"I haven’t read Poetry in some years. Perhaps they’re actually printing technically brilliant verses that draw us upward into the sublime, or offer astonishing insights into human nature..."
FYI: they're not. Thank you for confirming my frustrations. I'm cancelling mine too.
Here to serve 😂 there are many many good places publishing excellent work! New Verse Review is one of my favorites, with lots of names that have appeared in older better issues of Poetry Mag.
I totally agree. You're not missing much. Not to sound like a snob (ok, maybe a little) but I think they've been ideologically captured. This is my opinion only. That publication, as well as many others, serve as gatekeepers to keep out more independent voices/thinkers. That's why I publish straight to Substack. I don't even bother submitting my work to ANY publications because I already know what the results are going to be.
In the year of Floyd, about 1500 Poetry Magazine poets formed a mob to successfully oust the editor in chief at the time after he agreed to meet all of their demands to rid the magazine of white supremacy. His agreement as was deemed insufficient because he was a white male. Art certainly cannot survive under mob rule.
I cancelled my subscription when they apologized to the mob for publishing Michael Dickman’s poem “Scholls Ferry Rd.” Then they took the poem off their website, and the editor groveled and resigned. Cowards.
I also let my subscription lapse about 5 years ago. I read Eliot, had hope, and one of the only things I enjoyed was an easy by Christian Wiman (ironically enough)
If that's what they've got on their minds, I'm glad I let my subscription lapse. As long as that remains the anemic scope of their vision, I don't see myself resubscribing to it.
For those of us who have tried to read “the great poets of the past” I am certain we didn’t much care what their “political” values were. (Except for the anti-war witnesses.). Aside from the “romantic love” genres the greatest writing settles in the lonely self with a glimpse or two or three into nature. Certainly it’s the very last writing that should be censored. I’m sure this goes against many “grains,” but some good is found in the lyrics to some of the music that is now everywhere. It’s all so subjective as it should be as that’s what we are as individuals. The improbable search for divine commonality continues. Happy hunting! Share your thoughts. You can only be wrong, ha, ha.
"I haven’t read Poetry in some years. Perhaps they’re actually printing technically brilliant verses that draw us upward into the sublime, or offer astonishing insights into human nature..."
FYI: they're not. Thank you for confirming my frustrations. I'm cancelling mine too.
Here to serve 😂 there are many many good places publishing excellent work! New Verse Review is one of my favorites, with lots of names that have appeared in older better issues of Poetry Mag.
I totally agree. You're not missing much. Not to sound like a snob (ok, maybe a little) but I think they've been ideologically captured. This is my opinion only. That publication, as well as many others, serve as gatekeepers to keep out more independent voices/thinkers. That's why I publish straight to Substack. I don't even bother submitting my work to ANY publications because I already know what the results are going to be.
In the year of Floyd, about 1500 Poetry Magazine poets formed a mob to successfully oust the editor in chief at the time after he agreed to meet all of their demands to rid the magazine of white supremacy. His agreement as was deemed insufficient because he was a white male. Art certainly cannot survive under mob rule.
I cancelled my subscription when they apologized to the mob for publishing Michael Dickman’s poem “Scholls Ferry Rd.” Then they took the poem off their website, and the editor groveled and resigned. Cowards.
They’re clueless. It’s so sad. They used to be THE place to be published—a century ago….
I also let my subscription lapse about 5 years ago. I read Eliot, had hope, and one of the only things I enjoyed was an easy by Christian Wiman (ironically enough)
If that's what they've got on their minds, I'm glad I let my subscription lapse. As long as that remains the anemic scope of their vision, I don't see myself resubscribing to it.
"beauty,” “transcendence,” “the soul,” “human flourishing,” “happiness,” “the good life,”
--- yes, yes, yes, and yes!
For those of us who have tried to read “the great poets of the past” I am certain we didn’t much care what their “political” values were. (Except for the anti-war witnesses.). Aside from the “romantic love” genres the greatest writing settles in the lonely self with a glimpse or two or three into nature. Certainly it’s the very last writing that should be censored. I’m sure this goes against many “grains,” but some good is found in the lyrics to some of the music that is now everywhere. It’s all so subjective as it should be as that’s what we are as individuals. The improbable search for divine commonality continues. Happy hunting! Share your thoughts. You can only be wrong, ha, ha.
A lot of literary magazines have stooped to pander to superficial political agenda. More's the pity.
Well said. I picture the ripping sounds of the textbooks in the opening scene of "Dead Poets Society".
I roar my barbaric Yawp!
Funny and sad to be / exhorted by the mag / to turn transcendence / into something prosaic / but at least that way it’s useless