Editor's Note

This summer issue with a Texas theme is very important to me because I spent a good 1/3 of my life in the Lone Star State, and I have a lot of great memories about San Antonio, the friends I made there, the family I have, and every time I left to go wandering or to come back to New York I always felt like I was leaving something or someone special behind. And I was. It’s a fantastic area of the country with a surprisingly diverse and vibrant cultural aesthetic mixed with a down-and-out blue-collar backbone. It's urban and desert; it's sparkling and ancient; it's powerful and forgotten. And this issue taps into all of that. We show the creative side, the seedy side, and the lovelorn side of Texas, and many of the poems involve a love found and a love lost, lives changed, the pain of separation, and the yearning for a reunion…all of which sums up how I feel about the area. I hope those feelings come through in these works. I’d like the thank everyone involved with this special issue, and I’d like to dedicate this one to the memory of my wonderful grandmother Wanda Duncan, whose picture graces the cover of this issue. Her illness back in 2006-2008 kept me in San Antonio so I could help look after her, and getting to spend that time with her before she died, to get close again and hear stories of the old days, it was vital for me as a person. She was whip-smart and witty, always laughing, always loving. Thanks for everything, Granny. This issue, and so much more, is for you.

I’ll see you down the road…

James H Duncan

ps: Also stay tuned for the birth of Hobo Camp Press, coming soon!!