Editor Interview: River Heron Review

Crafted poems with vision

West Trade Review, Crab Creek Review, Chestnut Review, Terrain, Orion, San Pedro River Review, MER, Sky Island, SWWIM, Radar Poetry among others. We admire those journals that publish a variety of forms, styles, and voices and that exhibit an awareness of contemporary cultural subjects and vulnerabilities.

Ada Limon, for her accessibility, surprise, and precise language
Paisley Rekdal, for her community outreach projects, such as her public work on the the US’s transcontinental railroad and Chinese immigrants.
Tracy Brimhall for her mesmerizing hybrid work wedding the surreal with the deeply personal.
Ellen Bass, for brilliance and heart in celebrating the things of this world--and for her leaps and turns in the process.
Patricia Smith, for her incorporation of BIPOC histories, her humor and for the depth and range of her vision.
Mark Doty, for his work of careful attention to what’s both fragile and transcendent in our world, and for the way his art gives shape to our human lives.
Jake Skeets, for his intimate portrayals of Navajo masculinity growing out of his experience of indigent landscapes that are brutally beautiful.
Ross Gay, for his poeticizing of joy without sentimentality.
Terrence Hayes, for his speculative, often hilarious satires, including that of Donald Trump in his sonnet collection.
Mary Oliver, for her elegant attention to every ordinary and spectacular thing we commonly overlook in our natural world.
Nicole Brown, for her fresh and urgent language for how we negotiate transformative relationships with the more-than-human animal world.

We recognize the value of community to the creative process. We offer opportunities for poets to remain connected with us and each other through a range of workshops led by highly accomplished facilitators, through our monthly newsletter, as well as readings on Zoom, and our annual “writing re-charge” retreat in the Pennsylvania Poconos. Also, all poems that are published in River Heron are chosen exclusively from those that are sent to us through Submittable. We do not solicit poems. All work starts on an equal footing.

Be certain your work dramatizes something at stake for the reader as well as for the writer.
Edit thoroughly and carefully. Crafting counts. Titles count. Line breaks count.
Read what’s on the website for an idea of RHR’s aesthetic and the types of work we accept.

As above! And one that follows submission guidelines.

The most common error in our submission queue is the inclusion of a name or identifying information in the file name or document.

Prior to acceptance, we do not need information about the submitter. All of our submissions are read anonymously; thus, we would not see it. Once a piece has been accepted, we ask for a bio. We want the bios to be informative of the person’s accomplishments, in brief, and include just enough personal information to have a feel for the writer’s personality. We also ask for a headshot and include that on the writer’s page along with the bio, a statement indicating the inspiration for the poem, and social media monikers.

Generally speaking, we read the entire piece, and most often, more than once.

Our poems are read first by experienced readers, all accomplished poets on their own. Any poem achieving at least one “go ahead” score will then be read by first the Poetry Editor, then the Editor. Recommended poems are then reread and discussed for acceptance by the Poetry Editor and the Editor together. Some poems will be accepted at this stage. Should a poem be held for future consideration, a team of editors will meet to discuss the poem and make a final determination. So, at the least, an accepted poem will have gone through five evaluations. Yes, we take our responsibility to honor your work seriously.

Like all editors, I imagine, on any given day, I suit up for nearly any task! There are emails to attend to, phone calls, submissions to decide, a website to update, and a myriad of other activities, all of which I find immensely rewarding.

We will edit for clarity or errors, as needed. We will also make suggestions for edits that will strengthen the poem only so long as the change does not compromise the poet's intent. We work with the writer in all cases.

We nominate for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Work we have nominated has gone on to receive Pushcart Special Mention as well as a Pushcart Prize for Hayden Saunier for her poem "Grammar Lesson, Spring 2022."