Editor’s Notes

Dear Readers,

Happy 2006. We ring in the new year and the start of our fourth year with a gargantuan issue. Contributors Seymour Mayne, Victoria Vernell, Jesse Ferguson and Mike Heenan remember the recently departed Irving Layton, one of Canada's most well-known poets and a good friend and inspiration to Ottawa writers. Betty Warrington-Kearsley reviews Ronnie R. Brown's latest collection of poems, States of Matter. And finally we have poetry and lots of it. Eight poems are featured in this month's issue.

The launch of the winter Bywords Quarterly Journal takes place on the same day as the new issue of Bywords.ca comes on line. Stay tuned for Catharine Caroll's report on Bywords Warms The Night III in the February issue. I'm looking forward to hearing all our readers (13!) and listening to the beautiful music of Andrea Simms Karp of the Vanity Press.

The BQJ sports a gorgeous colour cover of the National Gallery in a sunset and eleven wonderful poems. The photograph was taken by local photographer and poet Jeremy Taylor. You can buy copies at various bookstores and magazine shops around town starting next week or here at the Bywords store.

Thanks to all our contributors, volunteers, subscribers, readers and sponsors this month. 2006 is starting off energetically and creatively as all years should.

Thanks to this month’s selection committee:

Jesse Ferguson, Victoria Vernell, Kemisha Newman, Genevieve Wesley, and Christine Zadorozny.

If you have questions, comments or kudos, please direct them to me at editor@bywords.ca.

Amanda Earl