New Editor :: Illuminations

The new issue of Illuminations marks the first issue for new Editor Meg Scott Copses. “In this first year as new editor,” she says, “there are many moments of blinking cursors, and quite a few question marks penciled in as my editorial team has worked to launch a new website and boost subscriptions and general readership for Illuminations. The component that remains more certain, that feels right, is the poetry itself, and the integrity of the poets who craft the lines that get sent my way. It has been such a sincere pleasure to read and correspond with this year’s contributing writers.”

And with a new editor comes changes to the way the magazine is run. Traditionally, the magazine has “published all work by a single author on adjacent pages.” With this issue, the poems are organized loosely into five larger themes or groupings: Speak, Season, Desire, Portrait, and Place. “A photograph by Lisa Scott Jones introduces each section,” says Scott Copses, “and while the photograph isn’t meant to represent anything literal about the poems in that section, I hope contributing writers will enjoy considering her photography alongside their own work. I hope also that the new arrangement fosters a conversation between poems and poets. My assistant editor and I have so enjoyed the many moments of resonance we discovered in arranging the magazine this way.”