Happy summer, and welcome to Issue 42!
For these two editors on the Eastern seaboard, the warm days feel like a long-awaited reward.
We are energized by the incredible poems and beautiful artwork we are lucky enough to share here. This issue will take you far—from the Walt Whitman Bridge in Camden, New Jersey to Monmartre in Paris, France. You’ll travel on trains and planes, trek on a snowy fjord, and float in the deep end of a swimming pool from one poet’s childhood.
We are thrilled to announce an addition to the Radar masthead. After 13 years as a two-woman operation, we've welcomed the artist Tiffany Victoria López as our Visual Art Coordinator. You can see some of Tiffany’s paintings in Issue 41, including our cover art. For Issue 42, Tiffany used her artist’s eye to pair poems with artwork. She’ll also be designing some of our social media posts for upcoming readings, lectures, and workshops. As she settles into her new role, Tiffany will be building her résumé as a talent scout—so be sure to let her know if you are or know an artist who might like to be featured in Radar Poetry.
As always, thank you, most sincerely, to every poet and every artist who sent work for our consideration. As publishing poets, we know the rollercoaster of acceptances and rejections all too well. Since its inception, Radar Poetry has been our way to contribute something meaningful to the literary journal tradition. It’s also our opportunity to treat other writers and artists with as much thoughtful consideration as we always hope to receive when we submit our own poems to readers and editors.
We are already knee-high in submissions for the Coniston Prize. We look forward to reading many powerful groups of poems before submissions close. Diane Seuss will choose this year’s winner. Learn more about the Coniston Prize here and consider sending us your best work!
—Rachel Marie Patterson and Dara-Lyn Shrager, Editors