Summertime and the Reading is Wonderful at Ithaca Lit

I had the pleasure of being the Guest Editor for the Summer 2012 issue of Ithaca Lit, a very nice online journal founded by Editor Michele Lesko and co-edited by Sherry O'Keefe. This issue marks the end of the journal's first year, so a big round of applause! I had poems in the first issue, Autumn 2011, and the guest editorship came about as a result of that. The journal comes out four times a year, each scheduled to occur on the solstice.

One of my jobs was to suggest a poet to be the issue's Featured Poet. I suggested Bruce Guernsey and Michele agreed that he'd be perfect for the spot, especially since his new book, From Rain: Poems 1970-2010, had just come out. Bruce is the former editor of The Spoon River Poetry Review as well as an accomplished poet with five full-length collections and seven chapbooks. He's also been featured four times on Ted Kooser's "American Life in Poetry" and has a fifth feature coming up. After reading his new collection, I sent him the interview questions which he then responded to. His responses are wonderful. Be sure to read this Interview. I had a hard time but a good time selecting just five of Bruce's poems to feature. I think you'll enjoy the range, craft, and variety of these Poems. (You can purchase From Rain at Amazon.)

My other role was to invite a handful of poets to submit work to the journal. Hard to narrow down to just a handful, but I'm happy to say that work was accepted by all seven of the poets I invited. In addition, there is work by five other poets. One aspect of this journal that I like is that each issue is limited to a dozen poets, making the journal one you can get through in one sitting but also one you'll want to return to. You'll remember these Poems.

Yet another admirable feature of the journal is its attention to art. Every single page has a piece of art as its header. As you can see from the two images I've included here, the theme for this issue is Chairs. How appropriate for summer! But there's more. There's a featured artist, Michel Delgado. You'll find an Interview with Michel conducted by the editor and, best of all, a Gallery of his work.

There's also an interview with Seamus Heaney, a music feature, and several prose pieces. Please visit Ithaca Lit and be sure to bookmark it. You'll want to go back.