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  What is your official position on slight bits of pathetic fallacy in contemporary poems? Let's say it's used in a manner similar to James Wright or Merwin.

 


I hope we don't have official positions on anything, but I do teach pathetic fallacy in my classes as one of many poetic tools, so I suppose it can work just fine. Why, some of my best friends are pathetic fallacies--and some of my favorite poems, too. It depends on the poem, of course, but you know--laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and the world looks soggy and gray.

  What is the correct spelling of the guy on the raft's name?

We're not sure who the artist had in mind when making this etching. We found the art in our archives several years ago, and we don't even know the name of the artist. Some people think the guy on the raft is Charon, the River Styx ferryman into the realm of Hades, but Charon never struck me as the literary type, especially since Charon always expects monetary reimbursement for his services. He certainly isn't a poet. Others have speculated the guy on the book-raft is Orpheus, but in all the stories I know concerning Orpheus's decent into the Underworld, Orpheus, having no money for passage, charms Charon into free passage by singing him a song. Orpheus warms the cold boatman's heart, and the two travel together to Hades. This leaves us with our third and final theory. The guy on the raft is Harold, an editor of one of the last independent literary magazines in the country. He is floating on a recent purchase from one of the last independent bookstores in the country. Together they are drifting into the mouth of Hell.
What's the name of Charon's dog?

I assume you're referring to Cerberus, the three-headed dog guarding the gates to hell, but I believe the dog belonged to Hades. I don't believe Charon had a dog but rather one of those blind naked mole rats he kept in his coat pocket.

What's the final word on the cover letter thing? Should I include one with my submission or not?

It doesn't make any difference. We've been editing magazines for long enough that we can probably guess why you're sending us your poem or story. We generally don't read the cover letters, or if we do, we keep them face down until after we've made a decision on the piece. Sometimes, I have to admit, it is entertaining to see how the resume stacks up against the naked quality of the work.
How many submissions do you guys receive each year?

The last time we counted, it was 1000 poems a month, 250 stories a month, and, unfortunately, almost no essays. This doesn't include contest submissions, which come in the off season.
Do you make lots of money on your contests?

We lose money because everyone who enters our poetry contest also gets a year's subscription. The contest fee barely covers the postage of mailing out three issues, let alone the cost of the winners' prizes, the judge's fees, the printing, our rent, our phone bills, and the etceteras. I don't know how much longer we'll continue offering a poetry contest. It's a great deal of work on top of losing money, but I think it's worthwhile to support excellent poetry with prize money, and it helps us expand our readership. That's the most important thing--readers.
Reading "The Culture of Competition" in the just-out POETS & WRITERS has got me remembering the River Styx contest I entered last year. I haven't entered many competitions, and of course was pleased to receive notice that my work made it to "finalist" status in your '98 River Styx event. Did I appreciate it enough, is what I want to know. I mean did you have thousands or hundreds of entrants and was being a finalist like winning something, too?? Or did you have 52 entrants and 50 were finalists?? Was being a finalist in your contest something I should mention in my author material or would that be ostentatious and silly?

As I recall, we received close to 600 contest entries last year, and I believe we sent a little over 50 finalists to Molly Peacock, our final judge. Poetry contests, by their very nature, can't escape a certain subjectivity and arbitrariness, but I would think being in the top eight percent speaks pretty well for my poems. I wouldn't mention it in my cover letters, however. Cover letters that tout every single acheivement are tedious to read and probably annoy editors more than they give your work any advantage.

How often do you comment on submissions?

Often. We like to let submitters know that a human being actually sat down and considered each piece of writing that comes over our transom. It's not uncommon to send perfectly good poems back--we can only use less than one percent of work received--but we try to be as encouraging as possible when time permits.
What do you editors read for fun, when you're not wading through manuscripts?

These days I read a lot of children's books--my daughter is five. Editors can be the most unread people in the business. When we're swamped in submissions, I usually feel like reading nothing or junk--NBA stats, Entertainment Weekly, Cosmo, you name it. The last few books I've chosen to read are new works by Matthew Klam, Lorrie Moore, Qiu Xiaolong, Stephen Millhauser, Rodney Jones, Ellen Voigt, and Andrew Hudgins. My perennial favorites are Robert Frost, Charles Dickens, John Hawkes, and the Tao Te Ching.

Do you ever feel unqualified or presumptuous judging other people's writing?

Yes.
Could you remind me who is the guardian of River Styx?



I'm not sure I understand your question, but perhaps this will help. Styx literally means "hateful" and is the name of the Greek river goddess descended from Oceanus and Tethys. The famous mythological river over which she rules (the River Styx, of course, which is also a real river in Greece, by the way, that does disappear underground) flows nine times around the infernal regions, is intensely dark, and serves as the boundary between the world of the dead and the world of the living. The boatman, Charon, ferries the dead souls across the Styx into Hades, the underworld. Charon is the son of Erebus (the darkness of the underworld) and his sister-wife Nyx (night) who are children of Chaos. Hades is the ruler of the underworld, often pictured with his three-headed guard dog, Cerberus. I'll leave it to you to decide which one would make the best guardian.

Where do you recommend a novice short story writer (like myself) submit stories? At this point, I'm most interested in getting a lot of feedback, although publishing something is also a goal (to the extent that's possible now).

For what it's worth (and keep in mind this little Q & A is free), I wouldn't concentrate on publishing as a novice writer. Here's why: 1) Your writing probably isn't ready. The publishing world is extremely competitive, and at this stage in the game you could probably do without the heartache. 2) If you're just starting out, you probably don't want to publish your first efforts. I wish to hell I'd never published my first story. I can't even think about it without wincing, let alone read it. 3) Your time can better be spent reading and writing. Try to write every day. And read as much as you can. Read great works, but also pick up copies of magazines like River Styx at your bookstore or newstand. Subscribe to one or two that you like (hopefully River Styx) and get an idea of what people are publishing now so you don't reinvent the current wheels. 4) If you want good feedback, you probably won't get it from editors. We receive 250 stories a month. Extensive comments are impossible--we're lucky to write "Sorry for taking so long" on every story we send back. You'll get better feedback from your friends who write, from taking a couple classes or workshops (that's the real benefit of writing classes--your peers), or from joining a writers group. Best of luck.

Is it okay if I send poems by e-mail?

No. We receive thousands of poems a month as it is. I don't want to open that floodgate. It already takes us longer than I'd like to get back with writers about their submissions.