It’s not our goal at Rattle to be respected by the poetry establishment.  In a way, I’d prefer to be disrespected–we’re poetry of the people, not poetry of the academy, and like any populist movement, we can wear scorn from the elite like a badge of honor.  Rattle was founded 15 years ago because it was so hard to find a poetry journal you could sit down and read all the way through without falling asleep.  And I think we’re doing a good job at improving the situation.

But still, as much as I like what the Poetry Foundation has been doing lately–though I’m not supposed to admit this as editor of a small press–as much as I think Poetry magazine has improved, as good a job I think the foundation has been doing at making poetry relevant, I still can’t visit the website without getting upset.

Check out their “Around the Web” links page. They list 91 literary magazines.  91.  And Rattle isn’t one of them.

We have a higher circulation than all but a handful of those magazines.  As I mentioned before, we have a higher circulation than Georgia Review, and Iowa Review.  Both of whom are listed.  I don’t have circulation data for many of the magazines that are, but I’m sure those are two of the highest.  I know APR is much higher.  Boston Review, Tinhouse, Threepenny, Triquarterly, VQR, and a few others might beat Rattle.  But I’m sure we’re top 10.

Moreover, Rattle is one of the only magazines on that list that’s all poetry.  The vast majority fill up their issues with prose.  The typical quarterly publishes, what?  15-20 poems per issue?  Does McSweeney’s publish any?  I thought this was the Poetry Foundation…

Not only do we have a higher circulation and publish more poetry than the vast majority of magazines listed, but we also receive far more submissions.  I already mentioned that we read as much poetry as the New Yorker. But check out our page at Duotrope.com.  We’ve received 390 submissions from their members in the last 12 months.  See if you can find a magazine that’s received more.

So we’re big, and poets are paying attention, but maybe we’re not established?  We’re only 15 years old, after all…  But wait–dozens of the journals listed are younger, like Coconut, HOW2, Signals, and in the end, far too many to list.

We’ve appeared in Best American Poetry and in the Pushcart Prize anthology.  We’ve published new work by the biggest contemporary poets, by Pulitzer Prize winners and Poet Laureates.  Our archive of interviews rivals that of the Paris Review.  Our archive of current poetry reviews rivals Bookslut. And we’re one of the only literary journals that adds new content to our website every day, via the reader-friendly rss feed.

The Poetry Foundation lists 91 literary journals.  And Rattle isn’t one of them.  No respect at all!

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