Editorial
So many good poems, so little space, hardly surprising many of us muse on that line about desert flowers, blooming unseen. In general, two poems are selected to go on file for publication in Orbis, allowing more leeway to ensure that the contents are near as damnit a perfect fit, from Artichoke to Dirk Bogarde’s Right Eyebrow…. And yes, win some, lose some, though note, it’s like comparing apples and pears, not the old joke: wife parading two dresses for unfortunate husband to select; whatever his choice, comes an immediate demand: ‘So what’s wrong with the other one?’.
There is a limit to everything and the constraints of 12 month quarantine for resubmitting, and 4 submissions only, are predominately because a large proportion of writers immediately post off a new batch, and at regular, very short intervals, whether upon acceptance or when work has been returned. Now, I ppreciate the importance of getting straight back on the horse, but do give the poor beast a breather - a good month or so before sending further submissions.
Another puzzle: how come writers whose name I know, whose writing I enjoy, sometimes submit work which turns out to be disappointing? But just as there is a pecking order with magazines, so there is in poems; we all have our favourites, we earmark those which are a must for this competition, those which should be read at that event, the ones making a perfect match for a particular magazine. Or do we continue to hug them close, reluctant to part with something unless absolutely convinced we have found a perfect setting, the one to really do them justice? If criteria admitted previously published work, that may solve one problem, but then causes more, by further restricting outlets, making it even harder to gain access.
Although, speaking of new writing, am I perhaps alone in suspecting undertones in the vaunting of ‘new work’, that it can mean untried rather than fresh and original? Cynical, I know, but some poets date their work and one does have to ask the question why something going back to the 90s has not yet appeared in print. I say one; I mean the poet, rather than the editor. With previously published work, as Gabriel Griffin points out in ‘Lines’, competitions state whether or not such entries are permissible. Where editors are concerned, well, for me, once a poem makes its debut before an astounded world, say, online, can a second appearance create the same impact? Albeit the usual path is in a magazine, then a collection, some poets go about it the other way round (with a few sending said booklet with kind invitation to pick out a couple of favourites). Fair enough, if good enough for a publisher, that’s a pretty straightforward recommendation. But even if we are all in agreement: 1 poem, 1 appearance, when it comes to calculating the odds of publication, well, look away now, if easily frightened: most magazines receive around 1000 submissions a month. Most magazines, over the course of a year, publish…well, you do the maths, long division indeed: we’re down to the 100s. Little consolation when work is returned, though it is more often than not, a matter of quantity, not quality.
And in view of the recent page v stage debate, interesting to think that what cannot be disputed is the huge advantage performance poetry has over the written page: nowt to stop you presenting the same one over and over again.
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magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The