Page 5 — From the Editor: Origin Story
Welcome, dear reader, to this, the inaugural issue of The Starlight SciFaiku Review! It has been a real delight putting this literary journal together. In its pages you will find the work of some very talented writers.
This summer has been the busiest in my memory, with many important commitments beyond this publishing endeavor requiring my full attention. I have often felt overwhelmed in finding the time and energy to bring this first issue to fruition, but here we are and it is an honor.
I am simply overjoyed with the quality of work that appears in this issue — but I suppose that should really come as no surprise. Contributors to this issue have been nominated multiple times for some very prestigious awards, including the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and the Elgin Award; and have won multiple awards, including the 2008 Best Poem of the Year (Preditors & Editors Readers’ Poll), Sam’s Dot Publishing James Award (2009 & 2010), the 2018 Gerald Brady Memorial Senryu Award (Haiku Society of America), and San Francisco Poetry Magazine‘s 2020 Contest.
Writing is a labor of love (even when it comes easy) driven by inspiration’s ruthless vision, fueled by the desire to bring forth a work from one’s mind to the world outside, forged in the sometimes joyous, sometimes excruciating crucible that is the creative effort. It’s a fascinating process. I respect all writers and artists for this. Thank you for seeing it through and sharing your work with this literary journal.
In the pages that follow, I have presented your contributions to this literary journal in the order in which they were received, no hierarchy of literary accomplishments or name recognition is at play here. I have happily pivoted here and there in producing this issue of The Starlight SciFaiku Review, breaking a few of my own ‘rules’ along the way regarding content specifications and so forth, all in the quest to bring to you, the reader, the best possible selection of work for your enjoyment, literary enrichment, and inspiration for the craft, form, and genre.
After you have taken a deeply satisfying look at your own work and that of your fellow contributors, please humor me and circle back to read my SciFaiku origin story, which is, ultimately, the origin story of this very literary journal, your poetry’s happy new home.