Results of Our Poll about Literary Magazines, Part 1

Poll Results

About ten days ago, I put this poll up on the blog here. While not a great number of responses, I am pleased with the number of people who took the minute or so to offer their opinions on the state of contemporary literary magazines.

One of the things I wrote in that original post was

We know that there are more literary magazines than there are readers, but not as many as there are writers,

and this is a problem. Another problem writers come across is that there is little payment available out there for accepted works. That is a discussion outside of this one.

Pea River Journal – almost. almost almost almost. and nearly.

almost. almost almost almost. and nearly..

The new issue of Pea River Journal comes out soon, with two poems by yours truly!

 

Style? No Style? What’s Wrong with Letters?

Style, then, involves a meeting between arrangements inside the prose and expectations outside it. You can’t have a strong style without a community of readers able to recognize and appreciate its departures from the common usages they know.

So, interesting thoughts in this article over at The New York Review of Books, written by Tim Parks.

Something to read, reread, ponder, think about, reread, and then maybe write on…

Got Two New Books in the Mail Today

to be added to the soon-to-be-reviewed list:

– The Book of Goodbyes by Jillian Weise
– Metaphysical Dog by Frank Bidart

Next one up though is Matthew Rohrer’s Rise Up…

HERE is STC in Matthew Rohrer’s Rise Up…

STC in Matthew Rohrer’s Rise Up

Should give an idea about the content before the review goes up…

our top 12 posts: poems and interviews you chose

Check out Pea River!

pea river journal

We’ve been here for a year now, and we’ve shared work we believe in, artists and writers who matter, work we love and know you’ll love, too, if you just know it exists. We’re happy you’re walking this path with us.

And as we complete work on the Remaking Moby-Dick special issue and start preparing our late-fall regular issue of the Pea River Journal, we’re reminded of what you’ve loved the most at PRJ in 2013.

Everybody else has a top ten. We have a top 11:

Robert Gray, “Humidity”

Robert Gray, “The Day I Was Born”

Grant Clauser, “Objects in Motion”

Robert Daniels, “County Employee”

Weam Namou, “A Mentor”

Joseph Sentrock Perez, Stay Fly

Cheryl Dumesnil, “It’s not the Holy Spirit”

Rita Patel, interview

Remaking Moby-Dick call

Jeff St James, “Bush Soul”

Molly Gaudry, interview

If you missed any of them, please go read or…

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Revision and Creation: 1 – Close Attention pt. 1

The initial post introducing the ideas here occurred over on Poetry Thesis Musings, a blog about it being self-defining. Go ahead and take a minute to read that; it’s short, I promise.

Now that you’ve read the initial post, walk along this exploration with me. The beginning of this journey is about the act of close attention. As just about any poet will tell you, close attention is one of the primary aspects of writing poetry. Another way to say this is that poems do not unveil themselves without your hard work of paying attention to the world around you.

But what does this have to do with revision?

Good question, you! Where ecstatic creation in the face of the results of close attention (a good example is found among the Beat Poets) may result in much earnest poetry–and even very good poetry–the act of revision asks for close attention to the poem, the poet, and the subject of the poem. Revision forces the poet to decide, to act, to reflect, to unveil, and to question.

The Writing Corner

My current situation.

Literary Magazines and Your Ideas – Poll

Hi Beautiful Readers! As writers, literary hangers-on, and readers, we all know that the esteemed literary magazine is the pillar, the bulwark, of the literary scene. We know that there are more literary magazines than there are readers, but not as many as there are writers. We know that literary magazines have problems and solutions in this day and age of digital accessibility.

I want to run a quick poll about your ideas of the current Lit Mag landscape. I have my own opinions, and I will be posting on that when this poll is over in a week.

Thanks for participating!