Allison Blevins
EDITOR’S NOTE:
I’m so grateful to Jill Khoury and Jen Stein for letting me spend time with Rogue Agent submissions. The poems I chose were a balm to me as I continue to navigate chemo after a breast cancer diagnosis. Travis Chi-Wing Lau’s poem “beseech me no more” bends and curves toward mercy and good. All of the poems in this issue flirt with hope—even in anger, even in “The Last Hard Years of Love.” Maybe it is because of love we search for hope. Amie Whittemore’s “On Separation Anxiety” asks what lengths we go to "rescue what's broken." Emily Hockaday’s “Invasive Species” makes hope easy, Hockaday is “willing to help out.” Susan Coronel’s poem “You Collapsed the Bridge, So Water Could Flow, Unfettered” is written to the late poet Jenn Martelli. I am hopeful other voices will continue to keep my friend's memory alive. I hope you will all find something in this issue that speaks to the hope you need today. As Donna Vorreyer writes in “Sedimentary,” “I have such gratitude for this body.” I’m going to carry these lines with me to the next chemo chair, the next appointment, and be grateful for the poets I carry with me.
—Allison Blevins
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