A Letter from the Editor

Dear Reader,

As soon as we set eyes on it, Martin Christmas’s photograph of two buildings in the Central Business District (CBD) in Adelaide, Australia seemed ideal for the cover of our Spring issue. For one, it adopts a flâneur’s eye view – gazing up from the street to the overbearing height of the city’s office blocks. There is the sense of observing and being observed from the many overlooking windows. Then there is the juxtaposition of architectural styles. And of course, the emphasis of boldly contrasting colours. In context of our Spring issue, the cold blue hints at the winter we have left behind us, against the orange warmth of the summer to come. Of course, an antipodean like Martin may prefer to turn this theory on its head given that Australia are currently heading into winter!

Bold, contrasting colours are also prominent in the opening poem of this issue, the timely “As Prominent as Green” by Mary Melvin Geoghegan, which celebrates the yellow and blue of the flag of Ukraine. And at the very heart of this issue are poems about North East England, home of StepAway Magazine, and a region synonymous with the black-and-white and red-and-white of its football teams. The issue also transports the reader across the urban spectrum visiting Lancashire, London, Bristol, New York State and Knoxville, Tennessee.

Thank you to all our contributors: Amy Bacon, Martin Christmas, Mary Melvin Geoghegan, Ceinwen E Cariad Haydon, Daniel Hinds, Julie Hogg, Tom Kelly, Noah Kucij, Paul Marshall, Jennie E. Owen, Martin Potter and Laura Sweeney.

I hope that you enjoy reading this, the thirty-fourth issue of StepAway Magazine.

Yours faithfully,

Darren Richard Carlaw
editor@stepawaymagazine.com