Editor Interview: Seven CirclePress

Affirmations of the world

Writers' Bloc (Rutgers), The San Pedro River Review, Foundling Review, anything from the Corresponding Society, EarthSpeak Magazine (I sure do admire that editor).

Of the well known and the greats I love Keats, Shelley, Rilke, Neruda, James Wright, Charles Wright, Mark Strand, Jane Hirshfield, Tagore, Milosz, Rolf Jacobson, The writers of the Upanishads.
Less known but still great are Kapka Kassabova, Tobi Cogswell, Taylor Graham, David Chorlton, William Taylor JR, Robert Snyderman, Steve Klepetar and A.D. Winans.

First off our journal ,CircleShow, is published online for free in a PDF format twice yearly. Authors works are also included in our online alphabetical contributors list on a rolling basis. So you can find you favorite author in our index and read their work (consolidated in one place if they have appeared in multiple issues) as soon as they are accepted. Authors also have the option to have their work posted online under either a standard copyright or a Creative Commons License.
Issues are also made available in print editions, released at the same time as the free online version. All contributors receive a free printed edition.
We are also now moving more towards book publication. Submissions to our first chapbook contest have just closed (winner to be announced in June 2010) and we have just released our first full-length specially solicited publication, Into by Christopher Sweeney, Robert Snyderman & Lonely Christopher.

Follow the guidelines, don't be afraid to ask questions if your confused (I am friendly), and for the love of God name your poems. The chances of SCP publishing anything sent as Untitled or * are exceptionally low.
Also I like Bukowski, but dislike the strong strain of Bukowski wannabes currently prevalent on the indie lit scene. I gravitate more towards poetry of numinous potential, poetry of the "deep image" as James Wright called it, and much less towards the reductionist, down and out type writing that is currently so widespread.

One that follows all the guidelines, including a short bio. One that does not start "To Whom It May Concern". One I read in the morning mid coffee. One that has no ridiculous formatting. One that makes me either weep for love of life, or howl from the deep spots of my being.

They do not send it in a common font (though I realize such things may get changed due to platform differences). They do not send a short bio or it consists of nothing but publication credits. They send attachments (Don't do this except on special occasions, such as for chapbook contest submissions). They clearly have not read any of SCP's published material (it's online for free), and/or have apparently never read another poets work in their life.

Nothing official is needed. A casual hello, this is where I heard about you, this is why I am submitting to you, is nice though. Also I like publication credits, but please send only the most recent or most prestigious, I don't want a list of 30. Also if you have never been published before, I am still happy to consider your work and have already published a handful of previously unpublished voices.
But a bio, a short bio is necessary, and it can be as quirky as you like.

I try to read most poems to the end, except for in the case of the rare epic, but I probably won't publish an epic regardless of quality.
However from time to time I am 100% sure I don't want a piece, and even more so can't make it to the end. It does happen from time to time.

In the past I have tried to engage friends and fellow editors at least partially in the selection process, and I am trying to maintain such a practice especially in consideration of chapbooks and larger projects. However for the most part submissions are read and evaluated by me alone. After an initial reading I will either outright reject a piece or set it aside for further consideration. I tend to read all accepted pieces about 5-6 times before accepting them, and by read I mean spend a hefty amount of time with each one living in the spaces of the work. This usually takes over a month.

It starts with a cup of either coffee or mate, and usually a little guilty grumbling session as I look at my overflowing inbox. I used to sift through submissions daily, now I usually do about 5-10 during the week, and spend 2-4 hours each weekend just looking over submissions. SCP is a passion of mine, and I now publish books and run another online Journal called EarthSpeak. All of these are done outside of my labor intensive conservation/restoration career and they tend to be my form of rest. Which is good, because that means I read them all in a relaxed mood, when the resistances of consciousness are lowered and the words and images can more easily enter my mind. I read submissions when most other people I know are watching movies or circling bars, it's my passion and recreation.