Editor Interview: Time of Singing Contest

"Show not tell" poetry

Journals: The Lyric, Relevant, Ruminate, Image.
Publishers: Wipf and Stock (Resource Publications), Copper Canyon Press

Poetry: Luci Shaw, Madeleine L'Engle, Barbara Crooker, Billy Collins, Ted Kooser, Jane Kenyon, Mary Oliver
Prose: Toni Morrison, Flannery O'Connor, Cormac McCarthy, Frederick Buechner, Bill Watterson

Time Of Singing is a hard copy Christian poetry journal that features challenging, yet accessible poetry. It invites the reader to wrestle with deep questions about religion and our relationships with God, each other, and creation. I don't publish sermons that rhyme or greeting card style verse, both of which have valid but different purposes. I also don't publish work that depends on religious jargon, trite, overworked imagery or easy answers. The market for Christian poetry seems to be shrinking. TOS has been around for 50 years and hopefully for many more.

I would say first that poetry is worthy of your devotion and hard work. Writing a poem can take a long time. Don't think you can just sit down and dash it off. It is a craft as well as an art, and as a craft you have to devote yourself to learning how to use its tools. The best way to know what I'm looking for is to pick up a back issue for $4 (TOS, POB 5276, Conneaut Lake, PA 16316) and study it. At least study the samples on my website www.timeofsinging.com.

They expect to hear back within a week. It is a long and slow process from submission to response to publication. Poetry editors I know do it for the love of the printed word and work long hours for little to no remuneration. I am a one person show, so please be patient. I read every couple months and work to publish you (if accepted) within one year of acceptance. They also expect feedback.I read hundreds of poems a year and cannot comment on them. I only comment on poems close to publication.

I don't require cover letters or ask for a bio. The poems speak for themselves. I discovered early that poets can publish in prestigious journals (congrats to them!) but I have to like their work and sometimes I don't.

I can usually tell within the first few lines but I've been surprised, so I read the entire poem to give each one a fair chance.

I extend a preliminary acceptance then I send them to a volunteer editor who has a fresh eye and brain before I issue a final acceptance.

I do send poets that I intend to publish suggestions for changes. Sometimes they have to be made before I'll publish, other times, I can go either way. If a poet doesn't agree, of course they are free to withdraw their work and submit elsewhere. I do substantive, line, and copy editing as a separate, side business for poets who want to self publish their chapbooks.