June 2022
EDITOR'S NOTE
Dear Community,
I was tempted to make this month's note just a list of the mass shootings that occurred in May. It would have certainly filled up this space, but I'm not sure it would have accompished much. We are already reeling from the knockout punches of violence in every corner of our world, and maybe you, like me, are numb. The first issue of V-V that I edited included this poem of mine that is still sadly relevant.
This issue of Verse-Virtual did not have an assigned theme, and I am pleased with the variety of topics that these poems cover. Last week, after the horrible mass shooting in Uvalde, I opened up a short, specific submission window to accept poems about that event. My intent was to allow the community to process another senseless act by writing through it. Rather than group those poems into a separate space, I have left them scattered throughout the issue, just as the unending repetitions of violence are mixed into the fabric of life in America. It's past time to remove that thread from our tapestry, and yet...
Submissions for the July issue are open from the 1st through the 10th of June. The OPTIONAL theme is "What does it mean to be free?" I very specifically do NOT want poems about patriotism or flag waving, chest-thumping pride in America. This community isn't limited by those borders, or the borders of any other country.
I was tempted to make this month's note just a list of the mass shootings that occurred in May. It would have certainly filled up this space, but I'm not sure it would have accompished much. We are already reeling from the knockout punches of violence in every corner of our world, and maybe you, like me, are numb. The first issue of V-V that I edited included this poem of mine that is still sadly relevant.
This issue of Verse-Virtual did not have an assigned theme, and I am pleased with the variety of topics that these poems cover. Last week, after the horrible mass shooting in Uvalde, I opened up a short, specific submission window to accept poems about that event. My intent was to allow the community to process another senseless act by writing through it. Rather than group those poems into a separate space, I have left them scattered throughout the issue, just as the unending repetitions of violence are mixed into the fabric of life in America. It's past time to remove that thread from our tapestry, and yet...
Submissions for the July issue are open from the 1st through the 10th of June. The OPTIONAL theme is "What does it mean to be free?" I very specifically do NOT want poems about patriotism or flag waving, chest-thumping pride in America. This community isn't limited by those borders, or the borders of any other country.