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Four centuries ago, tucked into a corner of London, not far from St Paul’s Cathedral, Sir Walter Raleigh and a small band of literary friends—among them John Donne, Ben Jonson, and William Shakespeare—inaugurated their Friday Street Club, meeting now and then for wit and repartee at a Cheapside alehouse called The Mermaid Tavern. We can only imagine the iambic insults spat across that circle of competi-tive compatriots.Though the Mermaid Tavern, destroyed in the Great London Fire of 1666, has been immortalized in the poetry of Ben Jonson, John Keats, and others, the primary aim of this new Alehouse is to resurrect the feisty, fiery spirit of that old pub, to recreate a semblance of its eternal spirit in these 21st century pages. Based on this year’s content, it appears we’re on our way.This inaugural issue of Alehouse is blessed with the com-pany of several established poets—including former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins and Pulitzer-prize winners Maxine Kumin and Stephen Dunn. Mingling among them are other well-known writers, along with many emerging voices, some of whom are published here for the very first time. In all, eight essayists—writing about their writing lives and their favorite, often over-looked poets—join a tableful of book reviewers and five dozen poets in our smoke-filled sanctuary. Among the poets are the winners of Alehouse’s 2006 Happy Hour Poetry Awards. Grand-prize winner Allison Joseph serves up a pantoum voicing the feminist rage of all abused women. Runners up include Patricia O’Hara, whose sonnet bonds an abandoned mother and daughter over a mystic Ouija Board; Robert Eastwood and Alisa Gordaneer, each express-ing the effects of a world at war; and Alice Jay, who, during a pedicure, scavenges for bits of gossip to include in future poems. To them and to you, holding this open volume in your hands, I proudly say: Come on in! Pull up a stool! The pub is now open. Drinks are on me…. Jay Rubin