Editor's Note

A fool can no more see his folly than he can see his ears.
      —William Makepeace Thackeray

Welcome to the second issue of Folly. In this issue, we've set aside a special section for poems that answer what is perhaps the most urgent question of our time: Why did the chicken cross the road? We've asked contributors to couch their responses in the voices of famous poets so as to emphasize the seriousness of the topic. We hope readers will appreciate our setting humor aside temporarily in deference to such a grave and weighty matter.

And now to address some questions we've gotten from readers. Let me start by confessing that I am utterly baffled as to why so many of you seem to be under the impression that "C. Sharpe" and "B. Minor" are pseudonyms. Following in the tradition of such greats as T. S. Eliot and e. e. cummings, we prefer not to spell out our first names; but I assure you, these are our real names. We do sympathize, however, with editors who choose to use pseudonyms, as we can see how it would simplify things for editors who are also writers, and who submit work for publication to editors whose work they have rejected, and so forth. In fact, I almost wish B. Minor and I had gone that route; after all, it's in the nature of satire to ruffle feathers, and we're as chicken-hearted as the next guy.

As for our contributors, some of them use pseudonyms because they're Serious Poets, and don't want to be caught wearing chicken suits, so to speak. Others do it because they've written biting satires of powerful political figures and don't want to be trundled off in the middle of the night to Saudi Arabia for "questioning," or thrown in a Moroccan prison like Ali Lmrabet. Still others use pseudonyms because, well, it's fun. Just ask Paddy O'Furniture.

One more thing: we'd like to publish some letters to the editor. Please feel free to send feedback to follymagazine@gmail.com, and let us know if we can use your letter. Vitriolic hate mail is especially welcome, as it's entertaining for readers and makes us appear daring and iconoclastic, but compliments are okay too.

Thanks again to our many talented contributors. Enjoy!

Best regards,
C. Sharpe, Editor