The Poetry Bus is print magazine of international contemporary poetry
with full colour illustrations, reviews, articles, graphic stories,
flash fiction and very short stories. Each issue comes with an audio CD
of poets reading plus two music tracks and its edited by Collette and Peadar O'Donoghue. I was interested in finding out what they, as editors are looking for...
What are you looking for as editors? What are you definitely
not looking for?
Can we start by answering the second
question first? It has a slightly more
concrete answer! There is nothing that we are not looking for. Peadar is the
president of PAH (poets against haiku) yet PB$ had 13 Haiku in it, because they
were interesting, they were good, they had something to say and said it well.
So we can never say never. If we don’t like rhyming poems, long poems, form
poems, young love poems, then prove us wrong, send us things we cannot deny.
Which kind of brings us to the first
question, we are looking for everything and anything. Anything that hits us,
moves us, changes us. We are looking for poems that have something to say, and say
it well, poems of the heart as much as the head, visceral poems of anger, of hurt, of love, of
joy, of hate. We dream of a piece
that we start reading as one person and are so affected by the words that we are
no longer the same person by the end because now you have something new in your
head, in your heart, a poem/story/flash fiction that you will never forget. We are hoping to add opinion pieces (about
poetry) in future issues and we want those to speak up and speak out!
What do you enjoy most about driving the Poetry Bus?
Physically, we love addressing the envelopes
and stamping them with our logos, we get a buzz from all the exotic and not so
exotic addresses, but the smile is soon wiped from our faces by the post office
bill! Spiritually, Peadar loves finding
a great poem by an unpublished poet, we both do, and I love the excitement
of finding an amazing image that fits.
Which brings us on to the next question!
How important is the visual aspect of
the magazine ?
The visual aspect, the visual appeal, is on equal footing with the words,
it is an integral component and a very important part of the DNA of the mag. We
are looking (well Collette looks, finds, then we discuss) for strong images,
visual poems if you like. The front cover image is vital and we try to use
striking images that reflect the contents and style of the issue, an image that
would compel browsers to pick up the magazine.
What are the most common mistakes writers make when
submitting to magazines?
I used to get tired of editors banging on about
buying a copy of their mag before submitting, but now as a co-editor I see
exactly what they mean. If you get a copy of a mag not only will you see if
your poetry suits and if the mag is the kind of mag you’d be happy for your
work to appear in, you will also be reading other peoples poetry and supporting
the often precarious finances of the publisher. Which is a round-about way of
saying that a mistake writers make is not doing their homework on where and why
they’d like to be published. Some editors can be very pedantic about
correspondence and correct forms address, manners, etiquette, and multifarious
little personal gripes, for us, all we want is your work, your best work. We are
not school teachers or the grammar police.
Any more Grimoires in the pipeline?
We are just about (well soon!) to publish ‘This Is What Happened’ by
Melissa Diem which started out as a chapbook but rather excitingly has turned
into a first collection with DVD (Melissa makes great short films about her
poems). This will be followed by a chapbook by Séamas Carraher called DUB(H)LIN(N) 20 Poems of the City. We’ve
shelved the Grimoire name for now as it was chosen for and really suited Fiona Bolger’s book, The Geometry of Love
Between the Elements, if another chapbook comes along that fits the Grimoire
mould, we might resurrect it.
Anything exciting coming up?
We had a very successful and enjoyable PB showcase reading at
the Cork Spring Poetry Festival put on by our sponsors The Munster Literature Centre, a more friendly and open festival you will not find. We can’t recommend
it highly enough. We had the time of our lives, and we’d love to be asked back.
Peadar is doing a solo reading from his next Salmon collection. The Death of
Poetry’ in September at The Gladstone Sessions run by Peter O’Neill. There was mad talk of getting a real bus and hitting the road, but short of
winning the lottery or finding a lunatic sponsor that will remain a dream for
now. PB6 is the next issue which will probably be out late this winter, look
out for a submission call… soon. Take a look at PB$ and see what we like and if
your stuff might suit, buy one for all your friends and family, they’ll love
you for it!
