It is my great pleasure to commemorate the first anniversary of
The Melic Review with our first theme issue,
Solar Melic.
Many thanks to Blake Kritzberg, webmistress, and to our
part-time assistant editor, our proofreader extraordinaire, and
the Roundtable deputies, all of whom remain anonymous to be
considered as contributors for this issue.
Our featured poet, Kathleen Henderson, has not published any
poems since her undergraduate days, though she has taught at the
university level for years. It is clear from these selections
that she never stopped writing; she just didn't send anything
out. I like to think her first appearance on the net is a bit
of a coup for Melic!
I am also happy to announce that the much-published Sharon
Kourous, who appears in these pages again, has signed on as
Melic's first guest editor for the September issue, "Fathers."
Kathleen Carbone will serve as guest editor for our "Faith"
issue, debuting March, 2000, and Teresa White has already been
selected as the featured poet for the December 1999 issue,
"Melic in Heat."
In Chinatown John Huston tells Jack Nicholson: "Even whores
and buildings get respectable if they're old enough." On the
literary net, five issues may not qualify us as respectable, but
we're getting close.
We accept contributions as a not-for-profit enterprise and
actively seek someone with enough business savvy to make Melic
pay for itself (without ruining it with too many flashing
banners).
By the way, after sampling this issue, take a moment to rate us
in the box on the homepage. And do stop by the Roundtable, our
bustling workshop thread.
Thine in Truth and Art,
C.E. Chaffin, Editor
