Letter from the Editors

We are ever grateful to Jordan for inviting us to curate this edition of the Oxeye Reader, which has been more than two years in the making—perhaps bringing an editorial extension to the practice of slow poetry. 

As the current directors of Woodland Pattern, an epicenter for poetry in Milwaukee, we experience on a daily basis the cultural vibrancy of this place, and we are always eager to bring attention to our city’s poets who, in relative geographic isolation, have continually forged their own unique and supportive scene—affirmative of the many sensibilities and poetics to be found here, and reflective of life in a region whose ongoing troubles and triumphs remain largely invisible to the rest of the country.

Our progress in putting this issue together was frequently stalled out due to the various “small fires” that inevitably flare up as part of running a nonprofit literary arts and book center, and as part of life in the United States today. Fortunately, however, the truest, most joyful ignition we bear witness to happens within and among the poets in our immediate vicinity. Every time we return to this issue’s pages, we are struck by the singular potency of each poet’s words, and moved by the enduring lyricism and vision present within this particular community. In this way, our delay has given us the gift of reading and rereading these poems, even as some of the poets represented here have moved away from the city since our initial call for work. We know that this is a publication worth revisiting time and again, and we thank every author who contributed their words to this instance of Milwaukee literary history. 

As we’ve been lucky to learn, Milwaukee surrounds and fortifies you with its poets. There are too many brilliant lyricists in this area to gather in one publication; so, just as the rivers converge here and move through to the (greatest) lake, we encourage you to experience this particular confluence of poets as an exercise of appreciation, and as an invitation to learn even more about the many other poets emerging—and who have emerged, and will emerge—from this place. 

—Jenny Gropp & Laura Solomon