A few weeks ago, I received a surprising email.

Karen Kelsay, the poet who also publishes other poets’ work through Kelsay Books (including my own recent collection of elegies) let me know that she was launching a brand-new online journal called The Orchards. She asked if she could reprint the title poem from Still Life with Poppies: Elegies.

My answer? Wow! Of course! Never before has a journal editor contacted me about reprinting a poem. Furthermore, everything Karen does has substance and beautiful finish.

The Orchards was published this week. It is, as I anticipated, sensitively arranged and beautifully presented. Each poem is a new surprise. A special delight to me was to read the wealth of sonnets as well as some villanelles that left me dazzled by the possibilities of these forms I love.

Karen plans to publish The Orchards three times a year. I am already looking forward to reading the next issue in December. Thank you, Karen!

LESLIE

(P.S. I took these photos of apple blossoms in Northfield, Minnesota, and the ones of the apples at an orchard in Maiden Rock, Wisconsin.)

Enjoy some luscious poems!     LESLIE