[Ed Shacklee]

My apologies if this has been the subject of an earlier thread. I came across the Flea on this site and enjoyed it quite a bit. I've seen threads about submitting poems to magazines, but I wonder which magazines that appear in print are the ones folks here like to read the most (I'll save the Flea's online brothers and sisters as a topic for another thread, perhaps). I'd appreciate suggestions, as I've resolved to subscribe to more of them this year.

Say, for example, if you could subscribe to only 3-5 magazines, which ones would they be?

Best,

Ed



P.S. Here's a list of magazines and journals posters have mentioned on this thread, in alphabetical order, with asterisks (*) to indicate how many times each has been recommended:

32 Poems *
Able Muse Review ***
Blue Unicorn **
Candalabrum *
The Dark Horse ***
Ekphrasis *
The Evansville Review *
Field *
First Things **
The Hudson Review ***
Image *
Light Quarterly **
The Lyric **
Margie *
Measure ******
The New Criterion *
New Walk Magazine *
The New York Quarterly *
The North *
Orbis *
The Pedestal *
Paris Review *
PN Review **
Poetry ***
Raintown Review *******
Rattle *
The Smartish Pace *
Smiths Knoll *
The Southern Review *
Stand *
Think *

[David Landrum]

Ed: I would subscribe to:

Raintown Review
Measure
Image
Poetry
Paris Review

My five.

[Rory Waterman]

New Walk Magazine! We're new (i.e. it's not out yet) but try us! Visit www.tinyurl.com/newwalkmag for more information. Here are three other UK magazines I'd recommend:

PN Review
Stand
Smiths Knoll

[Toni Clark]

A strong second for Raintown, Measure, and Poetry (Though I often want to throw Poetry against the wall, it still seems essential, somehow.)

I also love Rattle, Margie, Field, and The New York Quarterly.

[Wintaka]

The Pedestal Magazine.

-o-

[Quincy Lehr]

Thanks for the kind words about the Raintown. As for Rory's mention of the PN Review, I picked up the first six issues at the Strand a few days ago, back when it was Poetry Nation--and it was incredibly good in those days. Consistently high-level. It's not half-bad nowadays, either, but really, what an arrival on the scene!

Quincy

[Susan McLean]

For most consistently interesting formalist poetry magazines, I would go with Measure and The Raintown Review. Formalist, but not consistently good, are Light Quarterly and The Lyric. For journals that are not mainly poetry, but often contain good formal poems, try The Hudson Review, The Dark Horse, The New Criterion, First Things, and The Evansville Review. Poetry has an occasional formal poem, but I tend to find the journal more annoying than interesting. I look at it online rather than subscribing to it. I subscribe to the top four (plus Blue Unicorn, which is formal friendly, but mainly free verse). The rest I tend to look at in the library.

Susan

[W.F. Lantry]

Ed,

Perhaps it may be useful to come at this question a different way. Given the state of publishing, which journals both do good work and *need* your support. Poetry, Rattle, the Paris Review? They don't need you: your subscription dollars would be a tiny drop in their very large budget. They don't care, they don't have to....

Some of the others *do* need your money, but between this site, and swindle , and some other places we could all name, you're already seeing what's going on in that part of the world. And a number of the .edu journals are having a tough time, but much of their funding is based on subsidies, not subscriber lists.

What really matters, the things that really need to be kept alive, are the small independants. That's where the fresh voices emerge, that's where a lot of the dedicated editors are, doing it for the pure love of doing it. Poesia just crashed and burned, darn it, but there are lots of others. You can find them if you look. Oh, and can I put in a quick word for Umbrella, even if it is online? Now, *there's* a real labor of love, and it's possible the editor needs our aid, now more than ever.

Remember what Blake said? "In the naked and outcast: seek love there." In the publishing world, the naked and outcast are the small independants, struggling to make it through their next issue. Your subscription dollars, and your eyeballs, mean a lot more to them than they do to some of these others...

Thanks,

Bill

[Ed Shacklee]

Originally Posted by W.F. Lantry

What really matters, the things that really need to be kept alive, are the small independants.

That's a good thought, Bill. I see a couple of obvious choices in the list compiled so far. A question for general discussion, then: which other journals and magazines fall into this category?

[Burt Myers]

I agree with the previous posts that Raintown Review and Measure (in that order) are the best of the formal print journals.

I like 32 Poems too — very formal friendly, with a nice mix of unknown-to-me poets and big names (commissioned, maybe?).

I think Poetry is essential. It can certainly be exasperating, but I like the commentary and letters, and the occasional Stallings or Murphy poem is enough to keep me subscribing. Plus, it's reasonably priced.

I get Ploughshares too, but it's been a long time since I found a poem in there that really excited me.

I'm just starting to investigate the formal online journals. There are some beautiful ones out there. I've been impressed by The Flea, Umbrella, and Mezzo Cammin (a gorgeous site!).

For more, check out Rose Kelleher's list here. It's a favorite resource around here, and it's been very helpful to me.

Burt