March 2021
EDITOR'S NOTE
Dear Villagers,
March is an anniversary for me with Verse-Virtual. It marks the beginning of a return to publishing monthly issues of Verse-Virtual, wherein I took on a lot of unknowns as the editor of the journal. Firestone was absolutely too ill to continue, but gave me his blessing in a very short email, saying “Whatever you want to do is fine with me, Jim.” With that carte blanche, here we are a full year later, still going, still growing. That growth speaks directly to the founding philosophy of nurturing a community of poets who would contribute to the journal. And that philosphy isn’t lost on those who are new to us. It is common for me to read these lines (or similar) in a submission from a newcomer to the group: “I read your ‘About’ page, looked through some poems in a couple of issues, and I really like the sense of community.” It matters.
Over the past year, we have added monthly poetry readings, and recently started some “Book Parties” to allow members of the group to promote their books. These are available on YouTube on the Verse-Virtual channel. You may want to subscribe to the channel to get notifications of new videos when they are posted.
With this anniversary, I am making a small, but I think exciting, change to the look of the journal, with the addition of cover art. The inaugural photo is one of mine, titled "Fortress". The young boy in me sees a place that needs to be protected from pirates, marauders, and of course, my brothers.
See the submissions page for details on how to submit your own photographs or other visual art to be considered for future issues.
Submissions are open for the April issue from March 1 through March 10, and ALL the submission guidelines apply. I rejected some submissions for March for a lack of attention to detail. If you don’t get an acknowledgement from me within 2 days of submitting, you need to check to see if you missed something in the guidelines.
—JL
March is an anniversary for me with Verse-Virtual. It marks the beginning of a return to publishing monthly issues of Verse-Virtual, wherein I took on a lot of unknowns as the editor of the journal. Firestone was absolutely too ill to continue, but gave me his blessing in a very short email, saying “Whatever you want to do is fine with me, Jim.” With that carte blanche, here we are a full year later, still going, still growing. That growth speaks directly to the founding philosophy of nurturing a community of poets who would contribute to the journal. And that philosphy isn’t lost on those who are new to us. It is common for me to read these lines (or similar) in a submission from a newcomer to the group: “I read your ‘About’ page, looked through some poems in a couple of issues, and I really like the sense of community.” It matters.
Over the past year, we have added monthly poetry readings, and recently started some “Book Parties” to allow members of the group to promote their books. These are available on YouTube on the Verse-Virtual channel. You may want to subscribe to the channel to get notifications of new videos when they are posted.
With this anniversary, I am making a small, but I think exciting, change to the look of the journal, with the addition of cover art. The inaugural photo is one of mine, titled "Fortress". The young boy in me sees a place that needs to be protected from pirates, marauders, and of course, my brothers.
See the submissions page for details on how to submit your own photographs or other visual art to be considered for future issues.
Submissions are open for the April issue from March 1 through March 10, and ALL the submission guidelines apply. I rejected some submissions for March for a lack of attention to detail. If you don’t get an acknowledgement from me within 2 days of submitting, you need to check to see if you missed something in the guidelines.
—JL