PEREUNT ET IMPUTANTUR

Our motto is from Martial, and is one that used to be popular on sundials. They (the hours) are consumed, and will be charged to our account.

What else is there to say about Time, except that it's where we live, and that nobody can stop it or turn it back?

We were immensely impressed (and indeed overcome) by the number of poems emailed to us for this special issue. Time was clearly a subject that touched people. Choosing the final selection made us think about what we looked for in a Snakeskin poem. An original approach to subject and/or language and/or form, mostly. And it made us think about what we didn't want, too.

Time is a dangerous subject. Very abstract, and abstract poems tend not to be very good. We were delighted that a large number of you eschewed the abstract, the pretentious, the sententious, and the sentimental. There were plenty that fitted the categories of the charming, the sparkling and the deeply felt.

But competition was intense. If your poem wasn't selected, please don't be discouraged. Keep sending them - especially for the Short Poems special issue in November.

George