It has been my honor and delight to gather poems from the first five years of Sheila-Na-Gig online into this anthology. The selected poems from the years 2016-2021 are by seasoned writers whose work most often graced the journal. These are poems that illustrate the journal's aesthetic: "excellent imagery and a strong sense of voice." True of the individual poems and even more strikingly so gathered into a collection.
Through these pages, the broad swath of relationships that bind us to family, to lovers, to childhood memories, to the natural world, and to our wounded society are enacted through distinctive imagery and voice. The reader is invited to delve into a profound truth: "the world is just as beautiful as it's hurt" ("Crivelli's Madonna and Child," George Franklin). Taken together, the work highlights the vital role of poetry to affirm our shared, keenly lived experiences as we come together at a common table to share the "delicate bread" signified in Seth Jani's beautiful poem, "Repast."
When I set out to pull these 107 poems together thematically, I found that they naturally fell into a seemingly preordained order, with a dovetailing of subject poem to poem, section to section. A true mark of the realized aesthetic this community of poets brings to the table lies in how the poets' singular styles blend so seamlessly into a unified voice. The pieces demonstrate how every shade of emotion hinges on a kind of delicacy: the core vulnerability that shapes our response to the world, and that connects us all.
I am grateful to Hayley Mitchell Haugen, Sheila-Na-Gig founder and editor, for entrusting me with this lyric treasure trove, and for her support throughout the process of creating the collection. It has been a joy to mine the first twenty volumes for the fine work contained in these pages, and to rediscover and savor the delicacies the poems offer, down to "the last sweet bite."
Barbara Sabol
Associate Editor, Sheila-Na-Gig online
