SitRep

The nervous centre of SCR's War on Poetry is humming along frenetically. Line after line of verse comes charging at us up Pork Chop Hill. We are up to our bloodshot eyeballs in amazingly good submissions for SCR #4 and II 'Lives', but decisions are being made and accept or decline letters are being sent out in dribs and drabs. This process will continue over the next week or so - if you have not heard either way yet, be patient. If you wish expedite matters, send bottles of laudanum or single malt whisky to our Nigerian branch office where the major decisions are being made.

We have had a healthy swag of critical prose submitted for SCR+II, but I'm always happy to find room for another interesting and well-written prose piece. Many of you write reams of prose when serial-posting to poetry fora: with a little work, some of these posts could easily become occasional pieces or essays of interest to a wider audience. We seek material relating to issues such as these:

What is 'Real Poetry?'

How many drafts?

How do poets handle dry patches?

How do poets handle wet patches?

Getting published

'Canon' poems

Poems of Mass Deconstruction

The role of explanatory notes in poetry

Why free verse sucks

Why metrical poetry sucks

Translation of poetry

Where is Poetry going?

Despicable editors... Hang on! Strike that last one from the record!

My head hurts! Make up some more brilliant angles of your own.

I'm keeping the books open until the 21st of June for prose submissions for SCR+II #4. Prose pieces which somehow relate poetry to our wretched* lives are particularly sought for the 'Lives'-themed edition of II which will be bundled with SCR #4: the extended deadline applies here too.

As a more general rule, our policy is to accept submissions of poetry and prose at any time, but obviously to work to deadlines for particular issues. Any poems or prose submitted too late for one issue will be thrown into the contender's tank for the next.