February 2021
EDITOR'S NOTE
Dear Villagers,
I don't know how your first month of 2021 went, but January seemed pretty strange to me. Politics, rebellion, insurrection, virtual inauguration, vaccine issues, a pandemic that doesn't seem to have an early end. Changes at my work place, with old faces gone, new faces to grow accustomed to. Lock down restrictions that fluctuated and lapsed, at least in California, with one of the highest rates of infection in the country. More and more people I know personally catching COVID. Some doing well, others not so well. Good news, bad news, always something in the news, to the point of feeling smothered in news.
And yet. And yet. When I stop looking at the big picture, the "global calamity" that surrounds us, and look at my own little corner of the world, I find that I have everything that is important in life, and I am deeply grateful.
February's issue of Verse-Virtual was easier to publish in some ways (so many of you followed submission guidelines) and harder in others (some difficult poems and difficult choices.) I have been aware of personal struggles that have challenged members of this community, and wondered how I could help them, if at all. I've come back around to "light the corner of the world where you are" as my way of supporting all of you. It is clear from your emails that Verse-Virtual is important to you, that it offers some degree of refuge, respite, and enjoyment. Editing Verse-Virtual is the lamp I raise in the darkness. My lamp is joined by the poems you share.
March submissions are open from February 1st through the 10th. The OPTIONAL theme for March is "Lions and Lambs" to honor the month that "comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb." At least I hope it exits that way this year.
Jim Lewis, Editor
I don't know how your first month of 2021 went, but January seemed pretty strange to me. Politics, rebellion, insurrection, virtual inauguration, vaccine issues, a pandemic that doesn't seem to have an early end. Changes at my work place, with old faces gone, new faces to grow accustomed to. Lock down restrictions that fluctuated and lapsed, at least in California, with one of the highest rates of infection in the country. More and more people I know personally catching COVID. Some doing well, others not so well. Good news, bad news, always something in the news, to the point of feeling smothered in news.
And yet. And yet. When I stop looking at the big picture, the "global calamity" that surrounds us, and look at my own little corner of the world, I find that I have everything that is important in life, and I am deeply grateful.
February's issue of Verse-Virtual was easier to publish in some ways (so many of you followed submission guidelines) and harder in others (some difficult poems and difficult choices.) I have been aware of personal struggles that have challenged members of this community, and wondered how I could help them, if at all. I've come back around to "light the corner of the world where you are" as my way of supporting all of you. It is clear from your emails that Verse-Virtual is important to you, that it offers some degree of refuge, respite, and enjoyment. Editing Verse-Virtual is the lamp I raise in the darkness. My lamp is joined by the poems you share.
March submissions are open from February 1st through the 10th. The OPTIONAL theme for March is "Lions and Lambs" to honor the month that "comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb." At least I hope it exits that way this year.
Jim Lewis, Editor