NewPages Blog :: New Magazine Issues

One of my absolute favorite monthly publications, Poetry Magazine never ceases to engage me in the thresholds of change in our literary community. The September 2022 issue, with guest editor Esther Berlin, addresses concerns we have all witnessed and/or been part of transforming. “Dear Reader,” opens: “Honor, celebration, and memory come to mind when I think about the idea of monuments. The process of harnessing collective moments into a physical manifestation, something representational of the essence that surges a person’s core—that’s a monument. All the feels—rage, suffering, release, distrust, comfort, melancholy, ambivalence, ache, compassion, mercy, the urgency to remedy—contribute to constituting and dismantling monuments.” And, addressing both the internal workings at the Poetry Foundation, itself in a process of rebuilding, and those in our surrounding communities, Berlin continues, “This special issue brings attention to the idea of monuments in order to map and reframe contrived or mythical systems of power, to extend narratives through repositioning focal points.” And closes, “In my last issue as guest editor, I invite you to celebrate with me poetry as monuments, as unifying offerings, the revising of history of so many existing monuments, erased and rubbed out, and now redrawn. The unsaid no longer ruminating, no longer a hungry ghost, no longer a missed call.”

Contributors to this issue include Martín Tonalmeyotl, Kierstin Bridger, Lucas Jorgensen, Mansi Dahal, Rena Priest, Janelle Tan, Vance Couperus, Henk Rossouw, Crisosto Apache, Keith S. Wilson, Amber McCrary, Kenzie Allen, Lesley Wheeler, Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach, Krystyna Dąbrowska, Serena Rodriguez, Daniela Ema Aguinsky, Spring Ulmer, Joan Naviyuk Kane, Bes Bajraktarević, Tyler Mitchell, Ajibola Tolase, Christopher Shipman, Joan Wickersham, A. Van Jordan, and Walter Ancarrow.

The July/August issue of Poetry Magazine is guest-edited by Esther Belin, a Diné (Navajo) multimedia artist and writer, and is dedicated to the topic of  Land Acknowledgments. In the “Dear Reader” introduction, she writes:

“One of the biggest take backs is the re-territorializing of language. In this issue, quite a number of Indigenous writers are expanding poetics, resuscitating tribal languages, refashioning the English language with tribal meter, rhythm, and sound. I hope more than a few readers will understand the significance of this feat. Little more than fifty years ago, many of these writers would have been overlooked, misunderstood, or questioned about the legitimacy of their poetics. This volume acknowledges the history of racism and privilege in how access to publishing has been extended and the selection process of those eventually published. This volume acknowledges that the represented writers merely hint at the momentum of literary sovereignty occurring in Indian country, in addition to Indigenous writers throughout the globe.”

Writers included in this seminal issue are Allison Akootchook Warden, Manny Loley, Beth Piatote, Dean Rader, Abigail Chabitnoy, Valerie Wallace, Elise Paschen, Gabriel Dunsmith, Anthony Cody, Max Early, Franklin K.R. Cline, Michael Thompson, Megha Rao, Jayant Kashyap, Hao Guang Tse, Micaela Merryman, Halee Kirkwood, Ariana Benson, Arthur Sze, Michelle Whitstone, Tina Deschenie, Majda Gama, Ibe Liebenberg, Carol Moldaw, Toni Giselle Stuart, Jake Skeets, Laura Da’, Jay Wieners, Yvonne, Jennifer Militello, Krysten Hill, Jessica Kim, Khải Đơn, Yaccaira Salvatierra, Bai Juyi, Tim Tim Cheng, and Adedayo Agarau. There is also an interview with Arthur Sze. Poetry Magazine and its many wonderful resources are free online.