a note from the editor

Our little magazine has a rich history. H&W was founded in 1960 by the multiply accomplished writer and editor August Derleth, and ran strong for several years. A little less than a decade ago, a group of Boston-based writers and editors picked it up and dusted it off, breathing life back into Augie’s old project. After four issues, their revival waned, as these things do; but now, in 2018, another group of Bostonians has revived H&W again. Flush with summery optimism, we can say we intend to keep it running this time. This relaunch issue is characterized by that intention, and by our concentrated effort to connect the present with the past. When we first began to work on this issue, we found a sizeable backlog of submissions—mostly poems from the faraway year of 2011. The contents we present here, then, comprise poems that came to us over a period of seven years.

We are pleased to say that our long slumber has left us revitalized, not lethargic. This year is particularly auspicious because 2018 marks the 40th anniversary of the August Derleth Society, a group founded by Richard Fawcett (father of our current contributor Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel; we’re now officially intergenerational). It seems then that there has never been a better time for Hawk & Whippoorwill to return, strong as it once was (I dare say) and aimed to be ever-improving. If I may be permitted the indulgence, I’d like to end this note and welcome you to the issue by answering a question Keats once posed, to wit:

When from this wreathed tomb shall I awake?

Today, we shall awake. Today the sun shone especially early on our eyes.

- Cory Willingham, Editor

<< return to the Table of Contents for New Series #5: Summer 2018, Volume 3 Number 1