Editor’s Notes

Greetings dear readers,

This month's issue features a return to the wild, reclamation by nature and retrospection. Since we read and select poems to appear in an issue a month before their publication, it is interesting to see how the poems resonate differently in the context of the times we're in. I hope you enjoy the issue.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, literary, spoken word, storytelling and nonfiction events across the city are being cancelled or postponed. I'm doing my best to update the Bywords.ca calendar as I find out about cancellations and postponements. If I've missed any updates, please let me know. If you're planning on attending any events listed on the calendar, please check with event organizers to see if the event is still happening.

VERSeFest, Ottawa's annual poetry festival, which was scheduled to take place at the end of the month will now be postponed to a later date.

Please consider purchasing the poets' books, whether it be through the publisher or Perfect Books, the festival's bookseller and a stalwart of the community. I imagine the store must have already ordered books for the festival.

Both writing and reading poetry can help us articulate and try to make sense of absurdity, injustices and feelings of helplessness. It can also communicate empathy and help us to feel that we are not alone. Seek out poetry, either in print or online. Share poems with friends and family.

Please submit poems for our upcoming issues. We need your work and so do our readers. Guidelines are on the site.

Since I won't have the pleasure of your company at upcoming events, please feel free to reach out to me to me to talk poetry anytime.

Thanks to our selection committee this month:

Jesse Aubin
Wes Babcock
Robert Martin Evans
Margo Lapierre
Kemisha Newman
Jade Riordan
Helen Robertson
Carol A. Stephen
JC Sulzenko

If you have comments, suggestions, or hand washing songs to suggest, please e-mail me at amanda@bywords.ca.

Amanda Earl
Managing Editor

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