First, we want to thank all the readers and contributors who stopped by the diode table at AWP. As always, it was a pleasure to meet you, and to be able to thank you in person for supporting diode. Thank you too, for all who read, and all who were in attendance, at the diode/Blackbird off-site reading at The Avalon Theatre. We were honored to be a part of such a wonderful evening of incredible poetry.

One of the outcomes of the reading was our decision to republish Oliver de la Paz’s “Insomnia as Transfiguration,” which appeared in an earlier issue of diode, along with “Wolf Boy,” a poem we heard for the first time at the reading. The poems called out to us, and to each other, and we think the power of each increases when read together. A special thank you to Nic Sebastian for allowing us to republish “Wolf Boy,” which she first read on her remarkable site Whale Sound.

We thank all of our contributors, those who are joining us again, and those who are with us for the first time. We hope you find the poems in this issue as powerful and exciting as we did.

Regular readers will notice that we have again offered a section of prose we’re calling “Special Features.” Our special features sections is finding its shape as we go along, but it is, and will always be, primarily defined by work that moves us. This time, it includes our first book review, by Craig Beaven; a reprinting of a stunning story that originally unfolded on Facebook, by Blake Butler; and pieces by poet and writer Tarfia Faizullah and graphic designer Michael Hersrud that seek to explore the peculiar state of exile and immersion that comes with being an ex-pat.

Readers may also notice that this issue went live in March rather than January. To better accommodate our personal and academic schedules we’ve decided to publish our three annual issues in October, February and June. We missed the February deadline by a bit, but better late than never!

Enjoy.