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

this is the final second aeon. its cessation as a magazine is for a number of reasons, nearly all of them financial. i will not bother to mention the general economic climate of the u.k. nor the huge shortages affecting the publishing industry as a whole. these do have a bearing, but the magazine would have still finished without them. firstly i have the sad task of reporting the untimely death of a friend, poet and sponsor to this magazine cyril hodges. cyril died in hospital shortly after christmas. he had spent the previous five years in a frantic creative effort, turning out poem after poem. catching up on lost time, missed opportunity, knowing he had few years left. one of those poems appears in this issue and perhaps soon we shall see the fruits of his final efforts in book form. cyril helped second aeon (along with other magazines and causes in wales) to a tremendous degree and with only one string attached - that his support remain anonymous. it is quite safe to say that it would have been a very different magazine without him. be it moral or financial help that was needed cyril was always there.

   secondly i have been appointed as manager of the welsh arts council's new bookshop - oriel - situated at 53 charles street, cardiff. as an employee of the arts council i am no longer eligible to receive direct or indirect grant aid and therefore second aeon's allocation is no more. the magazine has always been deliberately underpriced - 25p a copy for something that costs around £1.00 to produce - resulting in a large circulation and a formidable list of subscribers. without continued outside help the magazine cannot go on as it is now. i have considered both increasing the retail price and returning to mimeo production but abandoned both ideas, preferring to stop publication rather than reverse direction.

   as this is a triple issue almost all regular subscriptions would normally become due. i suggest that those who subscribed to second aeon for its poetry content take out a subscription to one of the many magazines listed in the small press scene - especially recommended are poetry review, sixpack, joe dimaggio, platform & grossetteste review. any subscription to second aeon that extends beyond issue 21 (and this includes a good many of the "double" subscribers) will receive an equivalent value of forthcoming second aeon books & booklets. this side of the press's activity has never been grant reliant and can therefore continue.

   it is sad indeed to close a magazine while it is at its height, and indeed still growing. i have enjoyed editing and publishing it and feel that i have succeeded in my primary aim of presenting a contemporary panorama of poetry, including all the trimmings, in one mag. it is, however, best to stop on top and i will certainly not miss the continuing burden of repetitive work that magazine publishing involves. one aspect of second aeon that many people find important is the small press scene and although this part of the magazine will not continue as such there are plans to put it to further use. details will be found in the introduction to this issues section.