Editor Interview: Blue Unicorn

Poems that are not lazy.

Orbis, The Listening Eye, Seventh Quarry, Trinacria.

Among the classics, the Modernist canon from Dickinson to Dylan Thomas; some contemporary favorites are Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Dan Campion, Glyn Maxwell, Constance Rowell Mastores, Fred Ostrander, Oliver Rice, Kay Ryan,

We are unusually open to verse that contemporary taste may label "obscure" or "mannerist." We are looking for lines that are markedly different from prose, that show extra work being done with the language. This work may take the form of rhyme and meter, but may also yield wild imagery, unusual twists of language, or simply very evocative physical observations,

Be sure to include the things that you like yourself but might think too odd or extreme to try elsewhere.

Three to five poems. There isn't much else to say. There's no way to gauge an editor's tastes but by trying.

Sending revisions after submitting, putting multiple poems on a page, using non-standard paper sizes, printing on a fading cartridge, failing to identify submitter (with address) on every page, and, of course, omitting SASE in postal submissions.

Cover letters and bios don't affect acceptance, but it is useful to have bio information on hand for possible use in setting up an issue.

We read almost every piece to the end, but it takes an awfully good middle or dynamite end to overcome a flat beginning.

None.

A stack gets read at intervals, rarely more than half an hour at a time, or judgement dulls. Poems seem to fall into three groups: obvious Yeses, obvious Noes, and a middle group of pieces that look different on successive readings or to different pairs of eyes. These are the ones that require most attention.

Very rarely, we query the author about a seeming error. Otherwise, no editing.

Pushcart.