Regular readers will notice a slight difference in this issue: after ten contributions K E Smith is taking a break from his well-liked critical analyses of previous Pennine Platform poems. In Ken’s place from this autumn we welcome another former editor, Dr. Ed Reiss, who will look at the changing face of poetry through the lenses of the title’s six editors over fifty years.
As this is my eleventh stint as editor, it is perhaps worth disclosing what goes on behind the scenes to put the magazine into your hands twice a year and on time. In some ways it is typical of what most small magazine editors do, single-handed and unpaid. In other ways it is atypical, if not unique. The pruned account runs to three pages and does not cover everything. It will therefore – watch out, Netflix – be a three-part series.
When I took on the role five years ago I inherited a ring-binder of bank statements and a W H Smith card index containing around 70 contacts, hand-written and amended to runic levels by previous diligent editors. About 50 of these contacts were subscribers. I also inherited the wish that every poem submitted should be responded to. I was happy to comply, knowing how rare and valuable any feedback is.
Submissions arrive from 1st February and 1st September, including some emailed from overseas, often on the stroke of midnight, plus several wodges a day by post. Early in the window most submissions are from men, usually sending six poems, sometimes with one or more titles divided into several parts – yes, I know – with a note saying ‘please feel free to choose a subsection’.
I start reading on day one and work all month. Since Issue 85, submissions have quadrupled. This February I read and responded individually to 738 poems from 116 poets. (For this reason from September feedback will, regretfully, be for subscribers only.) For each poem I annotate the hard copy with what I call ‘scribbled musings’, then draft a letter with a maximum two-line response per poem (often condensed from more). I print this, double-check my markings, scan and save the annotated sheets into a single pdf and return them in the SAE. At which point I have acquired the pallor of a Derek Mahon mushroom and the magazine is nowhere near being in anyone’s hands but, as TV anchors say, we must leave it there – to be continued in Issue 96.
Pennine Platform 