As of the summer solstice, 600,000 Americans have died of Covid-19. 52% of the population has had at least one dose of vaccine, and 43% has had two. Accordingly, restrictions are dissolving. One day this liminal time may be labeled The Beginning of the Return to Normal, or The Return to the New Normal, or The False Respite from Covid, or…? Pundits and commentators will identify inflection points, turning points, downward spirals, and possibilities rising phoenix-like from the massive, virus-instigated, shake-up of existence. Protocols, already changed, will change again: people will work differently, will be educated differently; will approach each other and socialize differently. 

The beginning and middle of the pandemic will have a clear identity; the ending, not. Covid will not depart on a strict schedule. However it recedes from our lives here, it will carry on elsewhere, as is now happening in South Asia, Africa, Central and South America. And even should the physical presence of the virus be obliterated, its seizure of our lives will continue actively in our individual and collective imaginations. 

Since our inaugural we’ve received a steady stream of submissions, far more than we can publish in one issue, so we’re now planning issues for 2022. We’re also considering a rolling poetry feature, which would add poems between quarterly issues. I’m interested in your thoughts about this, so please weigh in on the Contact link below.