If writing a poem (or letting a poem flow through you onto the page) is like a flower blooming, then publishing a poem is akin to that flower being pollinated–visited–carried beyond where it is originally planted.

That is certainly my feeling when I look at the most recent cover of this journal I respect and enjoy. I am glad to have my own poem, “Wraith,” included among poems by people whose work I know, such as Ted Kooser (a hero of mine,) Dan Campion, and Allison Hicks, and by other poets with whom this issue of The Midwest Quarterly acquainted me.

Wishing you a late summer filled with lazy dreams and riveting reading!