Editors on Poetry

What do you expect from a poet whose work you already know? Journal What makes work from a new poet exciting?

That they consistently confound my expectations in one way or another. That they keep moving forward and take me with them.
Agni

Erin Belieu
Perhaps a resistance to workshop-thinking at a tender age would be very useful...

We try to read blind as much as possible and let the poetry stand on its own.
Calyx
Beverly McFarland
Fresh perspective and ideas and use of imagery, good craft; work that addresses important issues that affect us all—work with energy and life in it—with well-constructed language and images.

You always hope that people will send you their best.
The Formalist
William Baer
Originality or freshness in either subject or expression.

Something similar, but fresh.
The Gettysburg Review
Peter Stitt

*

I expect that poet to send me poems as good as the ones I first accepted. I enjoy continuing correspondence with a poet whose work I’ve accepted.
The Ledge
Timothy Monaghan
A primary purpose of The Ledge is to publish great poems by writers who haven’t been extensively published. I’m always optimistic when I open an envelope by a poet whose name I don’t know.

We hope that they continue to produce work of the quality that we admire and that they will reveal more aspects of themselves in new work.
The Northern Centinel
Ellen Rachlin and Lucie Aidinoff
As a periodical that attempts to hold standard criteria for acceptance, we are thrilled to allow a new writer to be read.

Assuming it’s a poet I admire, the work must live up to that poet’s own standard of excellence, or demonstrate an unusual facet of that poet’s work.
Quarterly West
M.L. Williams
Freshness of voice, and, given the proliferation of creative writing programs, an aesthetic survivor of the workshop sausage grinder mentality.

Some change; something new coupled with the earlier mentioned qualities.
Southern Poetry Review
Ken McLaurin
The fresh voice that is controlled—interesting form and imagery at the poet’s behest—resulting in a consummate whole.

That I will read the new work attentively. Do I expect “change”? No. Is change even possible? One looks for variations on an admired theme.
The Yale Review
J.D. McClatchy
That it is new to one. After years of editing, this is a rare sensation, but nothing gives an editor more pleasure than presenting good work by a newcomer.

What do you expect from a poet whose work you already know?	*Journal*	What makes work from a new poet exciting?
That they consistently confound my expectations in one way or another. That they keep moving forward and take me with them.	Agni Erin Belieu	Perhaps a resistance to workshop-thinking at a tender age would be very useful...
We try to read blind as much as possible and let the poetry stand on its own.	Calyx Beverly McFarland	Fresh perspective and ideas and use of imagery, good craft; work that addresses important issues that affect us all—work with energy and life in it—with well-constructed language and images.
You always hope that people will send you their best.	The Formalist William Baer	Originality or freshness in either subject or expression.
Something similar, but fresh.	The Gettysburg Review Peter Stitt	*
I expect that poet to send me poems as good as the ones I first accepted. I enjoy continuing correspondence with a poet whose work I’ve accepted.	The Ledge Timothy Monaghan	A primary purpose of The Ledge is to publish great poems by writers who haven’t been extensively published. I’m always optimistic when I open an envelope by a poet whose name I don’t know.
We hope that they continue to produce work of the quality that we admire and that they will reveal more aspects of themselves in new work.	The Northern Centinel Ellen Rachlin and Lucie Aidinoff	As a periodical that attempts to hold standard criteria for acceptance, we are thrilled to allow a new writer to be read.
Assuming it’s a poet I admire, the work must live up to that poet’s own standard of excellence, or demonstrate an unusual facet of that poet’s work.	Quarterly West M.L. Williams	Freshness of voice, and, given the proliferation of creative writing programs, an aesthetic survivor of the workshop sausage grinder mentality.
Some change; something new coupled with the earlier mentioned qualities.	Southern Poetry Review Ken McLaurin	The fresh voice that is controlled—interesting form and imagery at the poet’s behest—resulting in a consummate whole.
That I will read the new work attentively. Do I expect “change”? No. Is change even possible? One looks for variations on an admired theme.	The Yale Review J.D. McClatchy	That it is new to one. After years of editing, this is a rare sensation, but nothing gives an editor more pleasure than presenting good work by a newcomer.