Lots of Sphereans this issue
 

First is our Tribute to John Whitworth, with submissions wonderfully judged and the section brilliantly edited by Jayne Osborn, including five poems written to, for, or inspired by John. Thank you Jayne!

Our Featured formal poem on the front page is by John Beaton,
and the formal page/section has a good share of Sphereans as well. I haven't been here nearly long enough and don't want to miss anyone. Perhaps someone could add a comprehensive list?

We're delighted by all the poetic talent contributed by members of the Sphere. It is a pleasure reading the submissions, difficult as it is not to accept more when we run out of space! (Everything online is in the print editions as well.)

Best,
Vera

ps. I also occasionally read in the free verse section here and would love to see more submissions from these talented poets as well (and more poetry translations too!) Our new section, Poetry Unplugged, debuts in this issue, and will contain a mix of formal and free verse.

Better than Starbucks!
 

It was an absolute pleasure to be involved in this tribute to John, and I'd like to thank you again, Vera, for inviting me to do it.

Thanks, also, to every poet who submitted poems - in an ideal world it would have been lovely to see all of them published!

Congratulations to our other John, too, John Beaton, a fine poet whom I had the pleasure of meeting at West Chester, back in 2012.

Best wishes to all concerned, for this great issue! I can't wait to read the rest of it.

Jayne

Vera, congratulations on the splendid September issue.

In answer to your request, as well as Ann Drysdale and Ed Shacklee in the Whitworth tribute, other Sphereans I spy in addition to John Beaton are Marcus Bales, Catherine Chandler, Anna M. Evans, Daniel Galef, Robin Helweg-Larsen, Jean L. Kreiling, Alfred Nicol, Aaron Poochigian, Jennifer Reeser and Robert Schechter.

Congrats to Vera, Jayne & all the poets on a wonderful issue and tribute!

Thank you, Jayne. You added a lot to the issue and the Tribute is wonderful.

Thank you, Jerome! and thank you for listing the Sphereans. (Occasionaly they are in other sections as well.)

Thank you, Melissa.

Best,
Vera

My print copy of the September 2019 Premium edition arrived in the post yesterday. It's beautifully produced and chock-full of great reading; plenty of Sphereans in there too!

The journal is an absolute credit to Vera and all her hard work, ...and John Whitworth's family are delighted with the tribute poems.

Jayne

A wonderful tribute edition indeed. Congratulations to all involved.