Unstressed

  • Poetry
  • Culture
  • Design

A weblog from the editors of Linebreak

The regulars

Ash Bowen's poetry has appeared in Crab Orchard Review, Blackbird, and Black Warrior Review, among other publications. He lives and works in Texarkana, AR.

Jennifer Jabaily's poetry has appeared in Mannequin Envy and Fickle Muses. She's a second-year MFA student at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Ashley Anna McHugh is a third-year MFA student at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Measure, DIAGRAM and Memorious as well as other publications.

Johnathon Williams's poetry has appeared in Best New Poets 2009, the Pebble Lake Review, and Unsplendid. He lives in Fayetteville, AR, with his wife and daughters.

Poetry dumpsters

By Johnathon Williams on Jan 8, 2009

In a recent two-part editorial, the editor of Free Lunch reportedly took online journals to task for being “poetry dumpsters for poetry that has been rejected by the print magazines.”

I haven’t read the pieces in full (they are, predictably, not available online), but I’m trying to get copies of the issues so I can respond. As you might guess, we here at Unstressed have some definite thoughts about the value and unique capabilities of online journals. (We also have thoughts on how often technophobic ignorance masquerades as literary discernment.) More on this topic soon.

In the meantime, read Diane Lockward’s excellent list of the qualities she looks for in an online journal, as well as the online journals that she admires. Linebreak’s presence in the latter post is a happy accident, nothing more.

One comment // free lunch, online journals, technophobia

Discussion

BY Matthew Nienow on Jan 09 2009 (#1)

Very interesting discussion. Here’s a clip from blackbird’s editorial policies, which, I think, speak directly to Offen’s comments:

While online media are still experimental tools for literary publication and no one can be certain exactly what kinds of differences they will make in linking writers and audiences, it is our assumption that one fundamental editorial principle applies in this realm as it does in the print realm. That sole principle is excellence. Writing published by this journal will be the very best available, and it is the first responsibility of the editors—by selective solicitation, and by intelligent winnowing—to make certain that this is always the case. Each issue of Blackbird will be permanently archived online. We are also committed to the principle that writers should be paid for their work.

(http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v7n2/editorial_policy.htm)

Leave a Comment

linebreak