I’ve heard a vigorous discussion of the idea of creating an invitation-only literary journal, and thus doing away with a major part of the editorial chores — reading through the slush pile. This discussion seemed to involve mostly teachers at the college level, so my assumption is that they were talking about launching a university-based litmag. This idea strikes me as curious in two ways. First, it’s closing an already pretty tightly closed system, that…
Thinking about how you can be an overlooked, underrated poet of the past and yet have written some of the most stunning poems ever written. Lawrence isn’t underrated as a novelist, but as a poet, he’s not talked about much. The poetry of his that I looked into didn’t impress me, so I moved on in my restless self-directed study. Recently, this poem was brought to my attention, which I think is one of the…
I’m wearing my editor hat this week for Umbrella, working on a feature and interview for an upcoming issue. At the same time, a discussion of submission protocols has popped up on a listserv of poets. Wearing both poet and editor hats — as I am also submitting work and preparing a manuscript to submit — has made me think about the state of litmags and the way they conduct business. The listserv comment that…
I took an afternoon off from the computer yesterday to revise poems the old-fashioned way: with pen and paper, sitting outdoors in a café. It amazed me to see how much more productive I was than with fingers poised above a keyboard. While I am a big fan of computing and the Internet, writing is a slow affair, at least for me. The speed of word processing is anathema to my poetic process. It cannot…
In the new issue of Calyx is a review by Holly Karapetkova of the anthology Letters to the World: Poems from the WOM-PO Listserv. Naturally, I’m pleased to have my poem, Femme au chapeau, mentioned. The review remarked on several serendipitous conjunctions that occurred in an anthology compiled democratically, each poet selected her own poems to include, with the poems in alphabetical order by the poet’s last name. So it was happenstance that my ekphrastic…
Anyone have a short list of journals that turn submissions around quickly? I’m thinking of compiling such a list to add to my website’s resources page. In going through the list of places I’ve submitted to in the last year, I was struck by the increasing number of periodicals that take more than six months to reply, or never reply at all, despite the inclusion of an SASE. I suppose their keeping my stamp sans…
Women in Literature is the theme of a new literary conference and organization that is being formed by a group of writers who have concerns about the organization of this year’s AWP conference and its panel discussions. I, too, notice a nagging disparity in the prominence of men and women in literary arts. It seems to me to reflect the persistence of male chauvinism in American society, though I do believe this old-generation attitude is…
I’ve decided to wear a green bracelet until Iran is free, a day I know is coming. I’ve also been looking through various translations of Iran’s favorite poet, Hafiz of Shiraz, and came across this, which is inscribed on his tomb: Though I be old, clasp me one night to thy breast,And I, when the dawn shall come to awaken me,With the flush of youth on my cheek from thy bosom will rise. Translated by…
Iranians are not backing down, though much, much less news is getting out about their protests. A comprehensive article with many videos of the week’s protests was published in the New York Times blog. An Iranian blogger reported that one of the videos shows “mayhem and fire on every corner of Tehran,” on Thursday night. It doesn’t appear, the article states, that Iranian protests are tapering off. Not at all. It rather seems that this…
Kelli Russell Agodon was talking about signs, as in portents and messages from the universe, namely a shooting star. It made me think about the way I sat and watched a dazzle of earthbound shooting stars while I was on the East Coast, as a hover of fireflies over a lawn became very personal somehow. In other signs, more the standard kind, Publishers Weekly is for sale. This publishing industry giant is on the auction…