FROM THE EDITORS
Welcome to the second edition of Gyroscope Review, and welcome to summer. What struck me
immediately when compiling the poems for this issue was how many of them were about place.
A sense of place has a powerful pull on the psyche. It can take us back in time, it can ground us
in the moment or give a glimpse of the future. Place poems can tell us about the land, its features,
the inhabitants either separately or in a lovely intertwining. I was taken with poems that not only
talked about a physical place, but also commented on the spirituality. Sometimes there is
immensity of scale. Some poems look at the world with a cosmic eye, others give us the minutia
of a microscopic view. Both visions grant us a glimpse into the intricacies of the poetic soul. I
invite you to read and enjoy this month’s issue in all its variety of scale - poems that sing from
the mountaintops and poems that fit comfortably -like a butterfly- in the palm of your hand.
- Constance Brewer
As I was formatting the bios for our contributors’ page for this issue, I noticed just how broad the
bodies of work are for our authors. This delights me since Gyroscope Review is so new. Here we
are at what is only our second issue and we’ve been lucky to include work from the former poet
laureate of the State of Wyoming (Patricia Frolander), the co-founder of New York Writers
Workshop (Tim Tomlinson), a firefighter who is a former Air Force National Guard member
(Jonathan Travelstead), an English Language Fellow with the US State Department in Russia
(John Michael Flynn), and a retired securities broker (Jane Roop). We have several MFA
graduates and candidates, college professors, and writers who launched their careers in the
school of life. We have Americans, Canadians, and British citizens. But the biggest thing about
this group of contributors is the fine attention to what they each offered as a submission, how
they got to us in some way. Summer is a time when I, for one, hate sitting on front of the
computer; that these pieces kept me in my seat is an indication of their appeal. May they keep
you in yours. Happy Summer.
- Kathleen Cassen Mickelson
Gyroscope Review !i