On Friday, I was officially welcomed to The Cardiff Review as their new Poetry Editor! As a result my weekend was spent feeling joy-filled and celebrating with just the right amount of craft cider. Okay, perhaps a little too much…

I am honored to join this dedicated team and follow in the footsteps of former editor Ellen Davies, whose debut pamphlet, Accent, was published by Cinnamon Press in 2015. Her poems can also be found in various magazines and online – check them out!

While I’ve done a fair bit of guest editing (and loved every minute!), I am looking forward to having the opportunity to showcase work  on a more permanent basis. The Cardiff Review team asked me what I’ll be looking for when selecting poems for the magazine. I hope this will give some idea to those who are interested:

“I will be looking for poetry that leaves me with something: a thought, a feeling, an idea, an unexpected phrase. I love poems which rely on small moments or concrete images. I prefer the personal to the general, the specific to the abstract. I value nouns and verbs over adjectives and adverbs. I want to see the purpose in each poetic choice, to be able to answer: why did the writer break their line here, use this form, rearrange that syntax? I want each poem’s purpose to be palpable, to see clearly how each word, comma and stanza break work together to create something bigger, more important. I also love poetry that surprises, takes unexpected turns. So, please, send in poems that speak, shape-shift, give, ask questions, and resonate long after they’ve been read. I’ll be waiting for them.”

View the full announcement of my editorship here. Thank you to those who have already submitted and to those who will submit in the future. I cannot wait to read your poems!