The Yellow Crane, 1995-2005, was the successor to The Cardiff Poet, and grew out of the boozy, vituperative and entertaining weekly meetings of the loose group that met in the, as was, 4 Bars pub in Cardiff.

Bright yellow is a slightly unsettling colour; fresh, young and possibly a little mad. Cardiff's skyline provided the cranes, although the bird was in there too.

I tried to keep the contents entertaining and unpretentious. I suppose I rather thought of it as the Beano of poetry magazines.

Initially partially funded by the Welsh Arts Council, I soon tired of having to jump through hoops to get the odd £30 and funded it myself. I'm slightly proud to say it never ever showed a profit.

The covers were always important to me, and they became, over the years, a bit of a swipe at a certain humourlessness and self-importance that can go with poetry writing. I also tried to make the biographies of contributors entertaining, though of course I had less input there.

J. Brookes, Editor