Alchemy Spoon and Orbis #202

A first time for me in The Alchemy Spoon, and a welcome return to Orbis – one a relative newcomer on the poetry scene, the other with more than 200 issues to its name. I love them both.

If you’d like to get into the next issue of The Alchemy Spoon, the submissions window closes on Feb 28th, with a theme of Grafitti. So get scribbling!

Editors Roger Blore, Vanessa Lampart and Mary Mulholland choose themes for each issue, creating a unified feel but with plenty of air to breathe. Their online launch was lively, enjoyable and free; a great way to get a taste of the magazine. Or better still, buy a copy at: www.alchemyspoon.org

Poets in the Gift issue, include Barbara Barnes, Heidi Beck, Claire Booker, Pratibha Castle, Rachel Clyne, Luciana Francis, Rachael Goodman, Emma Gray, Hannah Linden, John Martin, Emeline O’Dowd, Gillie Robic, Paul Stepehnson, Rob Walton and Kate Young.

There’s also a perceptive interview with Forward Award-winning Liz Berry, who says “good poems constantly reveal new things” and gives the advice: “don’t feel you should write poems that are fashionable. Write for pleasure, be fearless, but also kind to yourself.” You can also read an honest and deeply revealing feature article by Jane Burn on notions of courage, permission, poetry and the search for the writing self.

Carole Baldock is the tireless editor of Orbis which brings together a community of poets and readers, each impacting on the other. Readers get the chance to vote for their favourite poems, and poets thus chosen can win £50. Short stories and poetry makes up the bulk of writing, but you also get book reviews, readers’ letters and feedback, plus details of submission and competition opportunities. Even adverts!

Poets in Orbis #202 include Claire Booker, Alexander Corrin-Tachibana, Tina Cole, Mark Czanik, Cathy Grindrod, Marie Lecrivain, Judith Pollinger, Katherine Swett, Anne Symons, Isobel Williams and Jackie Wills. I also really enjoyed reading Mary Earnshaw’s fascinating feature article on that “prolific shape-shifter and most widely travelled, longest-lived Past Master – Anon.” Yes, Anon would be a multi-billionaire by now, if they’d been able to draw royalties. To buy a copy of Orbis, take our a subscription, or submit your work or details of your competition, please visit: www.orbisjournal.com

Poems in Mslexia and Stand

If at first you don’t succeed. At last, I have a poem in Mslexia magazine in their showcase section, themed: Eyes. The poem came out of a Poetry Kit prompt using a Jackson Pollock painting. Yes, poetry lurks in the strangest of places.

Mslexia has been a godsend to women writers since it hit the news stands in 1999. With 11,000 subscribers, the quarterly magazine is a financial success and can pay its contributors. It’s packed with short fiction, poetry, advice columns, literary news, photographic work and thought-provoking articles, with regular slots, as well as some left-field surprises (a piece on Jungian Archetypes!). Mslexia‘s competitions can be the stepping stone to an agent or publisher.

This summer’s Eyes showcase is spread across 16 pages and was judged by Helen McClory. Alongside my poem ‘The Colour Police’, she chose stories by Kirsty Cowan, Clare Shaw, Lauren du Plessis, Jenny Tunstall and Asia Haut, and poems by Siobhan Harvey, Katrina Dybzynska, Heleana Bakopoulos and Sophia Rubina Charalambous.

To buy a copy of Mslexia (issue 94), or take out a subscription for four copies a year, click here https://mslexia.co.uk/magazine/ You can also register for their free e-newsletter which sends out writing prompts, literary ‘gossip’ and info on a wide range of events and opportunities.

A lit mag to nurture and love, Stand has been bringing quality poetry and prose to our attention since 1952. I was delighted to have four poems in the Spring issue this year, alongside some wonderful work by Sharon Black, Jo Burns, Graham Clifford, Sally Festing, Chris Hardy, Patricia McCarthy, Sian Thomas and John Vickers, among others.

Stand‘s signature wide & narrow shape, allows for breathing space and all sorts of lineation. Three of my poems really tested the type-setter’s patience! I salute John Whale and his team for giving our words such a fine white paddock to gallop in.

As well as poetry and short stories, Stand also has a short Review section, plus at least one feature article. Elizabeth Cook’s in-depth article on the poet and painter Isaac Rosenberg really hit the spot for me. At Sussex University I studied a course entitled ‘Art and Letters in England (1900-30) and fell in love with Rosenberg’s extraordinary work – another from that gifted generation lost to war.

To buy a copy of Stand (Vol 20, no 1), take out a subscription, or submit your work, please click on: https://www.standmagazine.org/welcome

Channel Magazine + Spelt Advent poetry

We’re several days into Advent already, and I’m enjoying Spelt Magazine’s YouTube calendar with its pithy four line poems popping out from each day’s window. My tiny poem is due on day 14. Check them out here: https://speltmagazine.com/spelt-advent-calendar-2021/

“An issue of a magazine, more so than a collection or anthology, marks its content as belonging to a particular moment in time,” write Channel‘s editors.

“There’s a weightiness to the thought that the work in Issue 5 belongs to a moment in which ways of living and working are hybrid and ever-changing. They align to the flux we find ourselves within, evoking a sense of untetheredness.”

So congratulations to Cassia Gaden Gilmartin and Elizabeth Murtough for bringing together work which reflects the times but avoids the pitfalls of over-stating the obvious. Their biannual print magazine is published in Dublin, and focuses on the interconnection between humans and nature.

Poets in issue 5 include Aiyejinna Abraham O, Pragya Bhagat, Claire Booker, Olga Dugan, Adam van Graan, Cliona O’Connell, Jackson Jesse Nash, Rhona McAdam, Marion Oxley, Cheryl Pearson, Joel Scarfe, Ojo Taiye and Carolyne Wright. Many of the writers are from Ireland, Canada, the United States or the UK, but in this issue alone, there’s also beautiful work from Nigeria, India, South Africa and South Korea.

The magazine also carries three short stories and three essays, including a deeply moving poetic diary of a miscarriage, entitled ‘Snowbird’ by Fergus Hogan.

I love the way Channel launches its issues with a mix of pre-recorded readings by contributors, interspersed with photos, nature videos and art work. You can dip into issue 5’s launch at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie6gJGo7R8I I get to read my two poems at 59 mins 45 secs in.

To order a copy of Channel or submit your work, click on https://channelmag.org/current-issue/

The cover image for issue 5 is by Kevin Mooney: https://kevinmooney.org/

Structo 20 – the lit mag with attitude

You may have seen Structo editor Euan Monaghan’s recent series of YouTube interviews with writers from issue 20. Relaxed and incisive don’t always go together, but Structo is all about surprising juxtapositions, be it poetry, short fiction, photography, translation or feature interview. As one of those interviewed, I can vouch that the experience was a cross between cosy, fireside chat and University entrance interview (I hadn’t read one of the writers mentioned, but I think I got away with it!)

You can watch how I fared (and contrast and compare with other writers interviewed!) by clicking on this link https://youtu.be/HI3zLgfCInQ

There’s plenty of poetry in issue 20 to enjoy from Luigi Coppola, Marie-Andree Auclair, Georgi Gill, Petra Hilgers, Joseph Hardy, Michael Bazzett, Stephanie Limb, Daisy G. Bassen, Daniel Bennett and Claire Booker, and you can also read the winning poem by Jen Stuart Fueston from Structo’s 2019 Lenten Psalm Contest. Psalms as theme? What a brilliant idea!

Plus, there’s a feature interview with Catalan poet, Joan Margarit, who is the first Catalan ever to receive the prestigious Miguel de Cervantes prize. “The safety of home is not so different from the safety of the spirit” he tells Anna Crowe, and discusses the difficulties still faced by Catalan culture. His advice to young poets? “Making a poem means looking inside yourself. Inside you there are millions of things. You have to find among them one thing that may interested someone whom you don’t know at all. You have to make it in such a way that he or she will be astonished, as though they looked into a mirror, and will say in a low voice: This is me . . .“

Also in issue 20, there’s a fascinating ‘workshop’ on the art of translation, where Faroe Island poet Kim Simonsen discusses the strength and weaknesses of Matthew Landrum’s translation of one of his poem. The interviewer? Matthew Landrum! No rights of wrongs, of course; just shades of opinion.

And don’t miss some truly strong short stories from writers including LP Lee, Tom Benn, Joe Bedford and Kate Feld, plus an impressionistic set of black and white landscape photos by Annie Spratt.

You can read back-copies of Structo on the link below, or order a copy of issue 20, https://structomagazine.co.uk/structo/current-issue/

Dreamcatcher 33 – for a ride on the wild side

The latest issue of Dreamcatcher travels down baking highways into  small town America with its drive-in diners, car lots and lonely motels. Thumb a lift in this shining Cadillac of a literary mag and discover poetry and short stories that sit on the edge of dangerous.

Poets in issue 33 include Claire Booker, Carol Coiffait, Mark Connors, Simon French, Alice Harrison, Becci Louise, Eva Strittmatter (in translation and original German), Marc Swan, Tom Vaughan and Susan Wallace.

There’s a nice range of short stories too. I particularly enjoyed Roger Harveys’ tale of trespassing lovers, Forbidden Fruit, and the excellent Merryn Williams’ chilling  Next of Kin about a woman on a life support machine.

There are reviews of books by Thelma Laycock, Graham High, Tanya Nightingale, Jackie Biggs, Bill Dodd, Mark Mansfield and TF Griffin.

Featured artist Horace Panter’s brilliantly brash work blows right through the issue and is described by Art Editor Greg McGee as: “a pop art homage to what is a Kerouacian yearning to travel to altered states, to adventure, to expand horizons: to remaster, in a sense, the myth of The American Dream.”

To buy a copy of Dreamcatcher 33, or submit to the next issue, please visit: www.dreamcatchermagazine.co.uk

Structo interviews North Korea’s ex poet laureate

Can poetry truly exist in a totalitarian state?  Structo (issue 15) unearths some painful answers in its interview with Jang Jin-sung, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s ex poet laureate.

Jang was once employed by Section 5 (Literature), Division 19 (Poetry) of Office 101 of the United Front Department (jeepers  – room 101!) where, as a privleged member of the elite, he was allowed access to Byron’s poetry. It had a profound effect on him.

Now living in South Korea, Jang explains how culture in the DPRK was (and still is) a matter of state politics. “Even on gravestones you cannot write what you want, because when over three people are able to read it, it is considered propaganda and is therefore subject to censorship. No private or individual literature can be written. No artists are free to be creative.”

Structo contributors and editors

More fortunate poets making a mark in Structo’s 15th issue include Daniel Bennett, Claire Booker, Marianne Daniels, Claire Dyer, Siobhan Harvey, Michael Metivier, Timothy Otte, Maria Ferencuhova (translated from Slovak by Juana Adcock) and the eternal Sapho (translated by Kate Wise).

The launch drew contributors from all corners of the UK and was a convivial affair in Oxford’s Albion Beatnik Books, with chat, tea and fabulous chocolate cake.  Holding up the side for poetry were Claire Dyer and myself, both reading some of our work published in this issue. I was particularly moved by Picture This  – Claire’s paean to maternal love (and loss). 

Structo without short fiction would be – well, something else altogether. We were treated to some eye-watering originality from Jude Cook, Stephen Hargadon, Paula Hunter, Dan Micklethwaite and Barbara Rennel who performed their short stories with gusto.

A highlight for me was Stephen Durkan’s one-man blitz of a story ‘A Day in the Life of a Modern Man’. His first published piece, apparently. Bravo Structo for spotting a winning new talent!

Never judge a book by its cover, so the saying goes. But it turns out a good cover is: “a distillation, a haiku, if you will, of the story.” Structo’s interview with leading book cover designers Jennifer Carrow, Daniel Benneworth-Gray and Oliver Munday left me with a much clearer idea of what makes me stop, browse and buy. Think about it next time you make a purchase.

Talking of which, to buy a hard copy of Structo (issue 15) or to submit your work to the magazine, please visit:  www.structomagazine.co.uk   Twitter or Facebook  To download a free copy of Structo (issue 15) click on:  https://issuu.com/structo/docs/structo15

Poems, reviews, short fiction in Under the Radar

The alphabet’s been good to me. I was born with a ‘B’ in my mouth, which means I get to be one of the front runners in alphabetically organised lists through no skill of my own.

Uncommonly for a literary magazine, Under the Radar chooses to present its poetry in alphabetical order. You’d think this would make an awkward flow of poems, kicking randomly against each other. But no; in issue 16, more than fifty poems weave their content, style and layout with panache, offering a truly invigorating read. How did editor Jane Commane manage that?

And  there’s the added advantage that it’s easier to track a poet you know or want to read for a second time if all the work is alphabetically arranged.

Writers in issue 16 include Claire Booker, Natalie Burdett, Andrew Button, Rishi Dastidar, Chris Dodd, Charlotte Gann, James Giddings, Chris Hardy, Jenny Hope, Brian Johnstone, Martin Malone, Joan Michelson, Fiona Moore, Angela Readman, Martin Reed, Marion Tracy and Julia Webb.

There are a couple of short stories, plus thirteen well-argued reviews from Kathleen Bell, Alison Brackenbury, Kim Moore, Pam Thompson, Deborah Tyler-Bennett and Charles Whalley. The clever money appears to be on, among others, Josephine Corcoran’s The Misplaced House; Steve Ely’s Englaland; Kim Moore’s The Art of Falling; Peter Riley’s Due North; and John Tait’s Barearse Boy.

To buy a copy of Under the Radar (Issue 16) or to submit your own work (the current window for short fiction and poetry closes on 30th April) please visit: www.ninearchespress.com

New York has a new Literary Magazine

There’s a new lit mag on the block and it’s scouting for poetry, short fiction and art work for its second issue.

The Beechwood Review is available in digital and print format. While many of its writers are American, New York-based editor Richard Heby is open to contributions from across the globe – including two of my poems which appear in issue 1.

He’s on a mission to share quality work that is concise but packs a punch. Haiku and Tanka are welcome (issue 1 contains  some lovely work by Bukusai Ashagawa and Corey D. Cook) but longer poems (free verse or form) are also welcome so long as they are tight and expressive.

The short fiction is quirky and full of surprises, from Chella Coutington’s 12 line The Pond Heron to Zain Saeed’s enigmatic Madeleine Moment Via Found Phone.

And there’s artwork too – eclectic and delightful, from photography and pop art to work in oils such as W. Jack Savage’s I Followed The GPS and Look Where We Are.

The front cover image is Organic Art #8 by Brandon Glazier, and the back cover (right) is Flores de Granada by Ilsa E Garcia Gonzalez.

To order your collector’s copy of the first edition, please visit:

 www.beechwoodreview.com

To submit work for the next issue, send it in the body of an email to Richard Heby at: beechwoodreview@gmail.com

Ambit 221 – a fruit bowl of art, poetry and short fiction

Ambit is looking absolutely luscious this summer – a splash of fruit and veg on ethereal blue and inside some wonderful reading.

Poems in this issue include work by former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, Sarah Howe, Richard Scott, Declan Ryan, Claire Booker, Malene Engelund, Sally Festing and Robert Selby.

Artwork is on top form, with cover and a palate of work by South Korean artist Hyounsang Yoo, who gives insights into her journey as an artist and her working process. The Summer Salon of images is refreshingly diverse, including ‘Cherries’ by Kes Richardson and ‘Fatal Flower Garden’ by Melanie Bonajo. And as an added extra, Jenny Dunseath’s ‘An image, I’m pleased, I am sad’ is available to download from Ambit’s website as an animated .gif.

Plus short fiction lovers can enjoy stories by Dave Wakely, Marcella O’Connor, Tania Hershman and Jonny Keyworth – from insights into scientific nuns and gay parenthood to the melting pot of cultures that is New York.

To buy your copy of Ambit 221, or subscribe to the magazine, visit:

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