Dear Readers,

The Blue Pencil Online has issues.

Issues, plural. Last fall we inaugurated our new, issue-based format: a selection of accepted poems and stories bundled in the same publication. Now, I am proud to present to you the Spring 2012 issue. With the seasonal change, it is only fitting for The Editorial Board to produce something new: our Table of Contents flowers with fresh works of poetry and prose.

The new issue of The Blue Pencil Online in a way mimics the seasonal change. Renewal, growth. Consider the reading experience of Adriana Van Manen’s “Accidents,” the way connections are like roots: threadlike and able to be unearthed. Or, the story-telling voice in Mika Kligler’s poem, “Containment,” and its portrait of local progression through the seasons. We spring into this new issue in reaction to our surroundings: to grow, to progress, to thrive. Since December, the editors have received nearly six hundred submissions; we reviewed and accepted and edited through the chilliness of the winter months. March marked the turn from winter to spring and we selected the winners of The Elizabeth Bishop Prizes: Van Manen in fiction and Peter LaBerge in poetry, published herein. Here in Natick, Massachusetts, we break into May, blooming — enjoy what we have sown, and please keep posted for our next harvest come autumn.

Sophia Martins
Creative Writing, Class of 2012,
Managing Editor