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

SOUTH was always something apart from other little magazines. For example, it wasn’t started in a shed by two poets with ten pounds and an old duplicator. It came into being, thanks to Word & Action (Dorset), with funding, administration and backup all in place. It had a clear set of policies – owing much to its origins in the
community arts movement – aimed at integrating it closely into the poetry scene of the southern counties.

There would be area representatives to keep in touch with local poets and poetry groups, and arrange poem selectors and launch reading venues, as SOUTH progressed around its region in a regular cycle. The object was to befriend contributors, not keep them at arm’s length, to encourage them to get to know each other and become more involved in the magazine.

The manpower and money required were never properly costed out, but absorbed into the general finances of W&A, at that time a busy and prospering theatre and publications group. And so things remained, from 1990 until the first years of the new millennium, when W&A found it could no longer continue its support.

By that time, of course, many of these unique features – which owed their existence to the inspiration of RG Gregory, the founding spirit of W&A – had proved their worth, and SOUTH itself, launched as “a poetry magazine for the southern counties of England,” was beginning to take its place in a much wider scene.

So this was an acid test for the magazine, and for Greg’s ideas: Would people pay what it cost to keep it going without any subsidies? It’s a tribute to the validity of those ideas, as well as to the dedication and determination of SOUTH’s core supporters, that
it has continued to thrive. And so this thirtieth issue – whose publication we wish there had been time and resources to celebrate in other ways, as well – is gratefully dedicated to Greg, and to all those on the mailing list who helped to ensure that his ideas, along with SOUTH, did not vanish from the poetry scene.

Recent issues have seen a steady increase in the number of submissions. Although it is still a trickle, compared with the flood that reaches other magazines, it already has implications for the current selection process. Copies of all poems received are sent to the selectors in a single batch, as soon as possible after the submission deadlines. We aim to give them six clear weeks to make their choices. This time there were nearly 700 poems to choose from. Current publication dates (April and October) mean the selection periods overlap with summer holidays and the run-up to Christmas. There are problems for poets, as well. They do not welcome long delays in hearing if work has been accepted. Even if they submit close to the deadline (a growing practice that can cause bottlenecks in SOUTH’s own administration), they still have to wait about eight weeks for an answer.

These facts may help to explain why SOUTH can find it difficult to recruit new selectors, let alone ensure that panels include both sexes and come from different parts of the region in a regular sequence. We are asking poets to do all this work for nothing, when they might be offered a decent fee to judge far fewer entries in a local competition. Meanwhile, SOUTH has grown in standing, along with the reputations of many of its longest-serving contributors, and remains proud of a selection process that aims to provide the best possible chance for new voices. That all-important middle ground among the submissions is constantly being looked at by fresh eyes. So although it may not, at the moment, have the same high public profile as other magazines, it performs a no less vital service to the cause of poetry, and individual poetic development.

It is a standing joke on the management team that SOUTH selectors could in theory reject anonymous submissions from Les Murray or Simon Armitage just as easily as one from somebody totally unknown – and that’s why we don’t hear from them. But what would happen if submissions to SOUTH grew to anything like 5,000 poems per issue – a level not uncommon among magazines with which it is favourably compared?

The current selection process would almost certainly collapse. There would be too many poems for selectors to cope with in a few weeks. Nearly 700 poems must be near the limit. We need to start thinking now about how we might amend the process without undermining its founding principles. We also need to think about how increased awareness of SOUTH might affect its future in other ways. As always, ideas and opinions from readers and contributors would be welcome.

A couple of ideas cropped up during informal discussions: that we should limit submissions to a maximum of three or four poems, and not allow any to go forward that don’t meet our clear and simple submission requirements. We certainly need to beware of trophy poets seeking to add to their list of credits, who may see nothing
wrong in submitting the same poems to several magazines at the same time, including work that has already been published. SOUTH’s attitude to these practices is also clear and simple: offenders will be blacklisted. The excuse that because of the selection process, a decision can take a long time, just won’t do. Poets need not – and should not – submit work to us if they can’t match our requirements with theirs. That is surely just a matter of common sense, and of respect for our efforts to publish the fairest, and the widest possible, selection of new poems.

It might mark one form of recognition, but it would also be a pity, if SOUTH’s special qualities became buried under an avalanche of MSS, and that middle ground was overrun by poets with little knowledge of its other aspects, less inclination to subscribe...and no awareness of the extra burdens created for others by their zeal. One
thinks of Tim Kendall’s words in explaining why he decided to close Thumbscrew at the height of its success:

    “The great advantage of an independent little magazine is that it    
    need not pander to anyone. Freethinking and unconcerned by
    establishment cliques, it helps – often almost invisibly – to keep
    the culture healthy. It may seem ironic that, having achieved sound
    finances, a stable subscription base, and a fairly wide reputation,
    Thumbscrew should now be killed off. When the post started
    being delivered by the crate-load I thought it may be time to move
    on.”

There is thus a need for caution, as well as room for optimism, as SOUTH quietly celebrates its fifteenth year of publication. It may soon need to protect itself against the literary equivalent of a spam attack. It isn’t all plain sailing toward the point where you might one day be in a position to know whether Les bothers with saes, or Simon still sends out his CV.