June Updates from the Guest Editor’s Desk

Hello, summer. 

Here in Alabama, it’s getting hot enough to shout, and all the blooms are blooming in their exuberant way. Poems, too, are blooming. 

In the June issue of Poetry, you’ll find a great bouquet of poems in all styles, like the video feature curated by Darius Daughtry and the Art Prevails Project. Darius has championed artistic expression in South Florida for a long time, and it is beautiful to see some of the products of his work in this feature. Xaire, Amorette “Epiphany” Lormil, Nyah Hardmon, and Darius brought us work that was engaging on the page and on video, and I’m so pleased that we were able to share those multi-modal poems with you. 

On the podcast coming out next week, I have the pleasure of chatting with Cathy Linh Che about her June issue poems “Zombie Apocalypse Now: The Making Of” and “Zombie Apocalypse Now: Documentary.” There’s so much in a resurrection—poetic, zombified, or otherwise, and Cathy and I delve into it in this episode. 

I was honored to talk with Sidney Clifton on the podcast this month as well—Sidney’s mother, Lucille Clifton, is something like a patron saint to me, and our conversation has been one of the highlights of my life thus far. I hope each of you will listen to that episode and rejoice with us as we invite Lucille Clifton into the room in spirit and in voice. 

There are also a trio of audio poems in the June issue by South Carolina poet Marlanda Dekine-Sapient Soul. “Grain Memory” (which features the Gullah-Geechee language), “Perhaps I Am a Fugitive of Empathy,” and “My Grandma Told Stories or Cautionary Tales” are all so dynamic on page, but they bloom anew on audio recording. 

Next month’s double issue is the last under my guest editorship, and I’m excited for what’s in store. I’ve curated “A Quilt of Alabama Poets,” which is a collection of poets from across the state of Alabama, writing in multiple formats—print, audio, and video. There’s amazing writing happening in Alabama, and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to showcase just a little of it. Because it’s a double issue, I decided to do two features—in addition to the quilt, I’ve also curated micro-essays and poems by Poets Laureate from across the country, and this is a feature I hope will continue beyond my tenure. Poets Laureate do such important work in our communities, and I’m thrilled to have their words in the issue, and links to what’s happening in their cities/states to be published in the July/August mid-month update. 

I remain grateful for the joy poetry can bring. And maybe as we move toward the hottest months of the year, I’ll take to reading poems with a cold glass of lemonade and a tomato sandwich nearby.