As Litrus adviser, and as a poetry connoisseur, I have been delighted by the wide variety of poetry that has been submitted for issue 3 of the campus literary magazine. It assures me that this strange art—the use of words to exhume and convey events, impressions and emotions with succinctness and vitality—is very much alive.

Part of this energy springs from the fact that poetry is not always “nice.” In this issue, one poet writes from the perspective of a “rotten” apple, whose taste is as alluring as it is toxic. Another poet shares with readers the life-changing experience of losing a close relative. Still another tackles the sticky themes of body-image dysmorphia and Sado-Masochism. And in our “Dancing with the Devil” feature, contributors have spoken in the voices of historic villains, ranging from Sea Witch from “The Little Mermaid” to a suicide bomber to the devil himself.

I have had my own journey as a writer, which has included learning to accept everything that comes from my pen and typewriter, without fear of offending others or violating my own self-image. As part of this process, I wrote an essay a while back on the importance of writers’ allowing themselves to sometimes, just sometimes, say goodbye to “nice.” Poetry is not Always Nice Los Angeles Albert Wong Commercial Breaks Jonathan Rosales The Boy Samantha Bravo Little Stalks Chandeliers Sarah Torribio Hey Ho Rebecca Linton My Color Trish Fade Emily Rios The Candy Confection The Scent of Reddening Flesh Eryn O'Neal My Native Country Surbi Ratahn Stretch Melting Moment Cold Shot There and Back Again Chris Meraz Litany David Hampton Mirror Talk The Train Rebecca Linton The Light Ashley Hamilton A Blank Sheet Zac Cooney