[Melissa Balmain]

The summer/fall '14 issue of LIGHT is here, packed with so many Sphereans, quasi-Sphereans, and honorary Sphereans, we should probably just change the name to LIGHT-o-SPHERE. Among them:

Featured poet Susan McLean, Dick Davis (who wrote a well-deserved appreciation of Susan's work), A.M. Juster (with a timely essay on women in light verse), and contributing poets Brian Allgar, Peter Austin, Bruce Bennett, Jerome Betts, Mark Blaeuer, Douglas G. Brown, Michael Cantor, Barbara Lydecker Crane, Rhina P. Espaillat, David Galef, Midge Goldberg, Clarinda Harriss, J. Patrick Lewis, Charles Martin, Bob McKenty, Mary McLean, Richard Meyer, Kathleen Naureckas, Chris O'Carroll, Martin Parker, Ed Shacklee, Robert Schechter, Wendy Sloan, Janice D. Soderling, Rob Stuart, and Catherine Tufariello.

Thank you, all, for making this a fantastic issue... I hope you'll enjoy diving in, with help from our surfing cover dog, at http://lightpoetrymagazine.com/revamp/ Please remember to like LIGHT on Facebook, too, if you want to see our funny Poems of the Week and other good stuff: https://www.facebook.com/LightPoetry..._type=bookmark

[E. Shaun Russell]

Holy moly. That issue is about 75% Spherian! Nice work, folks!

[Janice D. Soderling]

Delighted to see Susan as featured poet. A guiding light.

A weekend of happy reading awaits me.

[Catherine Chandler]

I've read the entire issue. Did me a lot of good to laugh so much. I particularly enjoyed the poems by Susan, Janice, Michael Cantor, Ed Shacklee, Bob McKenty and Chris. A wonderful piece by Dick Davis on Susan's work as well and an informative essay by Mike Juster. KUDOS to the editors and to the poets whose work is in this issue.

[Michael Cantor]

Congrats to all. My favorite - even if he's not a Spherian - is Charles Martin's ghazal. It starts as a little poem-on-poetry (which you can get away with more readily anyway on Light), but then just keeps going into Fantasyland. That young man from the Bronx has a future! I can spot them.

[Ed Shacklee]

Originally Posted by Michael Cantor

Congrats to all. My favorite - even if he's not a Spherian - is Charles Martin's ghazal. It starts as a little poem-on-poetry (which you can get away with more readily anyway on Light), but then just keeps going into Fantasyland. That young man from the Bronx has a future! I can spot them.

It's a toothsome collection, all right, with Susan as a perfect choice for featured poet.

Michael, I understand what you mean about Charles Martin -- or Nitram Selrahc, as he's otherwise called. He's written a couple of books, it turns out, including Signs & Wonders from 2011 (with a blue jay pecking at an ostrich egg on the cover), which I've just ordered. One of the pleasures of Light is stumbling across gems like that.

Best,

Ed

[Wendy Sloan]

Great work, Susan!
Also especially enjoyed the prose: Davis's discussion of Susan's work and Michael Juster's wonderful essay on women poets of light verse (who knew?).
Thanks, Melissa!
Congratulations all.

[Jerome Betts]

Michael, Charles Martin is among the Sphereans in Melissa's post and on the Esphere Member's List as Honorary Poet Lariat.

Nice one again, Melissa, Kevin, et al, and Michael Juster's essay is indeed very informative. Keep them coming!

[Michael Juster]

By the way, I'm taking suggestions for future essay topics. I'm trying to put some meat on the bones for one I really want to write, but I may not be able to find enough material, so I am pondering other ideas.

[Susan McLean]

Wow, I enjoyed reading the whole issue. It was fun to see so many Spherians in it, some of whose work I had read when it was workshopped here and some of which was new to me. Richard Meyer's and Ed Shacklee's poems were particularly delightful. I learned about a LOT of women poets I didn't know from Mike Juster's excellent article, and I was stunned to read what Dick Davis wrote about me. Cheers to Melissa Balmain and Kevin Durkin for putting together such an entertaining issue.

Susan