Another day, another poetry scam, which we're adding as a prefix to our main story...

A contributor in the US reports he was recently on stage at a reading with another poet who had won a book deal in a small press publisher's contest.

On his 5th glass of wine the other poet admitted the publisher was an academic friend who had taught him on his MFA and that they "had agreed the book deal months ago and only ran the contest to get the entry fees out of other people" to fund the book. "They didn't read any of the entries," he added!

There is an annoying tendency for trends within US poetry publications and zines to be followed in the UK – for example a number of UK titles have now introduced "reading seasons" – however a Grievous Angel contributor in the US has just alerted Urban Fantasist to what she says is becoming an increasingly common practice in the US, namely the reading fee.

Essentially literary magazines are charging writers a "reading fee" to submit their work – but then don't pay them anything even if their  work is accepted and published. Or, at least the only "pay" is a copy of the magazine but you can't cash that at a bank!

Another approach is to ask for a fee if you want a response within a month – and yet others mention the fact they don't charge a fee, as if that is a big deal. The fees are generally small ($3 to $5) but it all adds up, particularly if you are a poet submitting a lot of work. And, as our contributor points out, no one's getting rich writing poems!

We know a lot of UK poetry mags only survive because they charge entry fees for their “competitions” but this takes it to the next step of charging you a fee to merely submit a poem – and with no guarantee it will be published. At least with good old fashioned vanity/pay-to-play publishing you actually get to see see your work in print!

Grievous Angel, incidentally, does NOT charge a reading fee but it DOES pay contributors – with money!

Tuesday Evening

has a distinctly 1950s feel.
A journey back on a train 
with a broken buffet car
and brakes that smell
...of burning brake pads.
Then home to a power cut 
and a dinner of luke-warmed stew 
with bread and butter
...by candlelight.
The wine is good tho
and I still have 38 percent
of battery life on my iPad.

​Make that 32 percent now.


Tanka

Like a ghost at dawn
Last night's waning Moon
Still haunting the sky
As the early morning train
Is lit by the rising Sun

(Prompted by crossing the River Stour at Manningtree on an early morning Norwich to London Liverpool Street express.)

News of two new (well one is a reissue) poetry books...

​The first – A Silver Tapestry – is a selection of critical essays from the British Haiku Society. I'm in there with a chapter headed Moving on from a 5-7-5 Existence writing about scifaiku, the American Sentence and digital haiga on social media platforms such as FaceBook and Twitter – which was still pretty novel when I wrote this in 2009! Available in paperback only

ISBN: 978-1-906333-03-4
www.britishhaikusociety.org.uk

The second title – Anomalous Appetites – is a reissue of the 2009 anthology of speculative poetry and art from around the world. This was a labour of love by editor John Irvine and art editor Dave Freeman which was originally self-published on Lulu and has now been reissued by Lang Book Publishing. (Available in paperback and ebook formats.)

Contributors (including your's sincerely) include Cathy Edmunds, Guy Belleranti, Marge Simon, Kristine Ong Muslim, Kurt Newton, Greg Schwartz and Kenneth Goldman. The book is a wonderful collection of sci-fi, fantasy, horror and weird poetry and hopefully its reissue will see it reach the wider audience it deserves.

ISBN: 978-0-994124-85-2 
​www.langbookpublishing.com

I did not know this... Apparently the correct term for 'ku – such as scifaiku (which we publish a lot of here) – that do not display the traditional sensitivities of haiku and senryu, is zappai. One definition is a form of poetry that "includes all types of 17 syllable poems that do not have the proper formal or technical characteristics of haiku".