“It’s a small world.”

So wrote the Sherman brothers in the song made famous by Walt Disney. And who are we to argue? The poets represented in this issue of diode sent their work to us from California, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. From outside the U.S., this issue features work sent from the UK; Kassabeen, Syria; Benghazi, Libya; and Spinea, Veneto, Italy. We live and work in Doha, Qatar. If you’re counting, that’s six countries on four continents.

So yes, it’s a small world, when such variety can be gathered in such a small space in the few months it takes us to put together an issue. But that may not be the best description for what happens with diode. Rather, with each issue, diode helps create and becomes part of a community, a global community. It’s a community formed around poetry and the belief that poetry matters.

Feeling like we’re a part of a poetry community is important to us. It’s something we missed before we created diode. We live in a country smaller than the state of Connecticut. A community of poets has not developed here yet, and the few poetry readings offered are generally in languages we don’t speak. We started diode in part to create a common space for sharing a love of poetry. As always, it has exceeded our expectations. We hope this issue exceeds your expectations as well.