Tag Archives: traditional verse

Resources, updated: 21 formal-only (or nearly so) magazines and presses

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An email enquiry that I received about formal-only poetry magazines makes me think I should update my resources list with that focus.

Able Muse – US magazine and press; website is not always completely current
Asses of Parnassus – Canada: short, witty, formal poems, snarky is fine, hosted on Tumblr.
Blue Unicorn – US: print only; prefers formal but will take other work
Chained Muse – US: prefers classical themes. Dodgy political bias
Crab Orchard Review – US
Extreme Formal series of anthologies from Rhizome Press. US.
Grand Little Things – US: “Returning versification to verse”
Light – US: large biannual issue, also the home of weekly topical light verse
Lighten Up Online (LUPO) – UK: light formal verse, quarterly
Lyric – US: “Founded in 1921, The Lyric is the oldest magazine in North America in continuous publication devoted to traditional poetry.” Lyrical, positive… flowers and countryside.
New Verse Review – US
Poetry Porch – US: lyrical
Pulsebeat Poetry Journal – US
Road Not Taken: The Journal of Formal Poetry – US: hard to find online because of its name, but a good small publication for formal and semi-formal verse.
Snakeskin – UK: probably the longest-established poetry zine in the world; no longer 100% formal, but still a great favourite.
Sonnet Scroll – US: a sonnet-specialized alcove on the Poetry Porch
Sonneteer – US: substack emails
The HyperTexts (THT) – US: an enormous assemblage of verse from all times and places; the editor’s personal preference for formal and leftist verse doesn’t rule out selections by Walt Whitman or Ronald Reagan! The works are mostly republications, but if you have a body of strong work the editor may be interested in creating a page for you.
Think – US
Verse-Virtual – US: a monthly publication for a caring community of poets
and finally:
Wergle-Flomp Humor Poetry Contest, No Fee – US: $3,750 in prize money

“Lyme Park, Cheshire – Formal garden” by reds on tour is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Richard Fleming, ‘The Railway Line – in memory of John Simpson’

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We walked together side by side,
at dusk along the disused line,
restless and glad to be outside.
I had Woodbines, you brought cheap wine.
Fifteen, unthinkingly alive,
truants from our suburban drive,
we talked excitedly of life
how we had cracked it, knew the score.
We worked the cork out with your knife
then drank sweet wine and wanted more.
We smoked our fags, ignored the cold,
could not imagine being old.

*****

Richard Fleming writes: “The Railway Line is an old poem, rescued from the archives, that remains dear to me. In it, I’ve attempted to recapture the heady recklessness of my early teenage years when the world seemed full mysteries, and friendships were more intense than those I later formed in adulthood. John didn’t make it past his early twenties so he remains, in my memories of him, forever rebellious and young.”

Richard Fleming is an Irish-born poet currently living in Guernsey, a small island midway between Britain and France. His work has appeared in various magazines, most recently Snakeskin, Bewildering Stories, Lighten Up Online, the Taj Mahal Review and the Potcake Chapbook ‘Lost Love’, and has been broadcast on BBC radio. He has performed at several literary festivals and his latest collection of verse, Stone Witness, features the titular poem commissioned by the BBC for National Poetry Day. He writes in various genres and can be found at www.redhandwriter.blogspot.com or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/richard.fleming.92102564/

“railway lines” by apdk is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Short Poem: ‘The Hitchhiker’

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Sometimes you’d sell your soul just to get warm! –
Your clothes are rags in the wind, your skin goes blue,
You doubt your mouth can ever smile again;
The lonely world grows dark before the storm
Whose icy rain’s a mile away… and then,
The sun breaks through!

I used to do a lot of hitchhiking – 25,000 miles is my best estimate, on five continents. It can be miserable, it can be ecstatic, but as a way of exploring the world without plans and preconceptions, it’s hard to beat. It used to be safe, then it became unsafe, but now it’s probably safe again – if you send a picture of the vehicle from your cell phone before you get in. Or if you live on an island with no public transportation, where everyone seems to know everyone and it’s just common courtesy to give people a ride.

The poem was published in the now-defunct Candelabrum, a twice-yearly British publication that championed traditional verse through the darkest days of “free verse” from 1970 to 2010. The magazine has ceased publication, but thank goodness the sun has broken through again!

“Winter Road” by ryanmcgilchrist is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0