As one of this author's poems necessitated very few edits, I have chosen not to include said poem. 

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Due to the divide of 10 poems among 3 editors, one of us had to take on an extra piece. I had my eye on both of these pieces since reading through all 200+ submissions, so I called dibs on them basically as soon as they were accepted.

 

They were already quite polished, and communication would be easier as they were authored by one of the poetry editors. I thought that this advantage would take some of the weight off if I were to take on the extra poem, so I went for it in the name of fairness (and, yes, my own excitement).

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Editing this piece turned out to be more difficult than I thought. I could have made only the most basic and simplistic edits before I passed it down the editorial team, but I decided to embrace the challenge. I spent many hours thinking of ways to add to this poem, and I felt a much stronger sense of engagement as well as satisfaction for having done so. 

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In communicating with this author, the editorial process felt highly collaborative—in a good way. More than any other, this experience really sticks with me as an example of how writers learn from each other and how brilliant their writing can be when they work together.