Editor Interview: Brick Road Poetry Press

Entertaining poetry!

I'm a big fan of FutureCycle Poetry. Robert S. King at FutureCycle has been a personal mentor to me and has assisted us in tremendous ways in developing our press. The FutureCycle website features some wonderful poetry and their annual collection is a must read.
Others I enjoy include Southern Poetry Review and The Atlanta Review.
I recently discovered Rattle: Poetry for the 21st Century, which has a wonderful sense of humor and tends to publish poetry that has surprise twists. I love to be surprised by the point of view or the observation of the poem. For instance, Rattle published a poem by Reeves Keyworth entitled "On Loved Ones Telling the Dying to 'Let Go'" that speaks from the collective "we" of the dying. That one gave me chills!

My favorite poets include the following: Kim Addonizio, Ken Babstock, Coleman Barks, Billy Collins, Morri Creech, Alice Friman, Beth A. Gylys, Jane Hirshfield, Jane Kenyon, Ted Kooser, Stanley Kunitz, Thomas Lux, Michael Meyerhofer, Linda Pastan, Mark Strand, and Natasha D. Trethewey.

We are specifically looking for poetry that will entertain, amuse, and edify. It's not enough if the poetry is loaded with accurate details and interesting words. The whole poem must welcome the reader into the universe of the poem. The poems we publish have a coherent human voice, a sense of humor, narratives with surprise twists, personas that conjure a speaker (from literature, art, or popular media), intense depiction of a scene, setting, or experience, and/or philosophical or spiritual concepts explored through concrete image, illustration or drama. We don't publish poetry that is designed to be difficult or shocking. We like voices that invite you into a pleasurable and edifying experience. We also avoid half-baked poetry where the idea or language never achieves liftoff.

Before submitting to Brick Road Poetry Press, ask yourself whether you are a generous writer who desires to connect with the rest of the world. If your poems are geared to be engaging to a wide audience and you have crafted them with diligence and artistry, we want to see them. On the other hand, if your poems are mysterious even to yourself or were written just to deal with traumas or heartaches in your life, then please look elsewhere. Also ask yourself whether you are actively seeking an audience for your poetry. Do you participate in poetry readings, workshops, and conferences? These are fantastic ways to connect with others and to generate interest in your work. If you write and live in private seclusion, think about breaking out of that shell before submitting a manuscript to us. We would ideally like to be involved with poets who embrace reaching out, who welcome the chance to present poetry through various media (including audio, animation, and videos), and who will pound the pavement looking for opportunities to share their work with the world.

Our ideal submission is one that entertains and amuses us from the first poem to the last. If the collection explorers more serious topics, experiences, and/or emotions, we hope to be affected deeply, lifted into outer space or gut punched with real force. We realize that lengthy collections are bound to have a few clunkers here and there, so we can forgive that. There’s always the possibility of editing the collection after acceptance. The main thing at the submission stage is to surprise us with the twists and turns in the poems. Don't force us to play a guessing game about what is going on. It's obviously important that there be a minimum of errors in the text, so be sure to proofread and get others to proofread and edit your work before sending it to us. We're looking for those submissions that deliver in terms of humor, drama, and persona. If you consider your work to be “studiously serious” or of the “highest literary” merit, you might be submitting to the wrong publishers. Of course, we love “literature” and well-crafted writing, but we can spot it a million miles away if your style is overly serious in an “academic” way.

So far the submission process has gone smoothly. Just a couple of poets have emailed me prior to submitting because they had technical issues with the submission manager. I mostly tell them to try again because we know the submission manager works. It could be a server error that would correct itself later. Basically go ahead and submit without the query.

Please include a cover letter with poetry publication/recognition highlights. Also include the collection title in the cover letter. We like to develop a connection with the poet as well as the poetry. To that end, we would appreciate hearing about how poetry came to prominence in your life and what your goals are as a poet (particularly in terms of your craft and reaching an audience). If so inclined (OPTIONAL), we invite you to also to respond to this prompt: If you could share a private meal and one-on-one conversation with any person whether from this time or another, whether real or imagined, who would you pick and why?

My Co-editor, Ron Self, tends to read the entire manuscript. However, since we ask for 50 to 100 pages of poetry, it's quite difficult for me to force myself to read the entire manuscript in the first phase of screening submissions. If I get to page 10 or 15 and haven't been thrilled yet, it's unlikely I'll continue reading.

Ron Self, my Co-editor, and I must agree 100% on any acceptances. If one of us finds a manuscript that he likes, the other will read or re-read it with an open mind. We tend to have very similar tastes, so thus far we've had extremely easy decisions.

I try to do an initial screening of manuscripts within a few days of receiving them. Often this happens on the weekend, since this press is not my primary employment. I usually read the first 5 - 10 pages of a given manuscript and then categorize. If it's an obvious "no," I mark it as such at this point. If the manuscript seems at all well written, I'll mark it "consider further" or "read again." Whenever Ron and I talk, we share opinions about which ones seem worthy of publication. The last stage is answering the question, "Do we want to publish this one?" We try to decide quickly, since we accept simultaneous submissions and don't want to lose one that we happen to love.