Letter from the Editor

Dear reader, 

With the publication of this edition, we complete the first year since boundby’s relaunch (or ‘New Boundby’ as we have taken to calling it internally) — and what a year it’s been. A year ago, we were a small publication run primarily out of Coventry, UK, with most of our submissions coming locally. Flash forward a year, and this edition by comparison received tenfold submissions, totalling over 250 poems from seventeen countries and spanning six continents. From its inception, boundby has been ‘UK-based (and internationally-minded),’ an ideal we are now able to fully represent, publishing people with different stories and experiences from across the world side-by-side, together on one page. This dream has only been achievable thanks to the willingness of artists like those published in this edition, and all who submitted to it, to share their work with the world. So, on behalf of the whole team at boundby, thank you.

When Joseph, our Editor-in-Chief, proposed the idea of the sonnots category to me, I was initially sceptical — in large part because it took a full-blown PowerPoint presentation for me to understand what a sonnot really is (so if you have to read a few poems before you ‘get’ it, you’re not alone). Now, though, I’m unspeakably glad he convinced me; here’s why.

Wherever you are in the world right now, it’s hard to escape a spiralling sense of dread as the global news goes from catastrophe to catastrophe, and I often worry that we’re making the same mistakes as our ancestors. Yet through the sonnots in this edition, I see artists taking the traditions of the sonnet and building something truer to them. Looking back, this has always been a part of boundby; over two years ago, Christopher Tang wrote that his poem ‘Kitchen Song’ (which is now available in the boundby poetry library) is a “personalised sonnet – one that doesn’t obey convention, rather, one that unravels with its lines.” In hindsight, that’s a pretty solid description of a sonnot.

The poems we’ve selected from our open category complement this endeavour, acknowledging the old and boldly forging a new direction. Some of these poems draw wisdom from the past as proof of what is real in a world prone to losing its focus on truth. Some of these poems regard the past with a critical mind and encourage us to grow beyond it. I hope the microcosm herein of the forward momentum of art is as sustaining and invigorating for you as it is for me: an oasis in the desert; a light in the dark; a moment of hope and clarity in the eye of the storm.

We’ll be back again in three months with another edition, this time spotlighting queer narratology — at time of publication, submissions are open for one more month, so if you’re inspired by something in this edition, get your proverbial pen to the page! In the meantime, look after each other out there, and if you see someone who needs it, maybe recommend them a good poem. If this edition’s taught me anything, it’s that a few stanzas, even a few lines, can go a long way in trying times.

             ––  Allie, April 2026 

P.S: You can read Christopher’s poem ‘Kitchen Song’ here! It’s a wonderful poem, and honestly a great primer for this edition too!