Moon Beams #26 - Aaron Lelito

“It’s about being human and the human experience, and the environment surrounding that experience,” “Wild Roof Journal” Editor Aaron Lelito told me when speaking to the ethos of the work he and his team seek to include in the publication during our chat on episode #26 of “Moon Beams.” 

An editor’s work of divvying out inclusion, audience appetite, and their individual palate all bring unique benefits and challenges to the role, and Aaron spoke to how he prioritizes variety, vulnerability, and a wide range of settings in the work he platforms.

“If it’s the remote wilderness, I’ll take it, that’s always appealing,” said Aaron, “if it’s the local park, great, and if it’s a 400-square-foot apartment in New York, cool, it’s not going to be declined just because it doesn’t take place in a natural setting.”

Our conversation enjoyed a solid range, from riffing on Raymond Carver and Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping, to William Blake’s quote, “If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise,” and, “Curiosity is insubordination in its purest form,” from Vladimir Nabokov. 

Aaron’s most-recently published work can be found in “Blood Tree Literature's Issue 16” and “Plant People Vol. 5” by “Plants & Poetry.”

Alongside the journal, Wild Roof Journal’s podcast is a boon of deep dives on craft, environmental issues, and author’s backgrounds that I highly recommend to anyone. 

I am grateful to Aaron for everything he’s doing to support the poetry world, as well as the values on environmentalism he promotes in the voices he curates and the work he creates as an artist.