From the Editor: Not What We Want, What We Must

I currently don't have a Poem of the Week I think is right for December 22-29. I've posted and reposted to Bluesky a call for holiday-themed crime poems. No takers yet. Sadly there is fresh holiday crime: A terrorist attack at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney leaving 15 killed; Actor-director-activist Rob Reiner and his wife Michele stabbed to death by their troubled son, Nick, after a public row during Conan O'Brien's Christmas party

My tone here is solemn lament, facing the fact these crimes were holiday-related. Publishing holiday poems this year about lesser subjects would feel like denial. The most worthwhile thing The Five-Two can do is examine the hardest events and issues of our day and give future generations a palpable sense what our time was like, how it affected us as humanity. However, I don't want to deny you time to do your best work. Please pause to be with your loved ones and appreciate life. Come back determined to write and submit.

Thank you for your support over the years.