Introduction to Pedestal 84

Editing Pedestal is an aesthetic adventure, particularly when several editors are reading, conferring, agreeing, disagreeing, leaping, and, in some cases, inching toward consensus regarding specific poems and an issue in its entirety. Re Pedestal 84: the three of us received and read over 6500 poems, reaching enthusiastic agreement on the fourteen pieces included herein. Styles vary, themes vary, each poet motivated by her or his own emotional and intellectual impulses. These poems, we feel, seem inspired and achieve a commendable level of craft, resulting in memorable gestalts that linger in a reader’s mind and heart. We hope that you will appreciate them as much as we do.

Happy summer, and best wishes,

Malaika King Albrecht, John Amen, Stefan Lovasik
June 21, 2019