As a small, largely informal, artist collective, it would be easy to say we’re too busy working, too busy creating, too busy staying afloat to engage in a deliberate or consistent manner with any Big Issues™ that are not Art as such. We could say that, in fact, it really isn’t our place. We could suggest that we should act ‘neutral’, and stay silent. That would not only be foolish, it would also be false. It would be untrue to our proper work as artists, curators, and citizens. In various ways, we participate individually in large and small battles against these Big Issues. However, we are still working out how that fight and commitment is best translated in our work as a collective.

for Enkare Review’s Poetry Squad

As Enkare Review, we have been working through some growing pains, and it is a mark of pride that we have still prioritized working closely with the artists we feature whenever possible. One challenge we are looking to overcome is that we haven’t made as much work as a collective. We are already changing this (look out for more work from us!). Another is that we haven’t provided enough feedback to the entries we do not proceed with. The submissions are, thankfully, very many, and we are a small (unpaid) family. That said, we are grateful for all the kind and overworked* editors who have provided us (sometimes detailed) notes over the years, and as our team grows, we hope to evolve into those rare breeds.

In her introduction to the first issue of A Public Space, Brigid Hughes expresses the hope that, “the magazine will be an ongoing conversation between writers, editors, and readers.” A magazine is not simply a collection of words whipped together and presented to its publics. Rather, a magazine is a living thing: a dialogue, a dance, a game, an experience shared between its conveyors and its receivers. And it is with this in mind that we present our second issue to you, our community of readers and supporters. We ask that you think of it as more than a mix of the words and thoughts and creative products of the few writers and poets and editors and artists featured here, but as the product of an ongoing engagement between all of us—  readers and editors and writers and poets and artists—  who make up Enkare Review.