Home - The Journal

'...plenty of different styles of poetry in each issue. The result is that, whilst The Journal will never have that sense of comforting familiarity that some 'zine have developed, it will always stretch your boundaries.' The Supplement #73

'...an international magazine in the tradition of Poesie Europe, Ecuatorial, and Labrys. It publishes poems in English, in particular by English-language poets in exile, translations into English alongside the originals, interviews with poets, and appraisals of current poetry scenes...' Wolfgang Görtschacher

'A plainly elegant layout, making the most of its size to incorporate sequences and longer poems, articles and plenty of reviews .... The contents are global ... all saying what has to be said, in ways and words you wish you'd imagined. Shining intelligence, to brighten and inspire serious poetry lovers.' Orbis

'Few publications deliver consistently good issues — The Journal is among them. Filled with well-written poems from some of the best contemporary poets I've ever read, The Journal is the definitive showpiece of the small press. Each issue also contains thorough book and journal reviews composed by writers whose love of literature is evident.' Hyacinthe L. Raven Via Dolorosa Press (USA)

'...interesting and experimental while avoiding the obscure and unnecessarily difficult. Add to the excellent selection of poetry, some interesting and insightful reviews and The Journal is a must for anyone who loves poetry and is not afraid of a bit of experimentation and the new insights that this can bring.' Juliet Wilson

current issue (Going in the post from 20th June 2018 onwards....)

In #54 The Journal Andy Hickmott, Emma Lee, Andrew Taylor and myself managed to say something about all of these collections and chapbooks by - Rebecca Bilkan, Robert Burton, Paul Terence Carney, Laura Chalar, Keith Chandler, Kevin Densley, Peter Dent, Howard Giskin, Clive Gresswell, Dylan Harris & Rupert Loydell, Christopher Hopkins, Kathleen Jones, Jeremy Loynes, Denise McSheehy, Alan Morrison, James B. Nicola, Bruno Nieva, Stuart A. Paterson, Nick Power, Robert Sheppard, Jane Spiro, Nicola Warwick, J S Watts and Mick Yates.

Poetry being the The Journal’s raison d’être #54 contains work from this international crew - Crystal Anderson / Charlie Baylis / Laura Chalar / Jim Conwell / Alejandra Correa / Colin Crewdson / Kevin Densley / Alan Dixon / Gregg Dotoli / Stephen Philip Druce / Matt Duggan / Martin Ferguson / Michael Fraley / María Eugenia Vaz Ferreira / Gregory Gilbert Gumbs / Dan Healey / Michael Lee Johnson / Lisa Jones / Khalid Khan / Patricia Leighton / Fokkina McDonnell / Gill McEvoy / Ian Mullins / John Robinson / Alan Spencer / Jules Supervielle / Grant Tabard / J. S. Watts / Geoff William / Grahaeme Barrasford Young

Time to take out/renew the subscription?

to subscribe to The Journal an annual subscription (3 issues) is £13.00


and within the UK a single copy, current issue, is £4.50

If by snailmail all cheques in UK currency please and made payable to 'Sam Smith'.

38 Pwllcarn Terrace

Blaengarw

Bridgend

South Wales

CF32 8AS

UK

The Journal receives no public funds, depends entirely on sales and subscriptions.

{To check out previous issues of The Journal go to the Poetry Library http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/index.asp?id=90 Or to receive a free sample copy of The Journal (a previous issue) please send a self-addressed A4 envelope along with sufficient stamps to cover postage up to 250grams. UK only}


to submit

editorial policy is '...to try to publish those poems — from wheresoever they may come — written with thought to what the poem is saying and to how it is being said. Also welcomed are poems that can travel, that can cross boundaries, that do not assume in their readers a shared knowledge nor a shared set of beliefs. And it will be a rare day when I take a poem about being a poet or about the writing of poems. Also, because my aim is to keep The Journal secular, any poem containing religious terminology will not be considered for publication....'

* poems in English please, or translations into English (about 6 at a time)

* also welcome are interviews with poets, reviews, appreciations or appraisals of current poetry scenes

* if, within UK, a reply is desired, enclose SAE (email submissions only as part of email text, not as an attached file.)

* payment will be one complimentary copy to each author

* copyright will remain with author

* from outside UK enclose 2xIRCs, or submit by email (email submissions only as part of email text, not as an attached file.)

* But before submitting work from outside the UK please be aware of the following - In 2012 the Royal Mail failed to deliver #36 The Journal to overseas subscribers and contributors for more than two months after posting, and this despite my having had Post Office counter staff weigh and price every envelope containing a copy of #36. This failure caused not only disappointment, but also some bad feeling. The Journal is a labour of love, and I don't need to even feel accused of bad faith. So from #38 on I will no longer send contributor's copies abroad via the Royal Mail, nor accept any subscriptions from outside the UK. I will, however, send to those who still wish to contribute from outside the UK a pdf file of the relevant issue as an email attachment. And I will of course endeavour to meet all outstanding obligations, but please don't blame me if the Royal Mail fails again to deliver.

original plus, having found a good short run printer in Imprint Digital, is once again able to consider the publication of perfect bound full collections as well as poetry chapbooks. Consideration of either usually follows from publication in The Journal.

email - asamsmith@hotmail.com

Grant Tabard's front cover poem for #54


Hymn for a Homeless Woman

Her coloured plastic shopping bag holds music.

This barrel organ plays the graffiti of the lost,

the forgotten pan alleys of bean can houses

shuffling coats of a bygone tune, playing cards

on overturned bins in murder passageways of cobble,

vague and heavy as ink. This melody is weeping,

wrapped in an unmade bed spring, coiled in pyjamas.

This hymn works by the creak of animals under the dosshouse

floor boards yanking at nails — it’s said the off pink flaking paint snarls

as a pedestrian passes. This composition talks of God to stay in foyers,

is silent to avoid eviction from libraries. This verse is labelled mad,

parents steer their children away from her as she boxes her smiles for another.

This chorus yearns to watch the colours of dawn change from pitch

to a living orange horizon - is a bird’s wing pouring with feathers

just sun drops? She waits around the train stations for the crows,

murmuring amongst themselves about Ted. She can be seen resurrecting

feathers as an undersong, and mislabeling red breasts as concertos

which she collects in her bag to make another ignored refrain.