The Spring 2004 issue of Ploughshares, guest-edited by Campbell McGrath. 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 Campbell McGrath (Seven Notebooks, In the Kingdom of the Sea Monkeys), this issue features new works from 2009 Inaugural Poet Elizabeth Alexander, Rick Moody (The Ice Storm), Robert Boswell (Century's Son, American Owned Love) Bob Hicok (Elegy Owned), and National Book Award Finalist Kevin Young (Ardency). McGrath asserts that his issue of Ploughshares is "in touch with the evolving edge of America's cultural consciousness in a remarkable way," and "preserves a vision of literature as an ingenious human invention among whose many functions fostering delight remains not only viable but essential."