books 2007: West Wind Review, 25, 2006
Journal information: Published out of Southern Oregon University. Active reading period: June to November (but it says "Deadline: December 1", which doesn't make any sense because it says that right after the part where it says "submissions received from December to May will be held for the following reading period." WTF? Maybe it's just a typo on the handout I got from AWP?). No website, but I'll send you the address and detailed submission info if you want it. http://home.sou.edu/~westwind/
I didn't really get excited about much of the poetry in this issue. The prose was better. Randy Kalista's story, "The Cat's Guide to Euthanasia", was well-written and made me very sad. Apparently this is his first short story publication. Good job, Randy.
Other stuff in this issue that didn't make it a complete waste: Paulann Petersen's poem "Out of Season", Gladys Justin Carr's poem "Freeze Frame", Gary J. Whitehead's "Sheep Skull" (best poem in the issue).
Barry Ballard's "Six Thousand Prayers" was interesting and I kind of liked it. I hated Antoinette Nora Claypool's "Tinctures of Bloodfire" at first, but she just has a drastically different aesthetic than I do and by the end of the selection I was starting to groove with her. Actually, now that I think about it, some of Sarah Farbo's stuff is kind of like this. (Not that I ever hated your stuff, Farbs, I just had to readjust my brain to deal with it.) I wanted Fred Yannantuono's "Eighty-Three Poems on Baking Bread" to be... an entirely different poem than it was. And "Broken Washer" by Ms. Kevin Elliot Milam (oh come on, what's with all the implausibly named writers? and all in the same issue!): I was just annoyed! Why would anyone *do* that? And also, if she just ran to the store for more detergent, he would never have time to both fix the damn washer AND do six loads of laundry (seven, because she says he had to wash the first load twice) and have it all dry and folded in the living room. If it took her that long to run to the grocery store, he'd be calling hospitals, not folding laundry. I should not get hung up on shit like that while I'm reading a poem. Sorry, Ms. Kevin.
And actually, I lied, all the fiction was pretty good. I liked that all the fiction was short, as well. There was something likeable and interesting and good in each of the prose pieces. Maybe they just need a new poetry editor.
Conclusions: Wow, I don't know whether to send them poetry or not. On one hand they might be in need of better poetry submissions, but on the other hand I really didn't like much of what they printed here. But I shouldn't be snobby when my poems aren't exactly getting printed anywhere. I'm going to have to ponder this. Maybe people like different kinds of poetry in Oregon.
I didn't really get excited about much of the poetry in this issue. The prose was better. Randy Kalista's story, "The Cat's Guide to Euthanasia", was well-written and made me very sad. Apparently this is his first short story publication. Good job, Randy.
Other stuff in this issue that didn't make it a complete waste: Paulann Petersen's poem "Out of Season", Gladys Justin Carr's poem "Freeze Frame", Gary J. Whitehead's "Sheep Skull" (best poem in the issue).
Barry Ballard's "Six Thousand Prayers" was interesting and I kind of liked it. I hated Antoinette Nora Claypool's "Tinctures of Bloodfire" at first, but she just has a drastically different aesthetic than I do and by the end of the selection I was starting to groove with her. Actually, now that I think about it, some of Sarah Farbo's stuff is kind of like this. (Not that I ever hated your stuff, Farbs, I just had to readjust my brain to deal with it.) I wanted Fred Yannantuono's "Eighty-Three Poems on Baking Bread" to be... an entirely different poem than it was. And "Broken Washer" by Ms. Kevin Elliot Milam (oh come on, what's with all the implausibly named writers? and all in the same issue!): I was just annoyed! Why would anyone *do* that? And also, if she just ran to the store for more detergent, he would never have time to both fix the damn washer AND do six loads of laundry (seven, because she says he had to wash the first load twice) and have it all dry and folded in the living room. If it took her that long to run to the grocery store, he'd be calling hospitals, not folding laundry. I should not get hung up on shit like that while I'm reading a poem. Sorry, Ms. Kevin.
And actually, I lied, all the fiction was pretty good. I liked that all the fiction was short, as well. There was something likeable and interesting and good in each of the prose pieces. Maybe they just need a new poetry editor.
Conclusions: Wow, I don't know whether to send them poetry or not. On one hand they might be in need of better poetry submissions, but on the other hand I really didn't like much of what they printed here. But I shouldn't be snobby when my poems aren't exactly getting printed anywhere. I'm going to have to ponder this. Maybe people like different kinds of poetry in Oregon.