Hello and
welcome to the sixth issue of 3rd Muse Poetry Journal. The big news
this month, and something which has also kept me rather busy for the
last three weeks or so and is only likely to get worse in the next few
weeks, is that 3rd Muse Poetry Journal is getting set to release its
first print issue in April. The print edition is something that's always
been in the back of my mind ever since before the first issue online,
and it feels exciting to finally see it becoming a reality. More information,
as well as details on how a copy may be obtained is available from the
main page of the journal by clicking on the "print edition"
link.
I would
like to take the opportunity right now though, to express some of my
views regarding print vs. online publishing. Really, the view I choose
to take is awfully simple: I refuse to accept a difference between them.
That is not to say that I do not see differences or recognize them,
or do not understand the strengths and weaknesses which both mediums
inherently possess; my focus is not on those issues right now. What
I mean is that I refuse to treat either medium with any more
or less respect. Why? Because this is how I wish that things would be.
And if things are ever going to be that way, how is it going
to come about if not through editors and writers making it so?
From the very beginning, 3rd Muse Poetry Journal has been totally committed
to producing a proffessional, quality publication, regardless of the
medium that it is in. Nothing has, or is going to change. The print
edition, if anything, is a much greater challenge from the "presentation"
point of view, since there are obvious financial limits in such a venture,
whereas online, with a decent HTML editor, graphics program, and a few
skills, literally anything is possible. Even so, I feel confident in
being able to produce as tasteful and well designed a "thing-to-hold-in-your-hands"
as possible, within the limits that are in place. And after all, it
will be the content of any publication, that will ultimately
decide its fate. (At least, I surely hope it will be.)
Enjoy this
month's issue. As always, my sincere thanks go out to all who submitted,
and to all who make their way here each month to read.
Mark Melton
Editor,
3rd Muse Poetry Journal
