M  Y  S  T  I  C  E  T  I

Maru Mori is a Japanese word, or rather a phrase, since it is two words. It means the heartbreaking simplicity of ordinary things, as shared in the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. We do not find Maru Mori to evoke only sorrow. For us, Maru Mori also evokes play. The ordinary can be playful. Play can be sorrowful. And sorrows can be playful, especially when they become ordinary. Phew!

 

We liked Maru Mori for our name because its meaning is full of ordinary possibilities - to explore the everyday, the mundane, the fleeting and the static. The playfulness of its tonality, of how it rolls off our tongues, added to its appeal. Did we mention that Maru Mori is a creative non-fiction journal? Or did we just go on about the name we chose? I suppose we did go on a short bit, only because we want you to know what compelled us to begin yet another journal in the "mara mari" (as Stuti says) already out there.

 

At Maru Mori, we solicit pieces that make sense of our ordinary, everyday existence. We want the journal to be for ordinary creatives who are open to new forms of meaning-making and world-making. This, we believe, is crucial in a fraught, rapidly changing, often heartbreaking world.

 

We look forward to your ramblings, jottings, doodles, hummings, and murmurs about the heartbreaking simplicity of ordinary things. Maru Mori.