Two exciting discoveries (new to me, anyway!)

There I was, just noodling about on the internet, when what should I find but not only a wonderful blog and poetry resource but also a poet who I’d never heard of but whose work immediately excited me.

First of all, thanks to a Facebook update by Antiphon magazine* I followed a link to an excellent and timeless post on putting together a manuscript, on Jeffrey Levine‘s blog. Jeffrey is a poet, author, publisher, critic, mentor – you name it – and his blog is a powerhouse of articles that you just want to read and absorb RIGHT NOW – rather like Neo being injected with knowledge in The Matrix: “I know Kung Fu!” – he he.

Then I started following links to US poetry magazines, submissions policies, prize competitions (there seem to be a shedload of those going on at any one time in the US, or is that an illusion? Many seem to have entry criteria to do with age, residency or publishing history or whatever, but there are plenty open to international poets.)

Next, I looked at featured poets, prize winners and so forth, and googled their names. I followed several lovely detours before coming upon Allan Peterson. Here’s ‘Implicit’, a new poem by him in The Believer magazine. Love it, love it, love it. And then on to his own website, which sets out his monumental writing achievements under the modest ‘Resume’ tab.  There are a few poems on the site too, such as ‘Confession’. I could hardly buy a copy of his most recent book, Fragile Acts, quickly enough.

If Jeffrey Levine and Allan Peterson are familiar to you, you may be thinking ‘she’s just discovered them? – oh DUH!’ and I probably look like a bit of a noob. Oh well! One man’s thrilling discovery is another’s same-old!

*PS another reason for me to thank Antiphon is for publishing one of my poems in their latest issue (9) alongside many fine poets, do take a look