Letter from the Editor
Welcome to Issue #12. Yes, we are late, and my apologies to all the contributors, who have been bearing with me with such patience. We have another big, great issue, featuring the artwork of Gary Buhler, interviewed by cultural theorist and critic, Dave Hegeman. There’s some powerful, haunting new work from returning contributor Simon Perchik, and a spectrum of work loosely but thematically orbiting metaphysical issues. It’s really a rich and organic mix of work, which for an editor is always a treat to see when it comes together like its own unique and autonomous exotic animal. On our FB page I asked the question recently, “what’s the point of poetry?” I got a range of answers from some of you, and then answered it myself by saying that it gets answered in the reading of work of those submitting to us who, often, but not always, become contributors. Some editors complain about the amount of poor quality work they receive—not me—I want it hot or cold. The true point to recognize is the meaning and art ordinary folks make in the act of writing poetry (or painting), over the course of living a lifetime. It doesn’t always come together, but when it does, like this issue did, it feels magic or miraculous—both. That’s what makes editing a journal whom people may or may not know about or read, and we usually have no idea who, worthwhile and meaningful. For those of you reading, I trust it will have been worth the wait. Please settle in and take your time enjoying, admiring, or arguing, interacting with the work. We aim for beauty and oddity (and whatever stands out as worthy to us) that coheres into something grander than the parts.
Just to whet your appetite in upcoming issues: I promise we will be on-time with issue #13, which is slated for July and will feature the artwork of Alex Lilly, a chapbook by Silas Gorin and new poetry by Zach Hamilton and some prose poetry (which I’m always excited about) by Richard Mather and Meaghan Quinn. And for #14, Pam O’Shaughnessy has agreed to do a guest editorial issue in which she features experimental and hypertext poetry and, we hope, some of the the amazing artwork of Catrin Welz-Stein. I’m sincerely looking forward to seeing what she will do with that.