Editor’s Note

September signals a new school year, the buzz of anticipation, and all the ways I imagine I’ll change and become someone different, someone better. September is, in a sense, my true New Year’s, where resolutions are made in the midst of the lingering Midwestern summer while fall tries to elbow its way through and succeeds once every two or three years. It’s fitting that the September 2021 issue is my first as guest editor because this month holds a lot of change for me. The poems here grounded me in the midst of uncertainty and asked me to slow down, to look inside the poem and myself.

I turn toward poetry when I don’t know how to feel or where to go. Every poem here has challenged me and given me respite. I hope it will do the same for you. I could give each poem its own introduction, but I think part of the joy is to find the one that speaks to you, the one that lets you glimpse a space and perspective you haven’t thought of before. Isn’t that what poetry does best? Showing us what was there the whole time or showing us where we can look in the future?

The generosity in these pages lets us glimpse into the poems’ construction and witness the speakers’ reflection, revision, and reimagination. This is the kind of work I admire and the kind of ethos we can only hope to be constantly striving toward. I’m particularly excited by Jianan Liu’s cover art and for you all to see what she has in store over the next two issues. Not only can you see the movement on the cover, you can experience an animated cover online too, the letters of P-O-E-T-R-Y opening the door wider, revealing what’s outside.

So come on in, hold the door open, step outside, or stay in. You’ll discover poems dreaming and finding their way in the world; poetry’s magic allows us to exist in the past and present while imagining many futures.