June 20, 2025

With this issue, we continue the theme of Play Party with All Tied Up. The idea for this year’s theme was to bring us through different levels of intensity often associated with any sort of play, ordeal, or gnostic experience. This coupling of gnosis and play is accentuated in an essay I contributed for the issue, “All Tied Up: Eight Meditations, A Conversation with Lee Harrington.” First and foremost, I was honored for the opportunity to talk with Lee, who is a nationally renowned sexuality educator and a pioneer in bringing rope bondage to the mainstream. The practice of rope bondage is simultaneously exquisite in its beauty and an ordeal of bodily endurance.

Of course, the work presented in this issue isn’t exclusively centered on the physical act of bondage, nor play, though you’ll find allusions to those themes throughout. As with every issue, these themes serve primarily as a launch pad and in this issue you’ll find pieces that explore the ways in which we become entangled in our relationships with our bodies and with each other. The idea of entanglement is beautifully captured in Naa Asheley Ashitey’s poem “Write a poem about the difference between love and erotica”:


This issue also features the three winners of our fiction writing contest. You’ll find their works directly below and I’m immensely grateful for the opportunity for us to host a contest of this kind.

As always, this magazine couldn’t be possible without the generous contributions from each of the featured artists. To each of you, for your trust, I am indebted.

With love and gratitude.



The themes we present to you on the first day of each season are meant as inspiration to contributors or to spark a memory of something created months passed, a cosmic alignment of ideas. All Tied Up can be taken quite literally, as did David Sapp with his collection of six collages, the first example of PD accepting a full half-dozen of work. The pieces are too thought-provoking in their stark juxtaposition of photography and illustration as to not be accepted, even if we chose to ignore how perfectly they ladder up against the present thematic trappings.

Following that are the amazing PAINTINGS of Sabyasachi Roy. Read that again. These beautiful black and white images are painted. They are not digital photographic representations. I encourage you to click (or tap) for a closer look at the brushstroke and the texture of the canvas itself - not so dissimilar to the feel of a rope, though that was probably unintentional.

Finally, is Rachel Turney’s second submission and subsequent acceptance. Another male model from the back in black and white, this time sporting an apron, a ’cheeky‘ take on the theme.

Next edition will be a theme of Masquerade. Dust off your feathered masks, long gloves, heels, and corsets and capture the mysterious imagery in your medium of choice.

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This issue’s playlist can be found here.