Edition No. 17 / Poetry Spring 2026
We are pleased to offer you an all poetry edition at the end of the 30th National Poetry Month. We celebrate our poets and writers in every edition – their work is what keeps us going and inspires us every time we read. Thank you to all of our wonderful contributors: you are the heart of this journal.
The brain and muscles of Backchannels are the two wonderful people that I get to call co-editors, Mary Kilburg and Leslie Caton Frey. They have kept this journal afloat the past three years. Mary has read and responded to you; Leslie has read and kept the technical aspects going. As for me, I have not been as present as I intended. Indeed, I have been preoccupied. So, I want to express my deepest gratitude to Mary and Leslie for the tireless, patient, and kind-hearted work they have poured into Backchannels.
I invite you to enjoy the poetry that Mary and Leslie curated for us this month. Luxuriate in the words that our poets offer. Get lost in the images and ideas in this wonderful collection of poems.
Happy Poetry Month.
With gratitude,
Laura Johnson
Featuring work by: Featuring work by: Carlene M. Gadapee, Alina Zollfrank, Frederick Pollack, J.B. Hogan, Jeff Burt, John Grey, Judith E. Joyce, Kathryn Wood, Lindsay McLeod, Matt Zambito, Elizabeth G. Howard, Bob McAfee, Matthew DeLuca, Mike Wilson, Craig Kirchner, Ben Macnair, David Henson, Robert Rinehart, Richard Risemberg, and Sam Culotta.
Submissions are currently closed, check our submissions page for more info.
