From the Editor

Welcome to our second annual poetry-only issue in honor of National Poetry Month. This is our largest issue yet, with eleven excellent authors gracing our pages. I am, as always, delightfully surprised by the excellent work we receive at Wicked Alice and are honored to be able to present to our readers. With our seventh issue, I sincerely hope we will continue to grow in size and readership.

I've been giving a lot of thought lately to the role of internet publications. Despite unlimited availability and readership, I believe online publications also allow great writers a chance to transcend the closed-shop mentality harbored by many print journals. Many editors (and writers) have bemoaned the plague of web-based publications, many which fold after only a few issues . I think, however, that the number of journals can only be a testament to the growing world-wide literary community fostered by the web. I was pleasantly surprised that Dana Goia, in a new preface to his lauded Can Poetry Matter? mentions a "new electronic bohemia," a bohemia that each internet publication becomes a part of. Whatever the size and endurance of online journals, I firmly believe that each strives to make a contribution to this community, no matter how small. Some online publications are great, some mediocre, but all are useful. While Wicked Alice may be just a drop in the bucket of the online literary community, I feel we are doing our part in providing great literature on the web.

Kristy Bowen
Editor, Wicked Alice

Kristy Bowen lives and writes in Chicago, where she works in the library of an arts college. Her poetry has appeared most recently in Pierian Springs, Branches Quarterly, and Verse Libre. Last spring, she received 3rd Place in the Poetry Center of Chicago's 8th Annual Juried Reading Competition. Her chapbook, The Archaeologist's Daughter will be published by Moon Journal Press early next year.