Obviously if I were to review every poetry magazine in the country, I'd
be here forever. There are plenty of good links on the links page,
anyway. But every once in a while, I come across a mag I feel like I
just have to tell you guys about. Parameter
is one of those. In fact, it's not a million miles away from Monkey
Kettle in terms of tone and content - but the production values are
higher. Let's face it, that's not hard!
It comes out twice a year, just like we're switching to as of 2007, and
contains poetry, prose, articles and more. The edition I have on my
desk here (#3) actually contains several poets who have appeared or
will be appearing soon in recent issues of our very own mag, so there's
clearly a kinship of sorts. But other than that, Parameter are already streets ahead, which at least gives me something to aspire to with our forthcoming revamp!
Free with #3 is a fantastic idea - the "Poetry Soccer Six Official Sticker Album"!
Yes, it's a sticker book of poetry! Splitting the world of
poetry into eight teams (including Ancients, War Poets, Beats,
Symbolists etc), this is a superb idea, both from a marketing and a
flipping heck GENERAL point of view. As soon as I get some cash, I'll
be sending off to obtain the Lawrence Ferlinghetti sticker!
It's nice to scout around in the Poetry Magazine world - I don't do it
as much as I probably should, but it's always great to come across a
funny, clever, thought-provoking mag like Parameter.
If you find yourself idly waving a fiver or something around one day,
wondering what fun to have with it, you could do a lot worse than take
out a subscription (assuming you've already got a subscription to Monkey Kettle, that is!)
