Editor’s Notes

Dear Readers,

Welcome to May's issue. This month we have four poems, an article about the Bywords reading on April 30 by Catharine Carroll and five poems by a few of the teenage students in Jesse Ferguson's week-long poetry workshop offered at the University of Ottawa.

I had the opportunity to speak to Jesse's class and was pleased by their interest in poetry, in publishing and writing in general. See Jesse's article for more information about the class.

One trend I'm noticing in many of the poems that have been accepted for publication recently is that quite a few are written by current or former poetry workshop participants. There are numerous workshops offered in this city either through the universities, through associations or from individual writers. I urge you to take a look at the workshops section of this website (in the news section) and take a course. You will get comments on ways to improve your writing and will enjoy the camaraderie of fellow writers.

For those of us writing poetry, one of the best ways to improve one's own writing is to read other poets' work and to write about it. In our links section, we've added some new poetry review sites featuring reviews of Canadian poetry. Take a look at these reviews and considering writing some yourself. There are a variety of publications looking for reviewers.

Finally, to improve your own writing or just enjoy, go to the various readings taking place in Ottawa this summer. Take a look at the calendar of events.

Thanks to all of you who have submitted poems this month and to this month's selection committee:

Kelly Clarke, Jesse Ferguson, Megan McGrath, Kemisha Newman, Victoria Vernell, and Betty Warrington-Kearsley.

Remember to pick up your copy of the summer Bywords Quarterly Journal from the store or in stores near you.

If you have comments, questions or concerns, I'd be happy to hear from you: editor@bywords.ca.

Amanda Earl