Angela and Th.: Thanks!

Drome: Me too. :)

Tyler and William: At this point I don’t really know how much poetry we’ll end up publishing. I’m sure, however, that there’s plenty of room for a Mormon poetry magazine, and I think the same applies to almost every other artistic discipline I can think of. The field is white and ready to harvest. ;) Go ahead and take that flying leap and you’ll be surprised at what you can accomplish. And I think a magazine devoted solely to Mormon poetry would be very cool. :)

I sometimes get the feeling that poetry is (how do I put this delicately?) included as filigree. A way to take up a page or two and break up the other content. A way to add a certain high-brow-ness to a publication without really engaging with the form itself.

I get the same feeling, though Irreantum did devote an issue to poetry a couple of years ago (8.1 [2006]). Even then, however, the majority of page space was still given to short stories. Admittedly, this is in part due to the compression of poetry vs. the sprawl of prose; but, I kind of wish the whole issue had been just poems or explorations of the directions of Mormon poetry.

I also agree that none of these publications should stop publishing poetry. Even if the audience for poetry is small (as it always has been, as it may always be), we poets (speaking for me, anyway) like to see the kind of work fellow poets are creating.

It would be nice, though, to have that place you speak of, where Mormon poets could “interact more with each other and really develop a community and a field of interest”—something like Mormon Artist is becoming or like Segullah is for Mormon women. And though you’ve got your projects in the fire, Wm., and I’ve got a few things stewing myself, I’m invested enough in the idea to head something up (if I can get some help), whether that be an online mag or a chapbook series or an electronic anthology (all digital with print-on-demand options). I’ve even been wondering about the possibility of organizing a session at the AML conference or a reading around that time in which Mormon poets could read their work.

I think any of these things would be very cool for us poets. And I think I’m ready to stop thinking and talking about it and take a flying leap, like you have, Ben.

Any volunteers to take flying lessons with me?

For the record, I’ve been following MA since its inception and it has only been getting better.

Keep it up!

And yet, I sometimes get the feeling that poetry is (how do I put this delicately?) included as filigree. A way to take up a page or two and break up the other content. A way to add a certain high-brow-ness to a publication without really engaging with the form itself.

I don’t think that any of the mentioned publications should stop publishing poetry. Poets have a difficult enough time. But I do think that if poets want to interact more with each other and really develop a community and a field of interest, then something — whether its an online mag or a chapbook series (either electronic or print or both) or an electronic anthology (plus print on demand edition) would be very cool.

Although as I mentioned before, I’ve got some other projects in the fire so even if I have some ideas of what could/should be done, my involvement would be minimal (although of course I’m always happy to help as much as I can).

As a poet, I have to ask this question (if not just for you, but for/to any others out there interested in the development of Mormon poetry): Since you want to keep interviews at the core of the magazine, how much poetry are you planning to publish (I’m assuming as much as people will submit, but that’s just an assumption)? And, expert that you now are *wink*, do you (or anyone else out there in cyberspace) see room in the Mormon arts scene for an online magazine dedicated to Mormon poetry (something similar, perhaps, to Mormon Artist)?

“Basically, I want people to get really, really excited about Mormon arts.”

Ben. Dude. I’m totally in this arena. We *need* to talk, ha, ha.