From the great Greek epics of Homer to the prayers and lyrics of ancient and prehistoric Asian and Middle Eastern civilizations, poetry is believed to have predated even literacy as a method of aiding memorization and preserving oral history.

Each of us likely remembers a poem we read in school that stuck with us – a story or a turn-of-phrase that caught our imagination and somehow transformed the dull black-and-white of a textbook into an engaging portrait. I still remember standing in front of my high school English class, reciting from memory Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” a poem that may have been considered “high literature” but could draw in any reader with its heart-pounding portrayal of warfare at its most heroic and tragic.

While some of us were never destined to become poets, it has never stopped us from admiring the artistry and impossibly long, thoughtful hours that go into crafting verse. Over the nine months that we’ve published this little magazine, we’ve been continually surprised and heartened by the quantity and caliber of poetry that folks across New Hampshire submit to us for publication. The poems have come from friends and neighbors of all ages and walks of life, and they’ve covered everything from nature’s beauty to the simple virtues of small-town life. They’ve been, in a word, amazing.

New Hampshire has always been an unlikely hub for artists seeking either seasonal or permanent escape from the pressures of city life. If these last nine months have taught us anything, it is that there is an awful lot of homegrown talent here, too. It is my hope that you will continue to embrace good writing and poetry in all its forms, so that all of us can continue to enjoy it!