I’ve been rummaging through mail that has arrived during my holiday. Most of it has gone straight to the bin. I had hoped for a little good poetry news, that some of my submissions had found a home in one magazine or another, but there’s nothing – only one rejection slip.
On the other hand, my copy of Orbis issue 140 arrived with two of my poems in it, and Magma issue 38 is here too. I read through the essays last night, and found that Roddy Lumsden, discussing new developments in poetry, gives a favourable mention to this blog (thanks, Roddy!). Eleanor Livingstone has a fine article on Scottish poetry. Magma editor, David Boll, has a very interesting piece on why poems get rejected (although it doesn’t really tell me why some of my better ones get rejected by magazines!). Mark Doty talks about the influence of Frank O’Hara on his work. Really good stuff. I’ll start on the poems this evening.
6 comments:
Did David mention 'factual inaccuracy' as a reason for a poem not making the grade?
No, he didn't, Rik. But I guess there must be a reason for you asking this question?
I've known David since the early 90s - went through 5 years' worth of workshopping at the City Lit together. He still has a habit of reading a poem literally rather than metaphorically ...
Well he did publish my Moonies poem in Magma a few years back, so I have that to thank him for.
The new issue of Magma is pretty good, from what I've read so far. Mark Doty's poem and interview is worth the price in itself.
I think there might be one of our OU creative writers in that Orbis. Saly Douglas - look out for that.
Not in this particular issue, Barbara. I'll look out for her in future issues.
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