Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

So what were we looking for? What were we not looking for?

Richard Hicks: Above all, “POEMS”. This may seem obvious but so many “poems” that are being written at present seem to me to be prose chopped up into lines so that they look like poems. But to me they are not “poems”. I was looking for some rhyme, perhaps, but definitely rhythm. And I was looking for a glimpse of life that I had not seen before, or something ordinary told in an extraordinary way. I was looking for life, for people, not descriptions of things or feelings that add nothing to what has already been written. I was not looking for clichés or long words with many syllables that jarred on the ear.

If I am being a hard taskmaster, please forgive me.

Jenny Hamlett: I enjoyed reading all the poems sent to SOUTH this time and found the choice of 60 very difficult.

With some poems I knew instantly that I wanted them in the magazine. They had a strong sense of rhythm and a natural feel for line endings. The poet’s language drew me straight into the heart of the poem.

There were also many poems that, although not quite so strong for me personally, were worthy of publication.

It was so difficult to choose here and I think there must always be an element of luck in gaining publication in any magazine.

Anne Clegg: As a newcomer to SOUTH magazine last autumn, I was interested to see how it worked and keen to help in any way. Curiosity having propelled me to become a guest selector, I was knocked cold (though not killed) by the sheer number of poems which arrived. But what a feast to savour and digest – and slowly single out those I must have more of. What did I look for? Nothing. They looked for me. They homed into my head with the accuracy of a Scud missile and refused to budge. The shock of recognition,
the emotional empathy I felt for so many poems made reading and re– reading a joy. The final choice seemed almost presumptuous. It helped to have SOUTH’s guidelines and to share the final decision with Richard and Jenny. Thank you for giving me this opportunity.