January 2010
Dear Friends,
NEW FEATURE: With the Poetry and Song issue of last spring, The Poetry Porch has introduced audio files. You can hear poets reading, even singing, their verse where indicated. If you would like to include an audio version of your poem that is already posted on the Porch pages, please send an mp3 file by email or on disk through US mail.
It seems that, despite the economic downturn, the poetry community is more energized than ever—with more readings, presses, books, festivals—more than one person can possibly attend. This determination, and trust, in the creation and publication of poetry flies in the face of diminishing book sales. The newspaper has been declared defunct in some circles. Digital media threaten to replace the word in the classroom. Yet remember when the cry went up at mid-twentieth century that the novel was dead? At the same time, some were sure that visual media would destroy interest in images painted on canvas, and that cotton fabric would disappear, to be replaced by nylon and polyester. While The Poetry Porch is exclusively an Internet publication, we remain fully committed to paper and the printed word, to book publication and book stores, to drafts and revisions, to the perfect and imperfect collected, bound, and saved in folders and files, and to the distinct, labor-intensive, and carefully articulated discipline of criticism.
The Poetry Porch is assembling poetry, essays, and reviews now for the next issue. We are also interested in original sonnets to add to The Sonnet Scroll. OPTION: You may include mp3 (audio) files to be considered with submitted poems, or send such files after your submission has been accepted, or choose to have your poem presented only visually.
Deadline for all works: March 31, 2010.
Best wishes,
Joyce Wilson