Introduction

Students in writing classes are often told that if they want to entice a reader and make their stories meaningful they should ensure that the main character is caught in some kind of conflict. This doesn't mean that their heroes or anti-heroes have to be warriors about to launch into hand-to-hand combat, though we often encounter such dramatic elements. Whatever the circumstances, the characters' situation should ultimately reflect some kind of internal journey – usually one that leads to personal discovery on their part. A novel, for instance, might be about the difficulties that someone faces in striving for love (or more material wealth), and what they learn about themselves along the way. The conflict is needed to create tension and interest. What are the characters' desires? Do they achieve those goals? What are the risks and the costs that they must face?

The poems in this edition of Literature and Insights connect strongly with this idea of conflict and behaviour. Their intertwining themes of power and vulnerability serve to remind us that all of the analyses and reports in the world are ultimately pointless unless they relate to subsequent human interaction, choices and attitudes. Who is affected?

Where there is conflict there is also a decision point, as Kerry Jacobs shows in "A Long-Haul Chair". Jacobs ponders the frequent need to take stock of one's "value" for a job application, and neatly skewers the dubious pleasure of long-distance travel at the same time. Graham Rowlands' poem, "Holding Back", is an in-character monologue about a particular management strategy that might make you think twice about gossip or even speaking one's mind. Reading David Davis's "Innocence Lost", you might wonder just when the investors realised they had become the losers rather than the winners in an expensive kind of conjuring trick. Each poem gives us a moment in which to reflect on the foibles of humankind and perhaps on our own roles.

As always, your contributions are always welcome, so please don't be shy about sending material for consideration.

Steve EvansLiterary Editor