It is, by itself, a privilege both for myself and Chris to be given a chance to co-edit an issue of Cordite Poetry Review. And, as I’ve been told by publisher Kent MacCarter, this is the first time Cordite has entertained and invited two non-Australian poets to select entries for the literary journal. Making the experience also—and more importantly—an honor. And I’m grateful for the opportunity and the trust afforded us.

While this is a no-theme issue, I was very conscious in the call-for-submission statement that I wanted to see verse that’s both poised and polished. By this I meant poems whose linguistic and thematic risks are not waylaid by humps and bumps related to craft. I was thus on the lookout for poems that displayed both mastery of the conventions of poetic form and the nuances it takes to conform and break from such, so as to arrive at a truly exciting work. In short, I wanted to encounter poetry whose grand insights didn’t come at the expense of the medium.

It’s admittedly painstaking work to look at over 500 submissions from various places all over the world, with most entries comprised of a three-poem suite. We had entries from Russia to Nigeria, from Ireland to my country The Philippines. It had taken a bit of back-and-forth before Chris and I agreed on the final lineup, but we were more or less on the proverbial same page at the proverbial end of the day. And I’m confident that the 60 poems we’ve selected for Cordite Poetry Review 113 do represent and hum along the music of the spheres.

— Joel M. Toledo