What (Verbatim) Poetry Editors Don't Want

17 Clifford E. Landers What (Verbatim) Poetry Editors Don't Want We have been getting a rash of unpublishable stuff lately. We are looking for intelligence, not just words. Don't send us poems if you don't read poetry. We are frequently asked what kind of poetry we prefer; the good sort. They must come in and hit me. We publish what we like and let it go at that. Make sure your submission has something to do with animals and is not too out there. Looking for poetry related to pipes, pipe smoking, cigars, tobacco. We publish whatever reduces us to confetti. If you're not going to blow our heads off, don't cock the gun. Please no "I love God" poems. You should probably send your godless stuff elsewhere. Do not use overly academic work; prefer living poetry. No pale, hothouse yearnings, please, or self-conscious memos about your heightened difficulties as a poet. Not interested in "poor-me" poems, vague philosophical woolgathering, confessional self-pity or puffery, or five-finger exercises (no matter how "competent"). We want you to do your own thing and isn't that what art is all about? Do not send your life's work. No didactic greeting card cliche ridden verse. Named emotion and greeting cards will be returned in flaming envelopes. Interested in images, not poetry that would work better as fiction. 18 the minnesota review Poems should remind me of American coyotes, and pearls suckled in the navels of Polynesian virgins. Unsloppily, so that the experiment is not confused with error. The alternative to a lively bout of oral sex. Many write what they call poetry, which in reality is nothing more than an attempt at letter writing. The subject is the least important aspect of a poem. If you haven't heard in a month, something's wrong. ...