Issue 53

On to a preview of the delights in store in Dream Catcher 53. At the time of writing, Apus Apus is (we hope) en route from Africa and (s)he is joined by an aviary full of more prosaic garden birds, some of whom, no doubt, are decorating that laundry left out to dry in an untidy garden. Hawthorn ‘lathers/along the hedge’; aging relatives disport themselves; children dig ditches around sandcastles. In darker mood, war zones past and present fire their bullets at us. Do we regret our choices, seek to move on, or feel incentivised to become a hermit? You will each have your favourites in this – and we hope – every issue.

Alert readers of this esteemed journal will already know that this is my final appearance as editor; I will remain on the ‘reading panel’, and as reviews editor. Lest you are aghast at how I will spend my time, relax. On a recent tally of ‘external’ activities, I notched up nearly thirty, from volunteering in an asylum seeker’s project and a community farm, to singing in five different choirs, and swift enticing (sound tracks and boxes are deployed). On the literary front, I’m delighted to be running poetry events (whether as a ‘poet-theologian’ for Parcevall Hall retreat house, or as a guest at Worley Community Centre – thanks to the national treasure that is John Battle), not to mention involvement with literature festivals, the Rhubarb Stanza group in Shipley, the leadership of the composers-poets forum for Leeds Song festival, and – at long last – more time and headspace for my own writing. As well as two existing collections I am trying to find homes for, I have a third project in gestation, and I was, earlier this year, collaborating with seven different composers.

However, I will not be leaving you rudderless. My successor, eagerly appointed by Stairwell, is Edwin Stockdale. You can learn more about his work from his brand-new poems and the review of his latest book (his first full-length collection) at the end of this issue. I’ve known him for some years from the Leeds Trinity University context, where he was the first person to be awarded a PhD in Creative Writing (Poetry), and where he is Research Fellow at the Leeds Centre for Victorian Studies, and Visiting Lecturer in Creative Writing. He also has an MA in Creative Writing with Distinction from the University of Birmingham and is studying for an MA in Creative Non-Fiction at the University of East Anglia. Widely published in the UK, his earlier work includes two pamphlets with Red Squirrel Press: Aventurine (2014) and The Glower of the Sun (2019). He has co-edited a number of anthologies, and his scholarly research articles on practice-based research have been published in several books including Routledge’s Prose Poetry in Theory and Practice (2022).

I am sure he will introduce himself and his editorial vision in Dream Catcher 54, and that he will bring spark and new directions to Dream Catcher. Please ensure that subsequent submissions of poetry and prose find their way to him at Red Hall Farm, 147 Town Street, Beeston, LS11 8DU, as I have instructed Daisy (my feline editorial assistant) to pay especial attention to any further submissions that come through the letterbox of LS7 2LU, and I can’t promise she won’t recruit the families of foxes that inhabit my garden.

So, for all my sins of omission and commission: my apologies. For all the writing you have sent me to read: my admiration and appreciation. To Stairwell and my valiant editorial team: huge gratitude. For the rest, it remains to say ‘so long, and thanks for all the fish.’

This issue also features the art of Joseph Bucklow.