American Poetry Review

I have enjoyed this publication for several years... Another reviewer here denigrates the quality of articles and poetry BUT in fact as with any poetry publication, there are writings that will appeal to you and stuff that you will dislike completely. After all, few fields are as filled with differing tastes and styles as poetry (I can't imagine a poetry publication where all poems are of universal appeal). The essays and articles will either be of interest to you or not. I usually find a few that are well worth the reading time and some that are excellent and others that are memorable. CAUTION: this is not a mass market publication. It can be demanding (after all, even a single poem can take time to read and re-read) and I rarely manage to find time to read the entire issue before the next one is available. RECOMMENDATION: Ignore the negative review... find a copy, read it and decide for yourself.

Your initial post: Dec 5, 2011 4:48:04 PM PST

Last edited by you 1 minute ago

Anne K. Smith / Greenwood S.C says:

American Poetry Review

If you like only light lyrical poetry with uplifting messages, this is not the magazine for you. There are many other periodicals that address more accessible poetry. The poems and articles in this magazine do demand more time and a background in writing and literature to fully appreciate them.

This reviewer says that he has been reading American Poetry for years, and says the poetry is usually awful and the writers are terrible. I question why he would continue to read the publication for years if he finds it so inferior to other literary magazines. Most people have a limited amount of time and would not continue to give so many chances to writing that has failed them so frequently. If I had not already been a reader and fan of APR, that alone would tempt me to read it. What is it that has pulled him back to it for years????

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I know APR is supposed to be one of the better poetry magazines out there, and I think it has one of the highest circulations of any poetry magazine, but it's more of the National Enquirer of poetry magazines. It's a large, newspaper-style format that contains mostly bad poetry and dull articles. You'd be better off subscribing to Poetry, The Hudson Review, The Texas Review, Tar River Poetry, or any number of other journals.

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Mostly ads and some bad some good poems to read. Found many poems inaccessible. More like a pulisher's ad sheet than a review of poetry.

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APR publishes in volume and, within self-imposed limitations of its editorial bias, in high quality. This alone sets it apart from most every other print outlet for poetry. I may like only 20% of what I read in a particular issue, but I am one who subscribes to the print version of the NYT to get the weekend Book Review section. The essays tend to the New Yorker / Harpers long format, or academic, or both -not easily skimmed.

APR, like most other literary magazines, suffers from the myopic view of most humanities publications: the editors tend to select writing that ignores goings-on in science, technology and interdisciplinary confluences.

This periodical has one disagreeable feature. The large format, low quality paper may attract some, but I find it in opposition to the very nature of poetry. There's something wrong about finding walked-over, muddy copies of APR on the floor of your local Starbucks along with used car ads from your local newspaper. Or would that be a good thing? I've subscribed off and on for a couple of decades, and it's, by design, not a satisfying collectible.

I tried reading it on Zinio over the last year, but the Zinio UI seems to have been designed by Martians.

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