I am thrilled to serve as one of the guest editors of this issue of Tupelo Quarterly. For my section, I present an essay and interview with Sylvia Thomas by Kristine Esser Slentz; a review of Jesse Millner’s Gina by K.B. Canaday; and interviews with Adam O. Davis, Aiden Heung, Joshua Bennett, Kristine Esser Slentz, Mandy Moe Pwint Tu, Mina Khan, Rebecca Gayle Howell, Rhoni Blankenhorn, Tina Chang, and Wayne Koestenbaum. To me, these features illuminate the richness and multifariousness of “lyric We” as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of American Independence, shaped by the “idea of an infinite blue”–of casual and institutional cruelties, intergenerational and familial grief–as the poets in this folio continue on their search for their Ithaka, and to make meaning of a home, or a home away from home.
Kristine Esser Slentz
Community Can Kill You – and Resurrect You: Making & Movement: Being a Vision Poet
by Kristine Esser Slentz
Heart of the Heartlands: A conversation with Sylvia Thomas on artistic community & survival, and gay porno mags
—Curated by Kristine Esser Slentz
K.B. Canaday
Bound for Someplace Beautiful: A Review of Jesse Millner’s Gina
by K.B. Canaday
Interviews
Beehives, Interstates, & Parables: A Conversation with Adam O. Davis about Pyrrhic Symphony
An idea of the infinite blue: An Interview with Aiden Heung about All There is to Lose
The Lyric We: A Conversation with Joshua Bennett about We (the People of the United States)
Into the Mess: A Conversation with Kristine Esser Slentz about face-to-faces
The clatter of a poet trying to imagine: A Conversation with Mandy Moe Pwint Tu about Fablemaker
Memory is Multimedia: A Conversation with Mina Khan about Night Shift in Perfect English
Veering loss towards abundance: A Conversation with Preeti Vangani about Fifty Mothers
Listen to the Quiet: A Conversation with Rebecca Gayle Howell about Erase Genesis
A Love Letter and Elegy: A Conversation with Tina Chang about LION
A Surfeit of Yearnings: A Conversation with Wayne Koestenbaum about My Lover, the Rabbi