Edition Four: Suck
Introduction
Some entries in this edition have audio available
This is the fourth issue of Pomegranate magazine, which makes it the last in our first cycle of quarterly editions. In a way, that means it’s Christmas; but that’s not the only reason for Issue 4’s bulging bumper sack of 31 poems. The volume of submissions our team read continues to grow, issue by issue, and we’re always astounded at how much talent there is out there.
Some of it comes fully-formed, some’s a little rough-edged, and some just needs a little push in the right direction, but we’re confident that many of the talented under-30s who sent us work that’s not in this issue will be appearing pretty soon in Pomegranates to come. All of this means that the work we’ve decided fits best for us this issue comes from young writers we think are very special indeed.
This time round we’re especially proud of the sheer range of the good work we’ve received, from an avant-garde piece in the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E tradition by the mysterious T.H.X. Fidelity, to Wes Brown’s prose poem ‘Halycon Days’, to a sonnet in a lighting loft by Antony Adler – not to mention John Clegg’s meta-sestina on a roasting pig.
As Pomegranate grows in size and scope – while keeping strict quality control, of course – some of the team have stepped up to fill new roles. Charlotte Geater has done a great job as this issue’s Submissions Editor, and from Issue 5 I’ll be joining her in panning the Klondike of our Inbox for glimmering poetic gold.
The theme of our next instalment is ‘Myth’, and we hope to see a great variety of traditions and concepts jostling for our poetic attention – though if you want to write about something that’s nothing to do with myth, we’d still love to see what you’re doing. We won’t even get mythed.
I know, ouch. Still, all the more reason to sooth your wounded senses with this month’s delicious issue of Pomegranate, eh? The theme this time around was ‘Suck’, and surprisingly we hardly even got any blue submissions at all. Come on, you can do better than that!
However, while ‘Suck’ may have been the inspiration for some of the work we feature here, it’s certainly not a verb to describe any of it. We hope you enjoy it as much as we have!
Artwork Credit
Sarah did the fantastic cover for this issue of Pomegranate. You can find her online gallery on deviant art