tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post4511618795765289981..comments2023-10-27T07:29:26.285+00:00Comments on Polyolbion: The long and the short of itMatt Merritthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12371656447328595720noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-86658451508212366462011-08-07T20:15:47.461+00:002011-08-07T20:15:47.461+00:00Yes, sorry Alan, I should have specified print mag...Yes, sorry Alan, I should have specified print mags. I think you're right that one of the great things about online mags is the scope they give for innovative presentation, including publishing much longer poems.<br /><br />With you all the way on Tears In The Fence, too. It's not just the longer poems - the space they give to reviews and essays is refreshing.Matt Merritthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12371656447328595720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-60109124292964361652011-08-07T07:51:35.662+00:002011-08-07T07:51:35.662+00:00Hi Matt, I'm guessing your referring print mag...Hi Matt, I'm guessing your referring print magazines. The only print magazine I submit to is Tears in the Fence, and they accept poems that run into several pages. In fact, apart from TIF, I only read online magazines, and there, of course, there's no restriction on length and a lot more scope in terms of presentation.Alan Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04600883215748277587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-15237691835717747842011-07-29T19:32:45.464+00:002011-07-29T19:32:45.464+00:00It may be something cultural, but I think a lot of...It may be something cultural, but I think a lot of Westerners (I know that's a very general term !) feel we haven't got a proper poem on our hands if it's only 4 lines, say, or 6. As if we're short-changing the reader ! I know this is rubbish, really, because if all poems hovered around the 40-line mark, how tedious THAT would be !<br /><br /> I'm like you, Matt : I tend to write poems that end up being maybe 20-25 lines. Not because of any advanced planning ! Short poems (under 10 lines, say) are in many ways the hardest because a single "wrong" word (like a wrong note in a short piece of music) is very, very obvious.panthernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-85518624107558415542011-07-27T14:27:48.693+00:002011-07-27T14:27:48.693+00:00Rialto once accepted a haiku that I sent with 2 lo...Rialto once accepted a haiku that I sent with 2 longer pieces - 20 quid for 17 syllables! I don't recall my success rate with that particular tactic, but I do ok with the more general idea of including something a bit different - comic, short or rhyming:) - in an otherwise standard batch of poems in case the eds are looking to plug a particular gap. Larkin said he was surprised how often eds accepted the poem that he'd sent in only to make the others look good.Tim Lovehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00578925224900533603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-44578424303178631852011-07-27T12:31:17.605+00:002011-07-27T12:31:17.605+00:00Yes, I think you're right that the 1 poem per ...Yes, I think you're right that the 1 poem per page rule at some mags works against both short and long poems.<br /><br />When you send a short with two longer poems, have you noticed any particular rate of success, Tim?Matt Merritthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12371656447328595720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3270024178512866290.post-91944384186213724852011-07-26T15:23:51.113+00:002011-07-26T15:23:51.113+00:00I think I must have been influence by UK magazines...I think I must have been influence by UK magazines. Rialto's format (with some 2 column pages) encourages thin poems, and they sometimes have 4 poems/page, which gives short poems a chance. Other mags have a 1 poem/page rule, so unless your haiku's astonishing, you'll have little chance with them. I've had poems rejected at least in part because they go a line or 2 over the page. <br /><br />I often send a short piece with 2 longer pieces when I send to mags. I've sometimes bundled some very short, barely related pieces into a sequence.Tim Lovehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00578925224900533603noreply@blogger.com