Fall Editorial

This issue emerges at one of the bleakest times in our history amid a raging pandemic but, with light on the not too distant horizon. Vaccines may soon trickle down in availability to us, as things in our corrupted system tend to do.

We celebrate the limited progress of the recent election. Blatant gangsterism and overt bigotry has been set back with the return of corporate neo-liberal democrats. Recalling the difficult years of Obama's presidency: the racist police brutality, the poisoning of our land and water, the suppression of Occupy and of truth-tellers and the international aggressions, we have low expectations of the incoming administration. That said, we see more possibilities for progress rooted in struggle.

The multiple crises we face, from healthcare and a failing economy to a rapidly unfolding climate catastrophe, are already shaping and pushing the Biden administration in a more progressive direction. How far that goes, as history informs us, is up to us.

One of the most dangerous things we face is a cultivated, dis-empowering division within our working class driven by media abuse, disinformation and hyper-partisanship. The truth is that neither wing of the corporate oligarchy represents us.

One of the primary reasons this journal exists is to unite our class around common concerns by promoting a unifyng class perspective. We do not identify with any political party. Our loyalty remains with working people. Though we intend for this to be the last issue in which the name of the Odious One appears, we continue to welcome poetry and prose which support that goal rather than serving to drive the wedge of division deeper. As the poems in this issue demonstrate, we will continue to criticize the extreme and center-right which directly harm the real interests of our working class as well as politicians and the system which prioritize corporate interests over citzen needs at our very real expense.

The poems in this issue speak of hard times and hard work. They speak of hunger, illness and the terror of contagion amid this pandemic. They speak of loss and loss of community which keeps us going -- the memory of it and of the terrible emotional toll its absence takes on us.

Most of all, these poems speak with class awareness of our continuing determined struggle against the deadly and arrogant warmongering and world-destroying rule of greed which we can no longer afford or tolerate.

We are humbled beyond appreciation for the support that keeps us able to continue publishing this journal and for the strong poetry you contnue to send us. We are also enriched by the community of writers who let us know we are not alone in these brutal and divisive times and for the sanity which gives us hope.