Issue > Editor's Note

Mme. Verger
24 x 24, Acrylic on canvas
by John Blee

Editor's Note

I’m thrilled to introduce this issue of the Cortland Review, my first as Editor-in-Chief. It’s a truly exciting collection that includes new translations in a fantastic line-up of poetry, a valuable feature that we hope to offer regularly in the future.

Representing a wide range of languages and poets, it’s a gathering of urgent and unforgettable voices: Chandra Livia Candiani translated from the Italian by Todd Portnowitz; Ananda Devi translated from the French by Kazim Ali; Paol Keineg translated from the French by Laura Marris accompanied by two unique animated video translations of the poems created with visual artist Matt Kenyon; Eunice Odio translated from the Spanish by Keith Ekiss; Francesc Parcerisas translated from the Catalan by Cyrus Cassells and accompanied by the essay “Francesc Parcerisas and Embattled Catalonia”; Piotr Sommer and Jerzy Ficowski translated from the Polish by Jennifer Grotz; and three Buddhist poems from the Shinkokinshū by Gyōki, Nichizō Shōnin, and Priest Sokaku translated from the Japanese by Patrick Donnelly and Stephen Miller.

This issue also highlights the work of extraordinary poets we’re elated to publish: Colin Bailes, Emily Banks, Laura Dixon, Isaac Ginsberg Miller, Mitchell Glazier, Jessica Goodfellow, Todd Kaneko, Elizabeth Onusko, Colin Pope, Karen Poppy, Elizabeth A.I. Powell, Mike Puican, Anthony Tao, and Angela Narciso Torres.

In addition to this tremendous line-up of poets, we’ve selected poet Chelsea Rathburn’s recent collection Still Life with Mother and Knife as our featured book. The poems will stay with you long after you’ve read them. I can’t recommend it more highly except to encourage you, dear reader, to click the link on our homepage and purchase a copy.

We also want to celebrate the publication of Swift: New and Selected Poems by David Baker with an erudite and insightful review by poet David Rigsbee.

Lastly, many thanks to the staff of TCR for their dedication and hard work, as always, in putting this issue together.

Enjoy the issue!

Christian Gullette

Poetry

Elizabeth Onusko

Elizabeth Onusko
Sad Human Voice

Poetry

Colin Bailes

Colin Bailes
Dusk In The Garden

Poetry

Cyrus Cassells

Cyrus Cassells
Snowy Cemetery