2024/02/05: I enjoyed a lot of the poems in No. 40, particularly those by Timothy Houghton, Tim Relf, Juliet Antill, and Richard Skinner, and "Apokatastasis" by David Lukens, "The Loop" by Andrew McNeillie, "Memento Mori" by Catherine Jagoe, "Magpie Moth vs. Monarch Butterfly" by Erik Kennedy, and "St Bartholomew's" by John Greening.
2023/09/18: When we got back from Devon PSR 40 was waiting in the porch. For what it is worth (?), the following were among the particular highlights for me (in page no. order): The thoughtful editorial by John Challis p. 7 – William Virgil Davis’s ‘A Portrait of Primo Levi’, a sensitive piece of ekphrastic poetry. p.18 – David Lukens’ ‘Apotastasis’, which taught me a new word and is a fine example of serious wit. p.64 – Ray Givans’s ‘Ulster Gothic’, in which the running allusion to Grant Wood’s painting American Gothic is handled with delightful subtlety. p.94 – Helen Ashley’s touching elegy for William. p.98ff. – the interview and (especially) the translations that follow it. p.114 – Grevel Lindop’s ‘Crookd Spire’. (GL was an Oxford undergraduate at the same time as me). p.123ff – Anne Symons’s ‘Roman Trilogy’ (but then I am a sucker for poems written in response to pieces of music). p.135ff. – the three sonnets by David Banks (a new name to me). p.146ff. – David Lloyd’s excellent essay on Jeremy Hooker, which gets close to the core of Hooker’s work through his perceptive (and well contextualised) analysis of a single poem. I share his sense that Hooker is seriously underrated. p.156. Hooker’s ‘Sway Tower’. p.164ff. – The poems by John Greening (who I first knew as an undergraduate reading English in Swansea), especially the first two. There were, of course, many other pleasures too.
2022/11/12: I was impressed by Lisa Fishman’s editorial, and the wide selection of poems helps illustrate her argument. You seem to have a very active Editorial Board these days, and I’m glad things are going so well. It was a pleasure to see Glyn Pursglove’s essay on Owen Lowery, and particular favourites of mine, Andrew McNeillie and David Harsent. Harsent’s translations of Yannis Ritsos will be interesting.
2022/11/12: I have direct and ever-pressing awareness of what's entailed in pulling such a periodical publication together. It's a splendid issue, throughout (if I may include myself, as you so kindly did), and you deserve every congratulation. It is a handsome thing altogether. And of course it is selfless work of the finest order. The best thing for this reader are the shocks and surprises that come with discovering new voices, or voices new to me, and the helpful way that destabilises one a while. You are making a history and that it is being written in Salzburg is intriguing.
2022/06/30: I have been enjoying the new issue (no. 38). I especially liked the two articles on Hayden Carruth.
2022/05/07: What a wonderful eclectic mix of work it contains. Mark Pajak's "Minimum Wage" and Robert Hamberger's "My Mother Ironing" are two particular highlights for me so far, but I've got a lot still to read so I'm sure there'll be many more!
2022/05/07: A splendid Issue 37. Many of the old Outposts contributors and two Hippopotamus Press book authors there. Glyn Pursglove's essay on Chris Bendon was impressive. Bendon never received the attention he deserved. In its quiet way PSR is proving to be an important journal, I trust that you have the backing and stamina to keep it up and continue. So many of the older magazines have become plump and worthy. There are few magazines now that would risk the eclecticism of PSR.
2021/04/23: I've been happily burrowing into #36, which has many delights. D.M. de Silva's contribution is magnificent: what strengths he has in breadth and depth of vision, and in dry humour. The Mark Valentine poems are a delight. So are David Malcolm's review, and his poems. How good to see Hölderlin treated with such thoughtfulness and passion. As a teenager I fell in love with Brahms's colossally great Schicksalslied. Goethe and Hölderlin are the two writers who made me really try hard, and earnestly, but of course totally unsuccessfully, to learn German. And I relish the clarity and firmness with which DM writes about the Dehnel book. Congratulations on this solidly fine volume.
2020/09/28: I very much enjoyed PSR No. 35, particularly the poems by Own Lowery and those by Ian McDonough. Keep on with the good work! A generally high level throughout. I look forward to reading No. 36.
2020/09/15: A few items on my agenda ... first, to praise PSR 35 to the ‘high heavens’, as my father used to say. This issue is without question one of your very best, all around and cover-to-cover. [Speaking of covers, please inform Daniela Görtschacher-Hofer I found myself mesmerized by her cover art.] To my mind, the poems seemed to form a coherent aesthetic whole. Too many favorites to mention them all, but Gould’s poem struck home. I’ve known a fair number of World Bank people, still in touch with a few ... and she catches their tone and the irony of their politics quite well. "Benches of Wigtown" does not disappoint its most-excellent title ... I must hurry along, however, to my other agenda-items: to send condolences on the loss of your friend and dare-I-say Mentor, William Oxley. An extraordinary poet & man-of-letters and Pursglove’s fine appreciation taught me even more about the connections between your University and Oxley via Professor Hogg. Like you, I find literary connections and influences quite interesting and your journal does a fine job of exploring the connective tissue, as it were, in your review essays. Have to put in a word for Oxley’s essay on Russell, especially the last part, where "Poetry exists / To speak the spiritual law..." (where Oxley cites Russell). Indeed, the religious voice or perhaps more properly put, the serious religious register has largely gone missing in poetry written in English - a reflection of broader secular trends. Perhaps that is one reason Russell never received the attention the quality of his work seemed to merit.
2020/09/06: Super impressed by D.M. de Silva’s review of poems “Modern, Modernist and Permanent” – a great read, smart and fair and illuminating, with the right amount of quotations from the poems, giving them a chance to speak. Allows this reader to make more confident decisions as to what to read and buy next. Poetry criticism at its best!
2020/08/19: Just finished #35-- a quick note to say I found the poetry of Philip Wexler, Stuart Handysides, and John McKeown to be particularly interesting and effective. Definitely good stuff!
2020/08/12: It is fascinating to see the gathering of some fine poets around Poetry Salzburg Review. It's as if I recognise, in a full sense of the word, why the poems are there. Which is not the case in many poetry magazines.
2020/08/10: There are some really strong poems in this issue indeed, but it's the critical pieces that struck me as unusually insightful and engaging.
2020/07/24: I'm very glad to get the magazine (I also get Poetry Ireland Review and that's a similar relief). I've enjoyed the latest issue, I particularly like the Hilary Davis poem, the Paul Jeffcutt poems, the discussion in James Russell's review of 'aboutness', Tony D'Arpino's poems, and Mhairi Owens' too.
2020/07/23: William Oxley’s presence in it is both moving and appropriate, but I also particularly appreciated the piece by Glyn Pursglove on Edward Storey, who was a mentor and dear friend to me for nearly thirty years. It is an edition of the Review that I shall cherish.
2020/03/27: Many thanks for the Summer 2019 issue of PSR. Among much of interest, Joyce Wilson's sequence impresses me with the blend of structure and apparent simplicity that can really take a poem places I think. The same applies to 'Inveray Castle' by Marion McCready, whose work I am always happy to catch up with. I was also glad to see my fellow Berliner Adam Flint there, whose work now seems to be moving in the direction I've just outlined. The reviews are at the level of intelligence that makes them worth reading, as they were when I last saw PSR. Congratulations on having kept it going so long - from my own more limited involvement in magazines and festivals over the years, I have an inkling of what that effort requires.
2020/02/13: Thanks for sending along issue #34 so speedily. A thing of beauty. Truly amazing cover artwork!
2019/05/24: I enjoyed reading Poetry Salzburg Review 33 very much indeed. I kept dipping in and out of it and have only recently finished reading everything in it. I couldn't predict what turning a page would reveal. Congratulations on assembling such an imaginative range of voices.
2019/03/28: I have much enjoyed Poetry Salzburg Review 33. It's such a comprehensive journal and with a wide range of excellent poems.
2019/02/26: I am relishing PSR 33 - there is so much reading matter here, and I like the mix of poems, reviews, and translations. I have particularly enjoyed the poems by Hannah Lowe and Mark Floyer.
2018/12/11: "From Nowhere" and "Pink Moon" by Dominic Fisher, "Soundings" by Regina Weinert, and "Salad Spinner" by Ramona Herdman: I'm enthralled by PSR's political protest dramatic monologues pieces that give off metaphysical messages too. You print a lot of them. To subscribe was finally decided for me yesterday when, in "Pink Moon", I read: "Our cities buzzed and flashed below / as if... / ...a nation could not lose its mooring / nightmares couldn't be there in the morning / dressing in our clothes to go and claim / that nothing much need ever change." The technical virtuosity throughout PSR is amazing, whether or not I agree with the artist's message. Thank you in advance for many more hours to look forward a satisfying read. Very excited.
2018/08/24: I am delighted to see the work of Thomas A. Clark reviewed by David Malcolm. I was introduced to Clark's work many years ago and am often surprised at how little is known of his work. I found his review of Farm by the Shore most satisfying and using the term "meta-physical impulse" to describe the work, precise and exact which also is in keeping with Clark's skills as a poet.
2018/06/29: A fascinating Editorial, congratulations on your twenty-five years as an editor. In a world of shifting sands, yours is a great achievement. PSR stands out in so many ways, and each edition is a work of art. Thank you too, for including me again, amongst such talent. Keith Hutson's 'The Call of the Wild' is terrific. As are many others.
2018/06/14: Such a good mix of poetry as always. I particularly admired Mike Barlow's "Elsewhere". And what a splendid review by D.M. de Silva of my translation of Pierre Reverdy's Le Voleur de Talan. The most perceptive review I have had so far.
2018/07/05: It seemed to me that #31 was quite a bit more narrative/descriptive than any previous issue of PSR I've read in the last few years. Favorite poems included North's "Going Feral", Moorhead's "if the body holds light", Alfier's "Planting Level", and Pau-Llosa's "A Glass Darkly".
2018/01/24: Just quickly, to say how much I enjoyed the interview you and David Malcolm did with Elaine Feinstein. I still have her 1971 Tsvetaeva translations and remember the excitement of those years after the launching of Modern Poetry in Translation. I’m a great admirer of Feinstein. The interview was technically very interesting – especially Emily Dickinson and her dashes and Feinstein’s method when translating - but also brought back memories of Charing Cross Road in the 1960s and the excitement of reading the Americans of those years – Lowell’s ‘the cooked and the raw.’ Thank you very much.
2017/11/24: Beautiful! Thank you, again, for your continued interest in my work. Delighted to see excellent work by Jeffrey Alfier and José Gutiérrez.
2017/11/18: No. 30 is my favorite issue of PSR so far; in fact, I marked more poems in that issue than I have in any magazine in the last few years. I hope it won't be too tedious for me to mention all the poems I liked, my favorite poems are by Capildeo, Saunders (especially), Du Toit, and Stannard. I enjoyed seeing Stannard; many years ago (1985-1990) I published a poetry magazine called Panoply, and I recall using some of Stannard's poems. Clever fellow. Yannis Phillis' poems most impressed me - all 3 of his poems. Excellent stuff. I will be looking for a book of his soon and hope I can find a good one in English. Here are other poets/poems I especially enjoyed: Mielcarek ("Pain" and "Autumn"); Fisher ("Alone"), Beck ("Cats"); Hodgeon ("Terminus"); Danvers ("The Spire"); Crossman ("Heartsease"); Pink (all of his poems); and O'Sullivan (both poems). Great issue. Looking forward to No. 31.
2017/11/11: I find your compact magazine provides a fundamental snapshot of contemporary poetry and look forward to receiving each issue. I particularly enjoyed the work of Sarah Leavesley, Sharon Black and Helen Ivory in the last one.
2017/10/23: I was drawn immediately to the interview with Samuel Menashe. It delighted me and I felt a bit sad. I met Samuel in 1969 not long before I published two of his poems in the second issue of my magazine, co-edited with Richard Meyers (a.k.a. Richard Hell later on,) Genesis : Grasp. So, a fine rounding out of things for me in reading the interview now.
2017/08/10: I've appreciated the work you do a lot over the years, not the least for allowing me to discover the work of poets such as Mario Petrucci and Robert Peake.
2017/07/10: My favorite poems are by Capildeo, Saunders (especially), Du Toit, and Stannard. I enjoyed seeing Stannard; many years ago (1985-1990) I published a poetry magazine called Panoply, and I recall using some of Stannard's poems. Clever fellow.
2017/05/16: Among my favorites, I liked "Virus" by Caroline Natzler, "The Pull of Home" by Karen Dennison, and Wendy Orr's "The Rock Room"; but my favorite poems were "The Far High Windows of the Angels" by William Oxley and John Burnside's "Interior with Poisoned Mouse" and "A Dead Hare". Good stuff--there's really nothing else out there quite like PSR.
2017/05/02: As always, it brings a feast of poems to relish and admire; I find myself in sympathy perhaps with the editors’ eye, ear and thought. I am enjoying the reviews too, but especially Daniel Thomas Moran’s fascinating interview with Samuel Menashe. I do like the way prose pieces are alternated with generous sections of poetry in the Review, rather than grouped all together at the end of a journal. Thank you, of course, for the generous review of my own book (Worple is an admirable press, which well deserves the publicity).
2017/05/01:Such a rich variety of voices, as always, and I was especially pleased to see new poetry by Martin Stannard and the excellent review of his book.
2017/04/17:your magazine provides a fundamental snapshot of contemporary poetry, coupled with insightful reviews and striking cover art. It was great to see work from Karen Dennison in the last issue, a wonderful poet who kindly reviewed my first collection Smashed glass at midnight (Ginninderra Press, July 2015).
2016/10/07:Tomorrow I leave for Hangzhou, China, where I have a painting in an international exhibition to 'celebrate' the recent G20. As usual on a trip, one of the last decisions I make is what to take to read during the voyage, in hotel lobbys, at moments of relaxation. Something I can easily pick up and put down, no weighty tomb, nothing quotidian, something far from the madding madness, often poetry. Et voilà! The new Poetry Salzburg Review arrives in my letterbox this morning, question answered!
2015/07/27:One of the reasons I enjoy reading Poetry Salzburg Review is the breadth of the poetry purveyed - no school of contemporary poetry appears to dominate - or indeed is excluded.
2014/11/15:Very impressive mixture of reviews and poems - a good range of voices and some of them really strong. People I had not read before. Fantastic.
2013/11/12:I am particularly struck by the variety of the contributions in #24, which allowed me to continue reading with never a dull moment.
2013/11/09:I think it perhaps the most impressive issue you have put together yet. You have an amazing range of contributors.Additionally, you manage to cover a most interesting selection of books of poetry.
2013/11/04:Received Issue 24 and I wanted to say that it looks great. Appreciate all the care you and your staff put into the layout.Mostly, I wanted to say thank you for the care that you show to your writers, giving prompt, professional response.Sometimes, unfortunately, we have come to expect our submissions disappearing in the reading process for months at a time.Your journal is head and shoulders above many contemporaries in making sure this does not happen.
2011/06/12:Such an engaging mixture of poetry, translations and reviews. Good to see some old favourites of mine, e.g. W. H. Grubb,Giles Goodland, Edoardo Sanguineti (whose work I have translated myself). Even better to stumble across new namesand some really impressive poetry, e.g. Ahimsa Timoteo Bodhran (whose 'wax' I find myself going back to again and again- this shows just how subtly and powerfully language can work its magic) and Ester Muchawsky-Schnapper.
2011/06/06:I have now read the entire magazine cover to cover! I very much enjoyed the poems you selected and was impressed by thequality of all the work included. Thank you for putting together such a wonderful collection of writing [...] I lookforward to reading more publications from Poetry Salzburg.
2011/01/12:I always find the magazine stimulating. It has established itself as one of the top runners in its field.
2010/12/14:[...] once again a great issue - you get such variety into it.
2010/10/30:I'm very engaged by Gutter Talk - Paul comes off as a weirdly eccentric character in much of the volume's (surface)verbal expression, but as a simultaneously deeply committed & probingly philosophical thinker beneath his drollyunruly voice.
2010/08/26:I have very much enjoyed reading your journal. The mixture of reviews, articles and poetry is varied and stimulating,and I like the wide range of creative work, with relatively traditional poems appearing alongside late modernist writing.
2009/10/14:I don't think there is any other magazine which is as diverse and inclusive in its approach.
2009/10/13:Some good poems and reviews in it, although I was sorry to see John Levy's wonderful collection get such a negative review!
2009/04/18:I [...] have really enjoyed reading it! What a great variety of challenging and fresh poetry.
2009/04/15:My review gets as close as any so far to what I am doing, though it is always a slightly paralysing feeling to have someoneattempt to enter into your own private universe.
2009/04/15:I was very pleased to see in issue 14 the translations of Stefan George, a writer who I have always found compelling,but have read too little.
2008/11/11:... such great content and so well presented.
2008/10/23:I enjoyed PSR 14 very much, especially the interview with Peter Dale. The reviews are exceptionally well-informed,and there is a good variety of poetry.
2008/10/23:It's a marvelous journal. I'm proud to be in it.
2008/10/23:
I have been enjoying PSR 14 very much. first of all, marvellous cover! The Bedford essay on Hill is excellent.I have not read a lot of Hill, for some reason, but now I am determined to read him. I also really enjoyed the Peter Daleinterview.
I like much of what I read in the issue so will just mention a few of my very favorites among the poems. I lovedthe Capildeo poem, "Completely F****d" - really a fantastic poem! I like all the Capildeo poems, but especially thatone. As always, I am very enthusiastic about the Zambaras poems, although I confess I am not impartial since I havebeen friends with Zambaras for over 35 years. The Stainton poem, "Words", is terrific. I like both Tellegen poemsvery much. The Oliver Rice poem is another favorite of mine. And the Makris poem is excellent too.
I think this is one of the best issues yet.
2008/10/08:
Poetry Salzburg Review is a substantial journal with a real punch; page after page of invigoratingwork from all styles and approaches. Most refreshing.
2008/09/28:
... The reviews are helpful when there is so much out there; likewise, to be able to read a sample of whatis being reviewed. Rachel Zucker makes me wonder whether my sense of form has become a bit conservativeover the years. [...]
2008/07/08:
A belated letter to say how much I enjoyed Poetry Salzburg Review 13. I am grateful in particular that youintroduced me to the work in translation of Pavlo Tychyna. His poem "Harps" is very special, and I only wishI had the linguistic gift to hear and understand it in the original.
2008/04/22:
No.13 is a joy as ever, full of a great richness of reading, an exercise in life enhancement. Also as ever Ishall find one reading is never enough.
2008/04/08:
The magazine is filled with a fascinating and very diverse range of poetry and some excellent translations andreviews.
2008/01/04:
I have high regard for the magazine: your effort, the quality of writing, and the quality of the magazine itself.
2007/11/16:
A very eclectic gathering of fine poets, quite a number I hadn't come across before - Emily C. Belli, John Levy,Monica McFawn, Robert James Berry, they stand out, others also. I also really like the three Austrian poets youfeature.
2007/11/13:
The review is beautiful, inside and out.
2007/11/01:
I just received my copies of issue #12 of Poetry Salzburg Review and am very happy to find myselfin such good company. An excellent issue all the way through, and very nicely done. Thanks much for makingme a part of that.
2007/10/07:
I have now got round to reading #11 properly.
What a relief to get away from the English (?British) preoccupation with the local, even the parochial.
You will see that I have just ordered the back numbers ...
2007/05/23:
One of the poems I particularly liked is Gui Mayo's "Morning 1933", with its excellent lines such as"and a faint sound from the canyon below, the sound of space". I enjoyed Anne Babson's two pieces."Canzonetta for Pastor Annie" is funny, ironic, but perhaps basically an ambiguous celebration of itssubject. "Botticelli after Savonarola", an elegant lyrical soliloquy, looks like a comment on an epochas well (Botticelli's, and/or our own). [...] Glyn Pursglove is an unusually well-read critic who doesn't express hisopinions lightly or thoughtlessly. I always admired his calm but, so to speak, modest authority. I found HarrietTarlo's review of the almost legendary Fred Beake's new book very informative [...]. Julia Novak's interviewwith John Siddique discusses, among other subjects, directness and "the story" in poetry, as well as humour in poetry -welcome approaches both, as they often get neglected.
2007/05/21:
Thank you for the admirable Poetry Salzburg Review 11, which I have greatly enjoyed reading.It really is a most mature magazine now.
2007/05/12:
Very impressed by Poetry Salzburg Review 11, especially the insightful reviews.
2007/05/08:
Just to say that my Spring issue has arrived and is lovely! I've read the whole thing with much enjoyment.I especially like the poems by Theo Dorgan and Nicholas Messenger.
2007/04/26:
I'm amazed that you find so much good new work. I haven't read Samuel Menashe since the Penguin Modern Poets,which seems a lifetime ago, and was intrigued that Christopher Ricks has edited him. One of the things I likeis the ambition of many of these poets. We seem to have become a bit parochial in the UK for reasons I don'tquite understand. I particularly liked Keith Holyoak, which is exactly the kind of thing I would like to domyself, and Richard O'Connell, Katy Evans-Bush and Martin Green - I found the Green poem 'Death of an American'very moving. The two I found most startling and envied were David Miller's and Linda Black's. They are doingsomething I very much want to do myself in my new work. It must take tremendous work to find such originalmaterial, and I'm sure you are pleased.
2007/04/18:
Thanks for the copy of PSR 11. It's a very striking issue: the Horst Janssen-style cover art is veryimpressive, and "Sycorax", which is a very effective poem, might almost have been written with it in mind.
2007/01/22:
As I enter my eighties, naturally, with increasing age my everyday priorities have somewhat changed, andI find certain interests, even major ones, can't be pursued with their old vigor - perhaps because I haven't thefull-blooded commitment of someone like yourself. To be quite frank, I must say that the last issues of yourmagazine I saw included poetry which meant very little to me at all. No doubt sadly a reflection on myself,but true. Nevertheless, I genuinely admire what you do in keeping intelligent life afloat in the increasinglymaterial and philistine world in which we live, and out of gratitude for that, wholeheartedly hope you succeedin keeping going.
2007/01/17:
Many thanks for the new issue. I'm in the middle of it and enjoy very much all this innovative stuff.
I sympathise strongly with your Editorial. I recall very clearly the independent days, in the early 1990s,of the academic journal that I'm involved with - Angelaki: Journal of the Theoretical Humanities.The huge work of doing the publication and the relentless paucity of return in terms of subscriptions.It was heartbreaking. After four years of struggle we signed with Routledge and today Angelakiis the most read of their 200+ arts and humanities journals - but that battering of hope was a very toughexperience and one that is still vivid. What self-regarding bloody rudeness from that person you quote!
2007/01/10:The journal deserves the greatest support - it is a literary magazine rather than a magazine(such as PN Review) that merely publishes literary writing. I am particularly grateful to have discovered,via its pages, the poetry of William Bedford: his technical skill is very great.
2006/10/16:
I read with interest and sympathy your editorial bemoaning the unwillingness of poetry submitters to subscribeto magazines in general, and PSR in particular. Clearly, editing a small magazine is a labour of love, and Ican see how disheartening low circulation figures must be for editors. [...] I entirely agree that poets mustsubscribe to some magazines because in the long term, their own publication indirectly depends on it. They maynot be published in magazines they subscribe to, but they may be published in those that others subscribe to.What goes around, comes around. And no one should imagine that there is a large passive readership of poetry outthere: most people who read it, write it.
2006/10/15:
I do think the magazine develops a very individual character.
2006/10/03:
Many thanks for [...] the splendid new issue of Poetry Salzburg Review! There are a lot of greatpoems here, from what I've read so far, and interesting criticism - including Jeffrey Side's interviewwith Marjorie Perloff. Not many magazines offer BOTH fine poetry AND sophisticated literary analyses,as this one does. [...] Also, it's been intriguing to discover (not recently, to be sure) that one ofthe best English-language literary magazines is edited from outside the anglophone world. [.. ]perhaps, generally speaking, writers, editors, and literature should be defined according to the languageused, rather than the country or countries of origin.
2006/10/01:
Thank you for PSR 10 - a varied and fascinating compilation [...]. It's good to encounter such a rangeof international contributors and to see the healthy presence of a large chunk of translations.
2006/05/07:
Cast away on a desert island with only one poetry magazine it would have to be Poetry Salzburg Review;your latest edition, PSR 9, is my favourite so far.
2006/05/03:
I continue to enjoy reading and rereading [...] PSR No. 9. Many wonderful pieces in this issue.I especially admire the poems by Vassilis Zambaras (though I can't pretend to be impartial, since I haveknown him for more than 30 years - but even if I didn't know him I think I'd be wowed by these poems),the remarkable poem by Christopher Gutkind, and the very fine poems by Claire Crowther. As I say above, muchelse I like in this issue, but these three poets are the ones that I want to especially mention.[...] I like the cover very much.
2006/04/14:
I got No.9 and it looks great and I thank you very much. ... It's a good issue, you all do a great job.
2006/04/13:
Thanks for the magazine. I think I must have read most / all of it, found a great deal to like, new peopleto me to look out for again and especially enjoyed John Levy who you published a large chunk of a few issues ago.The feature on Ulli Freer was interesting enough for me because I was quite friendly with him thirty years agoand lost touch. Review sections useful and interesting too.
2006/04/11:
What a brilliant cover! The colours blend to give a rich vital impact without any harshness. ...I liked very much the greater range of styles and subjects among the poems, making fascinating reading, fullof surprises. I'm boggled again by the strange fascination of fragments as in Jeffrey Carson's 'Archilochos'.One can't help lingering on them, speculating on what they're really all about. Would their entirety be so intriguing?There's much to go back to and read again.
2005/10/24:
PSR No. 7 is one of the best mags among the many I have collected. The Hellenic character is most subtleand becoming; I find no other recent European number that holds the same charm.
2005/10/22:
As a new subscriber, I'd like to give you my initial reaction to issues #7 and #8. Yes, I understand thecomplaint of the long-term subscriber (mentioned in your editorial in #7) regarding incomprehensible poetry;the opening pages of #7 baffled me. But I read on, and now, having reread much of #7 and had a first glance at #8,I concur wholeheartedly in your plea that PSR presents the whole spectrum of contemporary English-languagepoetry. If some poems elude me, there are plenty of others that don't. In #7 I love the evocation of the seahorseby Melanie Challenger, the concision of Judith Wilkinson's "Bridge" and Robert Leach's "Every Time", and the twovery moving poems by R.G. Bishop. In #8 I was struck by the concrete imagery of John Kinsella's poems, and the richhumor of A.C. Bevan's poems on the unicorn and Leda. I could go on, but I won't. Congratulations on offering a richand diverse sampling of what's being written today.
2005/10/20:
fantastic - a really dynamic read. smart, varied, addictive.
2005/10/12:
I recently received my copy of PSR#8 and was very impressed with the overall quality and depth of themagazine. Its obvious that a lot of thought, time and effort goes into putting it together.
2005/10/04:
I have much enjoyed reading the latest issue of the Review. Your contributors must, like myself, find itstimulating to see their work appearing alongside poems of such a wide variety of styles. I find it bothchallenging and heartening - one can both learn and feel encouraged. If I understandably was immediatelydrawn to the work of Patricia Bishop and Catherine Owen, that of Parm Kaur and David Miller appealed no less- and that of Joel Vega and - and -. I wont go on, but you have produced a most stimulating issue.It must have been hard work!
2005/10/03:
PSRIt's a joy to handle such a pleasantly produced book, and to read such inspiring and thought-provokingcontents. I like very much the increase (or am I imagining it?) in prose articles, illuminating the work of variouspoets, their attitudes towards their work, and towards the intriguing mysteries of the world, of man and nature,at various levels. Poetry Salzburg Review must be one of the few, perhaps very few, magazines that embracebroadness of style, and evade the repetitive themes and attitudes of so much today - as if the known was safe andtherefore must be kept to. So often in British magazines I find I'm reading only the first few lines and thenfeeling - the same old stuff, the same attitudes - is that what poetry is reduced to? PSR is marvellouslyrefreshing and stimulating, and many congratulations to you and your team for supporting independent thought.
2005/09/28:
On a preliminary look it strikes me as, in some ways, the most interesting of all your issues so far. Afascinating mixture of styles, poets, generations etc, which is an exemplary lesson in non-partisan attentionto QUALITY. Well-done! I am particularly fascinated to see someone writing about Michael Riviere, whose work(slim though it is) I have long admired.
2005/03/24:
I am much enjoying, and am very interested in, the contents of Poetry Salzburg Review: It is quite themost comprehensive magazine of its kind I know. I doubt that a poet of my sort would find himself between thesame pages as, say, Maggie O'Sullivan, in this country. But surely it is better to publish all kinds of verse -certainly it prevents the narrowing tendencies of cliques. Though I sympathise to some extent with your de-subscribingreader (certainly when personal taste is concerned). So long as you publish poems of all kinds no reader shouldfeel excluded.
2005/03/13:
Upon our return from Paris a few weeks ago (our first trip there since 1977) we found in our post office boxPSR Winter 2005. Sexy cover! And I enjoyed some of the poems. I liked Theo Dorgan's simple masculine redactionof the great Apollonious Rhodios, and some lyrics. I note in the introduction that you seem worried about publishingwork you don't actually 'get'. The main problem for me of unintelligible work is that I stop reading it immediatelyunless it its rhythm and diction seduce. If the writer has a big reputation, I'll read ten lines out of respect, and thenstop. But everybody does this, n'est-ce pas? So you are right to go for it.
2005/02/22:
Kudos to Wolfgang Görtschacher for initiative and aplomb - putting my poem "WAR" in your journal sideways topreserve the line structure was more than clever. Thank you!
I have not yet read it all, but I think "Tommy Atkin's Lament," by Raymond Leonard, is truly outstanding- and Iappreciate his title's salute to Rudyard Kipling.
2005/02/15:
Many thanks for Number 7 of PSR and for including me in it. Your commentsin the editorial have moved me to write a line or two to you. While I canunderstand the complaint of your correspondent with regard to some poetry,I find that many of the poems in the newest number are eminentlyunderstandable and accessible. See for example from the first few pagesthe work of Pat Earnshaw, Pauline Kirk, Raymond Leonard, Jenny Johnson andRichard George.
I myself sympathize with the complaint that May Sarton made way back inthe fifties that too much poetry was written for other poets. But in a readingI gave recently together with an actress from one of the Aachen theatres,where we read my poems in English and in German versions, there werepeople there who would never normally go to such events (my neighbours forexample)and who were very enthusiastic. Poetry does need to be madeavailable, and interesting, and moving, and, and to a wide reading public.But how?
Keep up the good work.
2005/02/09:
The editorial was a big surprise. What will your unsubscriber read now? At a jewellers it pays toremember that the good stuff is often in the back; you can tell him that from me.In number 7 I enjoyed Melanie Challenger's 2023, Sharon Morris's the garden, Richard Martin's After the Fire,Robert Leach's After the Storm, Srinjay Chakravati's vignette, Bruce Lader's The Boy who loved to Fish, Libby Hart'sWhat I know, David Brooks' The Balcony, Alessio Zanelli's Lowland Feel, R.G. Bishop's Lost,Florence Elon's Turning Wheel ... and a lot of other stuff I've still to read.
Great value!