As the new year approaches, what does it feel like to stand at the edge of December with your head turned back? What remains illuminated and thrumming? Just as one tree's decay nurtures the next tree, so the old year folding into the new one reminds us not only of endings, but of what lasts and what recurs. We are reminded of how absence becomes a presence in itself—the way silence evokes the songs of birds even when they are not there.

Issue Nine is like stepping out of a room with a light still on; a steady hum sounds even after your departure. We invite you to follow our contributors into rooms where pipes click long after you leave them and memories drift throughout the air. In this time of transition, we hope these words may serve as a guide to welcome into presence all that you might miss, to nourish what remains as well as what might grow.