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Poetry Library Southbank Centre - The Poetry Library housing the Arts Council Collection at Southbank Centre

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Merryn Williams

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Editorial

     ‘The best is not too good for you’.  That is the inscription on a three-hundred-year-old earthenware pot in the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, and it set me thinking.  When a group of us set up The Interpreter’s House, late in 1995, it was obvious that there was a crying need for such a magazine.  We were immediately overwhelmed with poems and short stories.  How does one select?

     Four out of five of our contributors come from Bedfordshire and the neighbouring counties, and that is as it should be.  We all know that the cultural scene in our region is dismal and would like to change it.  Should I squeeze in as many local writers as possible, or should I simply try to produce an excellent magazine?  I discussed this with my colleagues, and we made the decision to go for excellence.  So please, don’t send me your second-best work.

     I am often asked what kind of writing I’m looking for, and the answer is - the best I can get.  It  may be comic or serious, complex or simple, rhymed or unrhymed, prose or poetry - none of this matters, so long as it is good of its kind.  Contributors to this issue range from eighty-three-year-old R.S. Thomas, probably the greatest living poet in these islands, to fifteen-year-old Thomas Stephens.  What you write about is up to you.  If you think it’s good, send it to me, and I’ll respond as soon as possible .

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