Hope and Re: Union:

I remember the first time my favorite college professor gave me his personal poetry to critique. I felt incredibly honored and excited to consider him a literary friend, not just a teacher. Friendships in literature have always affected our level of inspiration and bolstered creativity.

In the new journal Re: Union, editor Brit Washburn seeks to celebrate those literary connections between people. "Re: Union aspires to bring together long-lost and far-flung comrades in art," she explains, "both on the page and in the flesh."

The first issue of Re: Union has just emerged, and it is a collection of visual art and poetry, printed on individual cards. The cards are joined with a metal loop, perhaps signifying the individualism of the writers in a common space.

"The title of the journal is printed with a colon to imply regarding union, or on the subject of union," explains Washburn. "It's also a play on the word reunion -- of friends, classmates. It's interpretive."

Washburn began her editing background when she initially edited a student journal in high school at Interlochen (Mich.) Arts Academy. "It was called Red Wheelbarrow, after William Carlos Williams' poem," she says.

She then edited a collection of student poetry and a newspaper at Eugene Lang College during her undergraduate studies. Currently, Washburn edits a collection of children's poetry called "Pass It On," in addition to Re: Union.

As for personal poetic influences, Washburn says, "I think the first poet to really change my life was Richard Hugo, around age 15. I identified with him, which was odd, me being a female teenager. John Berryman's 'Dream Songs' were also important to me. Then I've loved the metaphysical poets -- John Donne and George Herbert. In contemporary poetry, I read Matthew and Michael Dickman, Jack Gilbert, Louise Gluck and Wallace Stevens -- and of course my teachers. As writers, we're always life-long students."

The first issue of Re: Union was challenging given the amount of talent that Washburn encountered. "I sent calls for submissions to my friends, and they sent them to their friends," she says. "Before long, we had a network. Submissions came to me from all over the United States and even Germany. It was really exciting when they came from remote locations -- from people I did not know at all."

Future themes for Re: Union likely will be a stretch of the word Union. "Any of the meanings listed in the definition could be intriguing," says Washburn. "I also like the idea of experimenting with the "re" prefix and doing something like Re: Morse or Re: Vision."

One of the rewards for the journal's contributors is a workshop retreat, which Washburn intends to keep as part of each issue. "All of the writers and artists are invited, and this time it is in Portland, Maine," she says. "We are staying in a house donated for the occasion. It will involve a lot of informal workshopping, and a lot of being merry."

The next annual issue of Re: Union is tentatively scheduled for spring 2011, and Washburn is keeping busy in the meantime with other projects. "I'm the new Programs Chair for the Poetry Society of South Carolina," she says. "I'm also working on a memoir."