted submission.
  3. Never ghost the artist. The artist invested time and energy to submit their work, and to do so is to put oneself in a vulnerable position. All submissions will be responded to, regardless of the answer given, as a matter of professional respect. 
  4. Punch up, not down. Art is inherently political. Soliciting artistic production is therefore a political act. Cobblestones will take every opportunity to stand in solidarity with historically marginalized communities and will not accept submissions that seek to harm them. Submissions of a racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, or otherwise bigoted nature will be rejected. Submissions that challenge systems of oppression will be encouraged.
  5. No robots. Art is a human activity, and humans deserve the credit and payment for its production. Cobblestones will not accept work that is the result of generative AI. Please do not submit work that has been generated by an AI.
  6. Be accessible. Art should be readily accessible regardless of the audience’s means. Publication should be equally accessible regardless of the artist’s means. Cobblestones will never put any portion of its collected work behind a paywall of any kind. Cobblestones will not seek to limit the republication rights of the work it prints. Cobblestones will never charge artists a reading or submission fee.

Cobblestones

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Hello there! Watch this space for Cobblestones, a limited-run literary journal crafted as a directed study project in Virginia Commonwealth University’s English MA program. Over the course of Spring 2025, our editor will review arts and literature submissions and post those that are accepted here. Happy reading, everyone!