Since its founding in 1969 by William Packard, The New York Quarterly has been devoted to excellence in the publication of a unique and fervent cross-section of contemporary American poetry regardless of school of thought, style, or genre. Our only concern is to focus on the craft that underlies effective poetry writing. The New York Quarterly features works by both known and emerging poets. The NYQ Craft Interviews present the views of some of our most outstanding poets on the general subjects of style, prosody and technique. The issues are rounded out with an essay or two on the subject of contemporary American poetry that is both accessible and meaningful to readers, poets, students, and teachers of poetry alike. NYQ 40 features a craft interview with Willam Packard, an editorial on NYQ proposals, "A Brief History of NYQ" by Adriana Scopino, and poetry by Karl Shapiro, Amiri Baraka, James Laughlin, Antler, Michael McClure, Lyn Lifshin, Macdonald Carey, Charles Bukowski, Stephen Stepanchev, Harold Witt, Victoria McCabe, Robert Lax, Anna Adams, Judson Crews, Richard Eberhart, Michael Moriarty, Desmond Egan, D. Castleman, Laurel Blossom, Gina Bergamino, Tom Chandler, Nancy Lea Gorham, Andrew Harvey, Carol Hamilton, Richard Harteis, H. L. Hix, Christopher Ide, Michele Ingram, J. Kates, J. J. King, Arthur Winfield Knight, David Lawson, Linda Lerner, Rachel Loden, Walter McDonald, David Gelsanliter, John R. Deitrick, and William Packard.