Odds and Ends Essays, Blogs, Internet Discussions, Interviews and Miscellany

are always, every second, coming across an on-line journal by accident, whereas once a print journal has been sold
and bought, and is in someone’s home, there’s less chance for that publication to be “discovered” by thousands of
people simultaneously.
Ami Kaye: Many poets wonder why their submitted work was not accepted, when clearly, some of the work chosen,
in their opinion, was not superior to theirs. What insights can you share about the selection process of a poetry
magazine?
Jeffrey Side: I suppose many poems are rejected simply because they’re not the sort that the journal they’re sent to
publishes. This is why it’s important for poets to read the journal’s submission guidelines. The majority of poems
I’ve rejected have fallen into this category. But given this, selection is always a matter of personal preference, and
poetry evokes different responses in different people. I can only select poems I like, even if others would disagree. To
use a cliché: There’s no accounting for personal taste.
Ami Kaye: What can you tell poets whose work is rejected? What advice can you give to submitting poets who are
just starting out?
Jeffrey Side: The only advice I can give is to say to them that they should read the submission guidelines of every
journal they submit to. Another thing they should think about when they’re starting to write poetry is to decide early
on what style they’ll concentrates on, be it formalist, experimental, open form etc. This is important because most
journals have a preference for one style or another, and the poet new to submitting has a better chance of their work
being accepted if they bear this in mind.
Ami Kaye: Tell us a bit about your reviewing process, Mr. Side. What are the different components that go into
writing a good review of a poem or book of poetry?
Jeffrey Side: For me, there are three useful components for writing a good review. The first is to do a close reading.
A close reading allows for an evaluation of the different elements of a poem’s design, such as its formal properties,
imagery, metaphor, simile etc. The second is to examine the ways in which a poem is effective or ineffective in using
language to convey plural meanings. For me, this is the yardstick for all poetry criticism. The third is to have some
grasp of the history and evolution of poetry because this prevents writing about a poem as if it existed independently
of an aesthetic and intellectual context.
Ami Kaye: Do you think it is a good idea for a journal to have a guest editor every so often?
Jeffrey Side: Yes. I see no reason why not. If a journal wants to devote an issue to a certain theme or topic then a
guest editor knowledgeable in that area would be a good idea.
Ami Kaye: Thank you for your time with this interview. One final question. How do you balance writing your own
poetry with the demands of running your poetry magazine? Do you find you have less time to submit your own work
and even less time to write? How can you circumvent those difficulties so you can keep your own work going?
Jeffrey Side: I wish I could give an answer that would be interesting to your readers, but the truth is I haven’t
written any new poems for some time now. I’ve a backlog of poems (and notes for ideas for poems) to draw on if
need be, though. I suppose I’ve expressed all that I feel needs to be expressed by me poetically in this backlog and
what has been published. I feel this is particularly the case with my long poem Carrier of the Seed, which I finished
writing in 2005.
Ami Kaye: How did you think of starting Argotist Ebooks?
Interview with Ami Kaye of Pirene’s Fountain
September 2010
Jeffrey Side: Well, it seemed to be the next logical step to publishing poetry at The Argotist Online, which I’d been
doing since 2005.
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