Cyberpunk has never been more relatable. Technology rapidly advances and consumes our lives while wealth inequality explodes. As dystopia takes root in our society, we watch it grow from controlling new technologies and weaponizing algorithms. As our previous social contract expires, a high-tech world emerges that crawls with low-end possibilities in its underbelly.

In cyberpunk, this underside is simultaneously neon-lit and noir-gritty. This mix of despair and a drop of hope is where the poets live. It is up to them to bring understanding and illumination back into the blend. As poets, we enjoy overthinking the present and reimagining the future. This issue, I am proud to say, does exactly that.

Cyberpunk demands that we find the human in the face of oppression. It is a glimpse into the future we can experience inside the present. It is what happens when a world loses touch with its own humanity and asks us how we will survive in the margins. Full of relatable protagonists that are more alive than fantasy heroes, it is easier to imagine yourself inside this world than a star half a galaxy away. Cyberpunk mashes together gritty human reality mixed with awe-inspiring technology. That simultaneous exploration of the human condition and our impending future is what keeps me coming back to this subgenre. I hope it ensnares you by the end of this issue as well.

Some of the poems you will read below dream of revolution. Others explore fantastical body modification. More wrestle with the very concept of who controls the air and sky, and what constitutes being human at all. These speakers demand to be witnessed amid a society that has forgotten them. Explore a world with us of beautiful promises but oppressive reality. See yourself in these worlds, because they’re the same as the one we live in now.