Editor’s Notes

Greetings dear readers,

Welcome to the first issue of 2019. Scott Checchin reviews Elisha May Rubacha's chapbook Too Much Nothing (Apt. 9 Press, 2018), Warren Dean Fulton gives us too much sadness, Avonlea Fotheringham writes of wounds and ghosts, and Kimberley Peterson offers grief and climbing vines. I hope you enjoy the issue.

If your resolution was to publish your poetry, don't forget to send in your poems for consideration for Bywords.ca. This time of year is always a tad quiet. Read the guidelines on the site, send us poems, receive an honorarium and get the chance to have your poem considered for this year's John Newlove Poetry Award judged by Waterloo poet and professor Tanis MacDonald. Bywords.ca differs from most online literary journals because we send you an acknowledgement within 24-48 hours of submission, you have your own account so you can revoke poems that are accepted elsewhere, and you'll get an acceptance or rejection within three months of submission. Your poems are read by a selection committee without knowing your name or biography. We've published poems by emerging and established poets. Please spread the word about our ongoing call for submission. We have a large appetite for poetry because we publish every month.

We also publish reviews of Canadian poetry books and chapbooks every month. We pay $75 per review. Feel free to send a pitch to me anytime. By sending a query ahead of time, you can verify that we aren't already publishing a review of the work you want to write about.

Thanks to our selection committee this month:

Jesse Aubin
Robert Martin Evans
Margo Lapierre
Kemisha Newman
Catina Noble
Jade Riordan
Carol A. Stephen
JC Sulzenko
Rob Thomas

If you have questions, comments, suggestions or pain remedies to offer, please e-mail me at amanda@bywords.ca.

May your year be joyous, productive and pain-free.

Amanda Earl

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