Call for Submissions — Reading Opens March 1, 2009
ATLAS POETICA:
A Journal of Poetry of Place in Modern English Tanka
ISSN 1939-6465
Issue 4, Autumn 2009
ATLAS POETICA : A Journal of Poetry of Place in Modern English Tanka is off to an excellent start, with #'s 1 & 2 available now. Number 3 goes on sale March 1, 2009. The journal will publish an 8.5" x 11" print format (and in PDF and HTML digital edition) of tanka/waka/kyoka and its variants, as well as tanka prose, sets and sequences, two times a year. All poems will be poetry of place, in other words, poetry in which the natural or cultural place plays a role. Atlas Poetica aims at poetry in which the external and internal environments are connected, and which shows the diversity of the natural world and human experience. Tanka in both traditional and innovative forms are welcome, as are submissions in languages other than English as long as they are accompanied by English translation. Poets should send up to 40 poems that have never been published and which are not on consideration elsewhere. Atlas Poetica has the capacity to publish sequences or prose work longer than 40 verses in length, but prefers to be queried first. Non-fiction articles, book reviews, announcements, and other articles of interest to the readers of tanka poetry of place are welcome. International announcements can be in any language and need not be accompanied by English translation. For complete guidelines, visit AtlasPoetica.com. Reading window for Atlas Poetica 4: 1 March - 30 June, 2009.
Atlas Poetica is edited by M. Kei, editor-in-chief of the anthology, Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka(forthcoming), and showcases previously unpublished tanka in English and English translation from around the world. The Atlas welcomes individual tanka, sets and sequences, and tanka prose that are deeply steeped in the human and natural landscape, reflecting the particularities of life as it is lived in all its splendid interconnections. Atlas Poetica believes that diversity, locality, tradition, innovation, and a keen sense of the awareness of the web that binds the internal and external environments together is the essence from which poetry springs. It is by connecting with this place, this moment, and these experiences of life that we achieve deep insight and appreciation for ourselves, our neighbors, and our world. "Sense of place is not just something that people know and feel, it is something people do."—Albert Camus
Before submitting, please carefully read the complete guidelines which are available at www.atlaspoetica.com/submit.html along with information regarding rights sought, schedules, deadlines, and more. Submissions and inquiries may be sent to the editor at: submissions (at) AtlasPoetica (dot) com.
For further information contact:
M. Kei, Editor, Atlas Poetica
AtlasPoetica (at) gmail (dot) com
or visit: AtlasPoetica.com
Please share widely and forward to all appropriate forums.
M. Kei
Editor, Atlas Poetica: A Journal of Poetry of Place in Modern English Tanka
AtlasPoetica.com
Please forward to any interested parties.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Atlas Poetica 3 put to bed
Atlas Poetica : A Journal of Poetry of Place has been sent to the publisher. This issue is a good one -- technical problems transmitting work from a Mac to a PC to the printer have been resolved, so this issue looks the way I want it to look. The contents are marvelous, and include work in new directions and new poets.
New to ATPO is the work of Stanley Pelter, whose extremely modern, fragmentary, almost surreal style shows how the tanka form can evolve beyond its Japanese roots into a powerful medium for the expression of human lives. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Paul Mercken's tanka transcriptions of old Chinese poetry by Bai Juyi translated into Dutch by Prof. Idema, show how tanka is a form that can be used to understand the past and cross cultural barriers. Jo McInerney contributes a Wilsonian sequence in which tanka and haiku alternate in the sonorous rhythms of life by the sea. Jeffrey Woodward's sea in 'Seamen's Bethel' mixes ruminations on Melville with his steps through an old church in a New England port.
Continuing developments of earlier issues, tanka poets address the places of their pasts. John Daleiden's 'Old Memories in the Valley of the Sun' traces a different kind of segregation: growing up black in a predominantly Hispanic town in the time when cotton was picked by hand, culminating in the celebration of Junteenth--the anniversary of the emancipation of the slaves. Kirsty Karkow, 'Understanding the Patient,' reflects on her days as a public health nurse in Baltimore. Amid the turmoil of modern life, there are still quiet voices heard and appreciated. In Romania, Vasile Moldovan listens to the voice of a cricket joining the Vesper service. Angela Leuck finds redemption or at least closure by visiting her hometown in Saskatchewan on a bitter winter's day.
Topical Tanka for the issue include 'War and Peace,' 'Mourning,' 'Urban,' and Summer.' The responses to the 'urban' category were numerous, and taps into an aspect of tanka which is important and voluminous, but which is often neglected in the journals. The dominant themes of tanka at the opening of the 21st century were nature and love, often with the former as a metaphor or symbol for the latter. Bucolic scenes and small intimacies and miniature betrayals were a literary fruit that did not drop far from the ancient waka tree. The Japanese of the classical period didn't want to hear about war and misery--they got enough of that in the news. It is precisely this genteel escapism that so appeals to many modern readers, but a poetry that excludes the harshness of the world will slowly become irrelevant, moribund, and no sort of literature at all. Such large topics are difficult to grasp, but the lens of place provides a way to focus on the details that reflect the larger realities. Tanka's ability to evoke the unsaid is perfectly matched to expressing what is too large for human expression.
ATPO 3 is the first issue that will appear in the triple format pioneered by our publisher: print, ebook, and online. It goes on sale March 1, 2009.
New to ATPO is the work of Stanley Pelter, whose extremely modern, fragmentary, almost surreal style shows how the tanka form can evolve beyond its Japanese roots into a powerful medium for the expression of human lives. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Paul Mercken's tanka transcriptions of old Chinese poetry by Bai Juyi translated into Dutch by Prof. Idema, show how tanka is a form that can be used to understand the past and cross cultural barriers. Jo McInerney contributes a Wilsonian sequence in which tanka and haiku alternate in the sonorous rhythms of life by the sea. Jeffrey Woodward's sea in 'Seamen's Bethel' mixes ruminations on Melville with his steps through an old church in a New England port.
Continuing developments of earlier issues, tanka poets address the places of their pasts. John Daleiden's 'Old Memories in the Valley of the Sun' traces a different kind of segregation: growing up black in a predominantly Hispanic town in the time when cotton was picked by hand, culminating in the celebration of Junteenth--the anniversary of the emancipation of the slaves. Kirsty Karkow, 'Understanding the Patient,' reflects on her days as a public health nurse in Baltimore. Amid the turmoil of modern life, there are still quiet voices heard and appreciated. In Romania, Vasile Moldovan listens to the voice of a cricket joining the Vesper service. Angela Leuck finds redemption or at least closure by visiting her hometown in Saskatchewan on a bitter winter's day.
Topical Tanka for the issue include 'War and Peace,' 'Mourning,' 'Urban,' and Summer.' The responses to the 'urban' category were numerous, and taps into an aspect of tanka which is important and voluminous, but which is often neglected in the journals. The dominant themes of tanka at the opening of the 21st century were nature and love, often with the former as a metaphor or symbol for the latter. Bucolic scenes and small intimacies and miniature betrayals were a literary fruit that did not drop far from the ancient waka tree. The Japanese of the classical period didn't want to hear about war and misery--they got enough of that in the news. It is precisely this genteel escapism that so appeals to many modern readers, but a poetry that excludes the harshness of the world will slowly become irrelevant, moribund, and no sort of literature at all. Such large topics are difficult to grasp, but the lens of place provides a way to focus on the details that reflect the larger realities. Tanka's ability to evoke the unsaid is perfectly matched to expressing what is too large for human expression.
ATPO 3 is the first issue that will appear in the triple format pioneered by our publisher: print, ebook, and online. It goes on sale March 1, 2009.
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