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Editor Interview: The Syzygy Poetry Journal

This interview is provided for archival purposes. The listing is not currently active.

Q: Describe what you publish in 25 characters or less.

A: Silvery thoughtscapes...

Q: What other current publications (or publishers) do you admire most?

A: Anything edible from toilet graffiti to condom boxes, Android app ratings to discussion threads, body language to airport traffic semaphore, stuff that place my longings where art can germinate.

Q: If you publish writing, who are your favorite writers? If you publish art, who are your favorite artists?

A: I've got quite a slew:
(Beat.)
(Beat.)
Oh wait let me get back back to you on that. e.e. cummings is shouting profanities in my study.

Q: What sets your publication apart from others that publish similar material?

A: It's uncommonly good in a way that it jolts the reader back to a place they consciously knew or where their senses were all at their full command before they got lost in the hurdy-gurdy of administrivia. Or self-loathing. Whichever comes first.

Q: What is the best advice you can give people who are considering submitting work to your publication?

A: You can be as avant garde as a jackfruit-bearing atheist baobab tree, but you still need a palpable narrative arc for your poems.

Q: Describe the ideal submission.

A: Short, simple, and one without superficial trimmings that only call attention to or expose the level of maturity of the authorial voice.

Q: What do submitters most often get wrong about your submissions process?

A: We at The Syz believe that all humans of the thinking species especially those who have the chutzpah to call themselves Poets are the most perfect submitters. In short, nobody so far has disproven our running assumption about their IQ vis a vis their shoe size.

Q: How much do you want to know about the person submitting to you?

A: You mean if we care about cover letters, or if lists of previous publication credits matter to us? The answer is no to both. The last thing we need are non sequitur white noise and ego-driven preambles. On second thought, however, in light of man's ever-expanding nomenclature for things worth referencing, the editorial need for a decent introduction must be satisfied.

Q: If you publish writing, how much of a piece do you read before making the decision to reject it?

A: We're a lean and mean team where every member gets to read at least twice each piece, and sometimes we get the opinion of the Starbucks crew who happens to serve us while we discuss or read in their zone.

Q: What additional evaluations, if any, does a piece go through before it is accepted?

A: We always look for the extra glint in or behind a poem's light.

Q: What is a day in the life of an editor like for you?

A: Not sure what you mean by that; my circadian rhythm is malfunctioning for the longest time. Although my friends tell me that, before they knock at my bedroom, they could make out an ongoing dialogue between me and either Gordot, or Dwight, my roommates. The first is a koi, the other a Turkish Van cat. We three seldom do cook outs. We love our couch.

Q: How important do you feel it is for publishers to embrace modern technologies?

A: Technology is both a boon and a bane to almost any aspect of human existence. And content is always the star of the Truman Show. The Syzygy Poetry Journal is only one of the many life-affirming, art-enhancing universes on cyber. But shine bright like a diamond!