Not that this is particularly timely, but just had yet another note from one of the loveliest editors around, Linda Black, about the latest issue of Long Poem Magazine.
The dedication to the sprawl of imagination known as the long poem, which is a rare beast, especially in the wild territories of print mags, is commendable in itself. Yet it's also a magazine that can make a firm claim to pluralism and a great eye for quality.
It's a wonderfully simple design, A4, clean as can be, better use of space than PN Review, which I find a little too dense, especially the italics there, where here it's more about space to breathe, which you need when a poem stretches over several pages.
I went to the launch party for issue 2 (I think), in the Barbican Music Library, ostensibly to see Andrew Bailey, who had an unfortunate bird/swine flu or something.* So I sat through a selection of unknown-to-me poets, including the astonishingly wonderful Sharon Morris (here and here), a tape recording of a US contributor's poem (but I think the battery ran out towards the end, it was that long) and a selection of others, all of whom were evidence that length is no barrier to concentration or entertainment in the right hands.
Anyway, Long Poem Magazine is a highly enjoyable and eclectic artefact, and I've been meaning for a while to both subscribe and submit, though haven't done much of any of that anywhere for a while. Too busy trying to wind Simon up with nonsense postings on here. (Though the Conan posting was NOT a joke, Simon.)
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* Incidentally, Andrew's first collection is due out some time in the next year or so. I failed to make a proper mental note last we communicated, but I think Enitharmon, April 2012? This is an invitation to Andrew to correct me in the comments...
3 comments:
I am an obedient soul. I believe it's Juneish for Zeal now, and I believe we may have made mental notes and then erased them with booze. Oops.
The Long Poem Magazine is a brilliant thing, as is the rare beast itself.
If this isn't a 'nonsense posting' (never know with you Oulipan neo-surrealists) I would like to warn you that I have something in the latest 'Long Poem', so they've obviously lapsed in their eye for quality.
I'm beginning to feel left out: I never quite got over reading 'In a Station of the Metro' at an impressionable age, so most - indeed, all - of my poems have brevity as their sole redeeming feature.
Simon @ G/P
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