Welcome (for the first time, or once again) to PATCHWORK--this time to issue #3! All of us who have worked on this issue, editors and writers and artists alike, will be proud to click on these pages and see what unfolds--a most impressive array of heartfelt and carefully crafted poems, prose, and artwork. And to know that it all unfolds from a process unique in the publishing world, where writers and artists are invited to engage in a working relationship with a journal’s editors. As editors, we at PATCHWORK cannot say enough how much we appreciate the writers’ willingness to consider and reconsider their work, to make those difficult additions, and sometimes even more difficult deletions, to allow their work to metamorphose under our eyes. And yet we never forget for a minute that each piece is one writer’s individual creative seed borne fruit in that hothouse of love that is Patricia’s gift to all her writers and artists.

So, deep thanks to Patricia for this forum and for the opportunity for all the writing hours that lie behind it; to our talented and dedicated editors, Diana Gordon, Jillian Hanson and Steve O'Halloran, who select from pieces submitted and spend countless hours in written dialogue with writers of poetry and prose; and to the brave writers, who submit their precious work. To those writers or artists whose work did not make it all the way through the process to see the light of publication in this issue, we convey to you our greatest confidence that your work can find a home with us-let’s aim for PATCHWORK #4!

So, for the entire staff of PATCHWORK, ourselves all veteran writers in Patchwork Farm’s workshops and or retreats, I say thank you to one and all. I am grateful for the privilege of guiding this process and working with writers as well.

This is your journal. ENJOY!

Sincerely,

Cherrie Latuner
Managing Editor

Diana Gordon, poetry

Jillian Hanson, prose

Steve O'Halloran, poetry