FROM THE EDITORS
Welcome to the Summer Edition of Gyroscope Review. It’s hard to believe how far we’ve come
in just a little amount of time. One of our goals is to continuously improve your Review. We want
to keep moving forward, and to that end, we put up a survey on our webpage to ask our readers a
few questions. Some of the results were interesting. Of those who answered “How do you read
your poetry online?” 78% said they read on their desktop computer. Only 7% said by phone,
which surprised me. We asked “How often do you access the Gyroscope Review webpage?” 35%
said only to read a new issue, 28% said once a week. 14% said only when something new is
posted, and 14% said Never. 57% said you follow us on Twitter, and 42% on Facebook. When
asked “Would you prefer Gyroscope Review have a "Read on Mobile Phone" option?” 42% said
No, 14% said yes, and 42% said reading the PDF on their phone was okay with them.
57% of you would like the ability to purchase a hard copy of the magazine. That’s something
we’re discussing having available. Stay tuned. 50% would like to see a newsletter. Finally, 35%
would like to see contests and themed contests that resulted in publication (and prize money).
Thank you everyone who participated in the survey, and those who left additional comments.
We’ve got a lot to mull over as we move forward to improving your Gyroscope Review. I’ll leave
the survey live for another couple of weeks, so if you haven’t answered yet, now’s your chance.
Scroll down the front page of our web page to find it. Thanks, everyone, for being a part of our
first two years.
- Constance Brewer, Editor
Wow! Is this really our sixth issue? Sitting here at my desk in Roseville, Minnesota, with the
windows open to the sounds of summer, I think about how lucky I’ve been to run this literary
magazine from its beginning with fellow poet Constance Brewer. Our first year flew by in a
nanosecond, and the second is zooming along equally as fast. Before we got down to finalizing
everything for this issue, Constance and I had the pleasure of a Friday night dinner together with
our partners in Gillette, Wyoming, where she lives. My husband Mick and I passed through
Gillette on our early summer road trip from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest; Constance and
her partner Scott made reservations for the four of us at their favorite restaurant. Working
together online is a great thing, but talking in person has no equal. I’ve thought about that night
often since. And I’ve thought about how it is for the poets who send us work, how they don’t
have the chance to sit down with us in person. That’s the norm for a lit mag and its contributors,
but I would love to have a real happy hour chatting in person with all the writers we’ve had the
pleasure to publish. We did try a virtual happy hour on Facebook right after the last issue went
live, but it really isn’t the same. In the end, what we have are our words as we craft them into
verse, slide them into editorials, offer them as proof that we see each other and understand what
matters.
Gyroscope Review - !ii