Artemis goes Down-Under

Calling all women poets! You have until Feb 28th to send in your poems for the Spring issue of Artemis. It’s a magazine that puts women in the driving seat, both as editors and contributors.

To ensure variety of content, Artemis invites a different guest editor to join general editors Katherine Gallagher and Dilys Wood in selecting poems for the next issue. There’s always a couple of featured poets, in-depth book reviews, plus feature articles around a theme, as well as notice boards, news items and some fun feminist cartoons.

I’m lucky enough to have a poem in the current issue, alongside a fascinating cross-section of poets selected by guest editor Ruth Sharman, including Hilary Hares, Rosie Jackson, Kaye Lee, Jill McEvoy, Myra Schneider, Kate Scott, Penelope Shuttle, Nicola Warwick, Margaret Wilmot, and Veronica Zundel. There are also the winning and commended poems in Second Light’s 2021 Poetry Competition. First prizes went to Cathy Whittaker and Daphne Milne in the Short Poem and Long Poem categories respectively.

“It is easier to muse on the struggle

than to struggle on the muse.”

(Cartoon by Caro Reeves)

The theme for issue 27 is Australian women poets. There are some incisive articles by Australians living in the UK (including Cath Drake of The Verandah fame and Kaye Lee); a closer look at the work of two Australian stalwarts Gwen Harwood and Judith Wright, plus insights by British poet Moya Pacey, who lives and writes in Australia, and offers her view on the improving opportunities for women’s poetry down under, including the marginalised voices of women of colour.

You can send up to four of your poems for possible publication in issue 28 of Artemis. The poetry editor will be Kathy Miles. Submission guidelines can be found at http://www.secondlightlive.co.uk

And if winter is getting you down, why not raise a smile, or even a belly-laugh, by visiting the chuckle-making webzine Lighten Up Online? Edited by Jerome Betts, it’s published monthly, and includes everything from ballads and clerihews, to limericks, satire and rhyming couplets. You can check out two of the smallest poems I’ve ever written at: https://www.lightenup-online.co.uk/index.php/issue-56-december-2021/2206-interval-two-from-musk-oxen-to-marmots and https://www.lightenup-online.co.uk/index.php/isse-55-september-2021/2128-interval-one-a-flurry-of-fours

Artemis – a place for women poets

A literary journal which excludes men? How very 70s, do I hear? What need is there for literary purdah in the 21st century? Surely women have won the battle?

Perhaps so. And yet, how delightful it is to immerse oneself in uninterrupted female experience, with its own unique momentum and tropes. And why, I ask myself, has it taken me this long to read and submit to Artemis?

Happy indeed to have a poem published in issue 23 (November 2019) – a praise poem to my late mother-in-law, Selima, whose life was beset by ill-health and troubles, yet her deeply held faith kept her strong. What an inspiration.

Poetry editor for this issue, Anne Stewart, has chosen work by Yvonne Baker, Claire Booker, Ceinwen E Cariad Haydon, Charlotte Eastwell, Tess Jolly, Kaye Lee, Harriet Proudfoot, Martha Street, Grainne Tobin and Margaret Wilmot, among others.

And there’s a double dose of verbal joy, because issue 23 also includes the winning, and commended, poems from the 2019 Second Light Poetry Competition, judged by Kate Foley. First prize (short category) went to Kathy Miles for ‘The Music Room’ and to A.C.Clarke (long category) for ‘Poet at War’.

I love the foolscap size of Artemis Poetry, with its generous space for the poems, and an almost coffee table feel to the way the pages turn. I also like how there’s a new poetry editor for each issue. This helps keep the magazine fresh, and means you can never second-guess an Artemis poem. Towards the back of the magazine come  Readers’ letters, Readers Recommend, a Noticeboard and Members’ News, plus in this issue, a touching obituary by Clare Best for Sussex raised poet, Judith Kazantzis. There are also four poems by featured poet, Kathy Miles, and great use of the back cover, with three powerful poems by Lyn Moir.

Also on offer, Myra Schneider’s interview with novelist and poet Kay Syrad is both accessible and very challenging – what a great combination.  Kay works across the creative spectrum, including the visual arts and dance. The magazine also includes a number of reviews – mostly collections and pamphlets by members of the Second Light Network.

Full membership of Second Light is open to all women aged 40 and over for £28 a year. Associate membership for £16 a year is open to women aged 30-40. Something worth considering, as membership offers workshops, publicity opportunities, as well as free copies of Artemis twice a year.

There are no age restrictions for submitting to the magazine, however, and there’s a deadline coming up! Appropriately perhaps, it’s Leap Day (Feb 29th). The poetry editor for issue 24 is Alison Brackenbury, someone whose poetry I particularly love. So do send in up to 4 of your best poems before the end of this month to: www.secondlightlive.co.uk And remember, women poets only!