[Ed Shacklee]

I took a look at some of the new journals posted at Duotrope's Digest, and saw a familiar refrain in one of the listings, under General Styles & Themes - Poetry Forms: 'Open to all/most Forms, including: Cinquain, Experimental poetry, Haiku (or related), Lyric poetry, Short poetry. Excluding: Long poetry, Rhyming.'

I have a dog in or near the fight whether I want to or not, and may be too sensitive about it; but sometimes 'Excluding Rhyming' seems as common in Duotrope as 'No Irish Need Apply' was in America, back in the day. Ah, well -- times change, and change again, and everyone makes their own choice both in writing and publishing. Still, I was bemused, then curious: does anyone know how common it is among journals to explicitly exclude rhyming from consideration? I'm guessing there have been studies about this because of the poetry wars of not long ago, but I haven't seen any of them.

Best,

Ed