Valentine’s Day is a deceptively versatile holiday. The heartbroken find comfort in steeply discounted grocery candy. First dates and established couples alike fret over dinner plans and gifts. Beyond the mass-produced chocolates and cards is a holiday that provides something for everyone at every age, from sticky elementary school parties to seasoned couples celebrating for the 25th time.
 

As I pulled the issue together, motifs around family, identity, and relationships came up repeatedly. Love quickly became the central theme– a mother’s love for her son, a couple’s love of their former home, a widow mourning its absence. What is grief, after all, but the weight that love must leave behind, the byproduct that confirms it existed?

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There couldn’t be a more appropriate day to host the dynamic range of work present in this inaugural issue of Pergola than Valentine’s Day. Thank you to my genre editors and our contributors for bringing this magazine to life. To our readers, I encourage you to consider the many, sometimes unrecognizable forms, that love can take throughout your lifetime as you read.