Literary Mag Review

I took a look at the PNR Review based out of England. I’m not going to lie, it caught my eye because it said ‘Poetry’ on it, and it also had a picture of a bicycle (credited to Colin Still). Poetry and bikes, I can dig it.
I’ve never read a literary journal before, so I really had no idea to expect. The layout was quite simple: Editorials, news, and letters. Reports. Poems. Articles. Reviews.
The first poem I came across was The Dice Player by Mahmoud Darwish. It was an extremely long poem, but the best part about it was this stanza, which was structured very differently than the stanzas around it, which were prose and flowed well:
I’d walk/ jog/ run/ ascend/ descend/ scream/ bark/ howl/ call/ wail/ speed up/ slow down/ plummet/ lighten/ dry up/ march/ fly/ see/ not see/ stumble/ turn yellow/ green/ blue/ crack/ sob/ thirst/ tire/ starve/ get up/ run/ forget/ see/ not see/ remember/ hear/ envision/ mumble/ hallucinate/ whisper/ scream/ or not/ moan/ go mad/ get lost/ become less/ become more/ drop/ soar/ descend/ bleed/ fall unconscious/

I loved it! I really like the opposites and the repeated see/ not see lines.
Also, because this journal is international, there were a lot of translated works. I’ve always wondered about the integrity of translated works, only because it seems like some languages are so much more complex OR simple compared to English, that words could be lost or added depending on the language, and then the real poem (and its effect) could be lost. I guess we just have to trust the translator is really giving us the best literal and figurative translation.
My favorite piece in the magazine, however, were a collection of 5 poems by Ernest Farres about Cape Cod, and I really enjoy the poem Nighthawks, 1942 because it is structured like a small play between a man and a woman, and I loved that. Really, anything can be poetry if you call it poetry. The conversation was so menial, I really liked the idea that normal every day conversations could be considered artful:
Woman: We’re both very touchy
Man: yeah, I’ve picked up on it
Woman: And tense and anxious
Man: We’ve got good reason to be.
Woman: Work is a problem,
and life, more or less
the same.
Man: That’s for sure
Woman: Let’s try not to think about it.
Man: Right. It don’t matter.

Overall, I really enjoyed taking a peek into the world of the literary journal. I don’t know if I would subscribe to this one, but maybe if I found one I really enjoyed, I’d become a follower!