|
|
Submitting Poems to Windfall
Windfall is looking for poems of
place, specifically places in the Pacific Northwest (defined as a broad
bioregion extending from the North Slope of Alaska to the Bay Area of
California, and from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast). Place
can be named or unnamed, but if unnamed, then location should be
clearly implied or suggested by observed detail. The poet does not have
to be living in the Pacific Northwest, but the poem does.
Place, whether background or foreground, should be essential to the
meaning of the poem. Place should be vital in the development of the
poem, or the speaker’s perspective, or the texture of image and detail.
Simply attaching a place name to a generic poem of place will not do.
Windfall favors poetry of observed detail that is informed and
accurate, even when it is conflicted about what constitutes informed
and accurate detail. Place to us is not a general metaphor (“where you
are at”), but first of all, actual. As Ezra Pound once said, “The
natural object is always the adequate symbol.”
Windfall regards the term “place” as inclusive of both urban and
natural locales, peopled or unpeopled. If many of the poems we publish
reflect more of nature than the city, this reflects the poetry we
receive, rather than any bias of our own. Most places have been
affected in many ways by human presence, and poems can reflect this.
Within the broad parameters described above, we tend to let the poems
submitted teach us what place is or may mean in poetry.
Since we look for informed and accurate detail, it follows that we
favor poetry based on imagery derived from sensory observation of
surfaces, which, as one writer said, is the only way we have to come to
know the depths. While language as the medium of poetry is an important
consideration, Windfall favors poetry that is about something other
than itself or its language. A poetry of place is another way of
expressing love of the world and of being in the world, perhaps the
fundamental motive and experience of art.
Windfall also favors poetry that occurs in lines and stanzas, mainly
because they tend to be more interesting. Lines and stanzas generate
energy and opportunities for parallelism and complexity that may often
be missing in columns of lines and prose poems. “Lines and stanzas”
does not here mean “meter and rhyme.” We have nothing against meter and
rhyme, and have in fact published several sonnets. Rather, we advocate
a different dispensation, as old as orality, wherein poetry was
organized by the content of its themes, figures, imagery, and
perspective, rather than by formalized rhythm and sound (with which, as
Robert Bringhurst says, poets began to “farm” language in neat rows).
We have published the occasional column of lines and the occasional
prose poem, when these reflect place well, which is our first
consideration. But lines and stanzas mean the poet is inviting us to
use our inferential powers, to be active readers, and this is what we
look for.
More about poetry of place can be found in the Afterwords written by
the editors for every issue. These short essays attempt to indicate
past traditions, further readings, and a variety of perspectives on
what might constitute poetry of place. They are not prescriptive of any
approach, but are meant to suggest and inspire the writing of poems.
All Afterwords may be downloaded from the Windfall web site: <http://www.hevanet.com/windfall>.
Windfall accepts only work that has been previously unpublished. If a
poem has appeared in another periodical or book, then it has already
found readers, and we would rather provide opportunity for new work to
be read. Though you may have already published a poem of place that
would be perfect for Windfall, keep in mind Jack Spicer’s admonition:
“There are always plenty of poems.” Place, fully conceived, is an
inexhaustible source.
Submissions of up to five short poems (not exceeding fifty lines each)
should include a self-addressed return envelope with first-class
postage and (optionally) an e-mail address. The name, address, and (if
applicable) e-mail address should appear on every page. E-mail
submissions are welcome, preferably as an attachment in MS Word.
Windfall’s e-mail address: <bsiverly@comcast.net>.
Otherwise, send hard copies to:
Editors, Windfall Press
P.O. Box 19007
Portland, OR 97280-0007
Deadlines for submission are August 1 for the fall issue and February 1
for the spring issue. It’s a good idea to send poems close to the
deadline for the particular issue of Windfall you are submitting for.
Since we make no editorial decisions until after the deadline, we will
be holding your poems until then. Better they should stay with you for
further revision, for, as Frost said, “Poems are never finished, only
abandoned.”
Payment in copies only.
Questions? Write to <bsiverly@comcast.net>.
|
