Editor’s Note

Back in 1912, Poetry’s tiny first office was often crowded with visiting poets and friends, and founding editor Harriet Monroe would brew coffee over an open fire in an adjacent vacant lot. Visitors eventually would head out to a nearby restaurant where Monroe might buy lunch or dinner for writers down on their luck. Charming as this may sound, what she established all those years ago was what we would now call a poetry community. As Wallace Stevens once wrote, remembering Monroe, Poetry “was notably a magazine of many people ... in a group, she was always most eager.” These days, poetry communities flourish everywhere, and stay in touch not only in person through readings and informal gatherings but moment to moment, via social media and texting.

In the spirit of such gregariousness, this month’s issue presents work from three of many such active communities: Split This Rock, a gathering of those who work for social justice; Black Girl Magic — the name is self-explanatory, but these are poets connected to the BreakBeat poets featured in our April 2015 issue; and Snow City Arts, an organization that provides instruction in the visual arts, creative writing, music, theater, and media arts to children in hospitals. In juxtaposing work from each of these vibrant groups, we hope readers will get a sense of the vivacious energy and talent nourished wherever poets and their readers gather.