Featured Poet
Steven Kent

Spotlight: Steven Kent
by Ned Balbo

A Chandelier for Joe and Ed
Verse tributes to X.J. Kennedy and Edmund Conti,
by Marshall Begel, Bruce Bennett, Dan Campion,
Anna M. Evans, Charles Ghigna, Stephen Gold, R.S. Gwynn, Steven Kent, Bob McKenty, Leslie Monsour, Viv Priestley,
Jan Schreiber, Christopher Scribner, Ed Shacklee,
Richard Wakefield, Cody Walker, and Gail White.

Book Reviews
by Barbara Loots

Poems by…
Roderick Bates
Marshall Begel
Steven Urquhart Bell
Bruce Bennett
Jerome Betts
Elijah Perseus Blumov
Paul Burgess
Michael Calvert
Dan Campion
Pat D’Amico
Pari Elora
Anna M. Evans
Andrew Frisardi
Daniel Galef
David Galef
Marianne Gambaro
Nicole Caruso Garcia
Gerald George
Stephen Gold
Midge Goldberg
Julia Griffin
Rob Griffith
Max Gutmann
David Hedges
Michele Herman
Carl Kinsky
Philip Kitcher
Peggy Landsman
Mary Soon Lee
Neal Levin
Barbara Loots
Bruce McGuffin
Bob McKenty
Susan McLean
Hal Ober
Chris O’Carroll
Alexander Pease
Steven Peterson
David J. Rothman
Matt Schatz
Christopher Scribner
Ed Shacklee
Richard Slotkin
Julie Steiner
Mark F. Stone
Cara Valle
Richard Wakefield
Cody Walker
Cynthia Washam
Gail White

Joseph Charles “X.J.” Kennedy (1929-2026)

Edmund Anthony Conti
(1929-2025)

We dedicate this issue to two of the brightest bulbs ever to grace our pages. Especially in Light‘s print years (1992-2012), few issues went without a verse or more by Joe Kennedy or Ed Conti. Though Joe became famous and Ed less so, Light‘s readers knew them both as wits with uncanny poetic powers. In honor of those powers, we’re pleased to bring you 17 sparkling poems by writers who loved them and their work:
A Chandelier for Joe and Ed.

Cover photo: “Sign of the Times,” by Melissa Balmain