[Maryann Corbett]

The name of the magazine Rattapallax turns up notably often on the acknowledgments pages of books by formal poets I like a lot (Rhina Espaillat, for example), and the poems that were published there are page poems that seem like they'd be enjoyed on this forum.

So I'm sort of confused when I look at the Rattapallax web page. I can't find any mention of page poetry in the current state of the magazine at all, and apparently not since issue 7. Video seems to be their only medium now.

Am I missing something, and do they still print poems, or did they just change completely? Any current subscribers out there?

[Ed Shacklee]

Maryann,

Others are more likely to have an answer, but this is what showed up in Duotrope's Digest after a search for that name:

Rattapallax
This market doesn't meet the criteria for a listing with Duotrope's Digest. Publication details and submission statistics for this market are no longer available through our site.

Reason for disqualification: They do not accept written submissions. They accept audio and video submissions only.


Best,

Ed

[R. Nemo Hill]

Yes, Maryann, I am almost certain that they did change policy a while back and no longer work in the print medium. I think it was in response to a submission of mine that they told me this--though my memory is hazy and I keep scant records of such correspondence.

Nemo

[Maryann Corbett]

Very clear answers! Thank you, Ed and Nemo. (But gee, that's a bummer.)

[Rick Mullin]

What is a "page poem"?

[Maryann Corbett]

Dunno if Rick's question is ironic, but I'm going to take it as straight:

A "page poem" is what most of us here write most of the time: a poem that we expect to deliver as written text on a printed page or on a screen, and that--most often, at least--people are going to read to themselves.

Of course these get read at readings, and they'd better be passably good in that mode. But poems that are composed primarily or only for performance on the stage, or on video, or otherwise with only the visual, non-text component in mind, are different animals from page poetry. Sez I, anyway.

[Gail White]

I hope the "page poem" isn't going the way of the "printed book".
Some days I feel I might just as well pull the grass up over my head...

[John Whitworth]

Pull the grass up over my head. What a lovely phrase. I shall steal it.

[Ann Drysdale]

Indeed, John. I'll fight you for it!

[John Whitworth]

It depends who steals it first.