I’m going to keep this short because I want to get out the way.
I am excited for this issue—our first issue after a year and a half hiatus. I am excited for these voices. I am excited for you, reader, to find your new favorite poet. Trust, you will. These poets, these poems are excellent, superb; these poems challenge me time and time again. We are ever so lucky to have been entrusted with such good work.
I am thinking a lot about what it means to be intentional in the work that I do and in how I communicate with others. I am thinking a lot about what it means to be an editor. I am thinking a lot about grace and appreciation.
Shade would not and could not be what it is today without the support and love of my community. Thank you. Thank you, poets and readers and lovers of Shade. Thank you, Hazem, shivani, jon jon, and Tariq for your labor of love. Thank you, Lucille Clifton just because. Thank you, to everyone who is fighting. Thank you, to everyone who is loving.
Love on each other. Fight for each other. Rise.
—Luther Hughes, Founder