December 2007  - 5th anniversary issue l Editorial

Five years ago, on December 1, 2002, the first issue of Sentinel Poetry (Online) was published. Working alone on it, from my then bedroom in Sydenham, I had no idea what to expect, if would grow, or suffer an early death like many little magazines before it. As the vision gained focus and grew, other minds committed to a project like this came on board, notably Amatoritsero Ede (the Editor in Chief) and Patrick Iberi (the Art Editor). What I had not counted on was that it would not get easier the longer we stuck at it.

This year December 2006 to December 2007 has been a particularly difficult year for Sentinel. Our readers would have noticed several missed and shifted publications deadlines, and in March 2007, we missed out an issue altogether. We did take on a web designer Kellee Lugo to work with me, to take the pressure of building the magazine every month to allow me focus on managing the production and administering the larger business of the Sentinel Poetry Movement. That relationship did not survive, and apart from the February 2007 issue she built all on her own, I have still had to do the work month after month. People have asked me why I have had to edit so many issues of the Sentinel Poetry (Online), are there problems with Amatoritsero Ede? The answer is no, there are no problems. I have had to step in, sometimes rather late, when his doctoral programme, exams, or other unforeseen commitments have come up. In such instances I have had to fit the online magazine around my day job, my editorial commitments to Sentinel Literary Quarterly and an attempt to have any kind of life. It is a huge commitment and sacrifice to publish this magazine month after month for 5 years. It would not be an issue if Sentinel was what I did for a living, and if I did not have to earn money elsehow to fund the publication, and somehow, to be totally honest, the sentinel publications have asked too much of me, sometimes much more than I have felt able to give in time, attention, funds and passion. Shortly before my son was born in March 2007, I had come to a decision to shut down the magazines. In a way, my boy has sustained the sentinel in the sense that he asks much of me and I find that when he needs me, everything else becomes unimportant, and I mean everything else, even my life. I took out time and realised that the sentinel poetry publications are like my children too. They don't want to know if it is convenient to publish them or not, they just want to be published.

By the time you finally read this message, it would probably be Christmas day. I must thank you for keeping the faith with Sentinel Poetry (Online) and for putting up with all the delays in recent months. Amatoritsero and I have been chewing over the frequency of the publication and have even considered making it a bi-monthly. A bi-monthly publication would give us time to locate and offer more quality materials. We will take a decision on this and surely announce the decision on the website.

Whatever direction we decide to take the Sentinel Poetry (Online), we would be thinking first of all about what our readers feel and want, and you can rest assured that Sentinel Poetry (Online) will go on. By all means let me know if you have any thoughts on this. If you are happy to have a bi-monthly publication replace the current monthly offer or would rather keep it as is, I will be happy to hear from you. My phone +44 (0) 7812 755 551 is on always between 9am and 6pm Monday through Saturday, by all means call or send a text, or e-mail me at sentinelpoetry@gmail.com

Merry Christmas and God bless you.

Nnorom Azuonye

Managing Editor

Nnorom Azuonye

"we feel that though people may

have different cultures or worldviews

we speak in one voice when we feel

the deepest need to communicate

which poetry is born of."

- Andy Willoughby

Steel Tough, Even Now

3 l 5 l 4

Creative writing & graphics © 2007 The writers and artists. All rights reserved.

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