The Spring 2002 issue of Ploughshares, guest-edited by Cornelius Eady. Ploughshares, a journal of new writing, is guest-edited serially by prominent writers who explore different personal visions, aesthetics, and literary circles.

Edited by award-winning poet Cornelius Eady (Kartunes, Victims of the Latest Dance Craze), this issue features new works from Elizabeth Alexander, Terrance Hayes, Shreela Ray, Al Young, and Yolanda Wisher. Released after the September 11 attacks, Eady's introduction dwells on the aftermath of the event, the sensation of the amputee convinced that "when the smoke / clears [her legs] will be / standing." Though the works of the issue were written before the attacks, Eady expresses hope that they all exhibit "true human commerce, the witnessing of what has, and hopefully will continue, to go between us" in our worldwide trading of ideas. As Eady and his fellow New Yorkers waited, "scared and impatient… for the new 'normal'" after the attacks, this issue represented for Eady a preservation of past American culture before everything changed, something that he wanted to be remembered as we all progressed into an unknown future.