Literary Journal Review

The literary journal I choose to review was the January 2009 edition of Poetry. This journal is published by Poetry Foundation which appears to be located in Chicago, Illinois and uses the website that is designated for the Poetry Foundation which is www.poetryfoundation.org. This journal appears to be a very official and selective journal featuring well known poets and releasing a new edition every month of the year. I have never analyzed a literary journal before this but if I were to make an assessment on this journal by its presentation I would guess that this was one of the foremost journals for poetry in the United States.
When beginning reading this edition of this journal there are thirty five pages of straight poetry, laid out poem after poem usually featuring one to three poems by each of the included authors. All of the poems are presented very clearly and appear as if they are taken directly from a book of poems by one author and placed into the journal. When looking at this collection of poems printed on high quality paper and wrapped within the glossy cover and binding of the journal the reader gets the feeling that they are reading some of the most highly sought after poems currently being written. The cover of the journal is itself very simple providing the month and year of the publication as well as the name of the Journal. Beyond that the cover featured a midsized cartoon image of a gorilla attacking a young boy which is encapsulated in a circle and located directly under the name Poetry. Although this cartoon seems silly the cover still gives off a remarkably professional feel leading the reader to assume without necessarily taking the time to analyze the cartoon that it must be very witty and pertinent to some theme or make some allusion which is relevant to the genre of poetry today. Beneath the cartoon the names of three poets are provided as their works are featured in this issue; the names given are Langston Hughes, Clive James, and Michael Hoffman.
When reading the poems included by these authors and a handful of others the feeling that this is a very notable publication still remains as the poems to me, were with a few exceptions, very engaging and enjoyable to read. Beyond just poems there were also four essays included in the journal and all of these were provided reviews/ analysis / critiques of a specific poem or of a book of poems by one poet. These reviews were very in depth and very well written. They showed that the writers had put an incredible amount of thought into the poems that they were to analysis and had also studied the biography of the poets who wrote them. I especially enjoyed reading the review of Valzhyna Mort’s book Factory of Tears. Reading the review of this book and selected samples made me really want to check out this entire collection.
Following the reviews there was a small section of letters to the editor. All of the letters featured in this section, although I did not know the poems and essays they were commenting on, were well thought out and well written showing that the readers of this journal have expansive knowledge of poetry and are very well read and likely well educated. It is this combined with the impressive credentials of the contributing poets listed in the back of the book that have again led me to believe that this is a very revered and prestigious publication in the field of poetry.
I found this journal very pleasurable to read and would look into other issues of this. Although the poetry seems more traditional than the poetry we sometimes look at in class the majority of the poems featured, I thought were very good and some were even inspiring to read. The poem I enjoyed most in this journal was titled Change by Wendy Videlock it was short, simple, and powerful.