Issue #43 of Shot Glass Journal is filled with the poetic voices and styles of poets from Australia, Bahamas, Canada, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Spain, the UK, and the US.

Shot Glass Journal has again reached an all-time record number of submissions for this issue. We have always made a point to have a limited number of poets that we publish each issue, which has made it far more difficult to select the poets and poems. We've stretched our limits a bit this issue to include more voices than we have in past issues. Our goal has been to make SGJ an exclusive journal...but we couldn't resist adding a few more poets that we hope you'll enjoy.

This issue has a few new poetry forms that we've added to our Glossary, and some very complex formatting on certain poems. Without the brilliance of our webmaster Lonnard Dean Watkins, we would not be able to present these poems in our journal. A huge thank you to an incredible person.

Be sure to visit our Writer Archive and read the over 1000 poets we've published over these previous 42 issues, and visit the issues Archive to browse the previous issues of Shot Glass Journal.

I'd also like to bring attention to Muse-Pie Press' community poem. In March 2020, Muse-Pie Press invited its poets to participate in creating a world-wide Community poem. We wanted to capture the individual experiences and insights of these poets regarding the Covid-19 worldwide pandemic. There were 220 submissions received from 16 countries. R. G. Rader, publisher of Muse-Pie Press, compiled each line and crafted the poem "Pandemic: A Community Poem" into a poem of seven parts. Please visit the Muse-Pie Press site at www.musepiepress.com and click on Community Poem.

We hope you enjoy Issue #43.

Wishing you peace and health,
– Mary-Jane Grandinetti

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