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 16 features a craft interview with Erica Jong; an editorial about obscenity and eroticism; an essay, "The Poet as Teacher: Stephen Stepanchev," by Mary Jame Fortunato; photos of Berrigan, Merwin, Momaday, Bass, Swenson, and Scully; and poetry by Jackson Mac Low, Richard Hugo, David Ignatow, James Lewisohn, David Galler, Jesse Stuart, Karen Swenson, Judith Johnson Sherwin, Michael Harlow, David Dwyer, Rosemary Daniel, Charles Bukowski, John Bennett, Marcia Lee Masters, Elizabeth Lindsay, Barry Wallenstein, Steve Hassett, William Heyen, Jay Meek, Michael Niflis, Frederick Smith, Barbara Szerlip, George Weiner, Francis Sullivan, Rita Valentino, John Woods, Susan Hauser, William Aarnes, Madeline Bass, Peter Cooley, Robert De Young, Herbert Waxman, D. W. Donzella, Diane Raintree, Alan Feldman, Peter Fellows, Philip Murray, Layle Silbert, Dora Pettinella, W. M. Ransom, John Stone, Jayne Stahl, and Richard Bloom.