Poets & Writers

I’ve read Poets & Writers since I was an undergraduate and aspiring writer, back when it was printed on newsprint and of course entirely black and white. I shared copies with a friend, who years later, when her poetry fell by the way, told me that she kept up her subscription because letting it go would be the final sign that she’d given up on putting writing back into her life.

Since those days, there seem to be a lot more writers in the world and other ways for us to share our hopes, fears, and publication strategies. But I’ve kept up my subscription. This January/February issue is dedicated to Inspiration, but all the issues hold that necessary force. It also remains a good source of information about the writing business. I am happy to have an article called The Missing Locket: An Invitation to Wonder in this issue, which is available in most bookstores. I discuss ways I’m pulled by the gaps in personal and public histories. Sometimes just a little is what we need to begin. I realized this talking to a friend about how I love the show Call the Midwife, but found the memoirs on which it’s based flat: I could see how the show writers developed rich characters from just a few lines. And a few days ago a friend showed me her mother’s diary which she’d inherited. “It’s not really a diary,” she said, and flipping through I saw what she meant. There were copied quotes, taped-in menus and concert programs, and a wonderful few horsehairs, I believe, from a pew where the diarist noted that she’d sat for some years. It all took my breath away with possibility.

This issue of Poets & Writers includes great articles about taking risks, stepping back from marketing, revision, the power of objects, and introductions to debut poets, including Robin Coste Lewis, whose Voyage of the Sable Venus, full as it is with an exploration of history, is a new favorite of mine. In the Editor’s Note, Kevin Larimer reminds us: “Whether thousands, hundreds, or dozens of people might read what we’ve written, or even if we reach just one single soul, we are being given an opportunity to create something bright in all this darkness. Shine.”