Prose Guidelines
32 Poems seeks reviews of recent poetry collections for our online Prose Features. In our reviews, we aim to explore the breadth of English-language poetry as well as to offer a space for important discussions about craft. Most importantly, we believe that reviews shouldn’t merely be about good writing; they should be good writing.
Potential reviewers should consider the following guidelines and suggestions:
- We prefer longer reviews of 1,000+ words as we believe that this length allows for sustained examination, whereas shorter forms often contain only evaluation.
- We prefer reviews that consider how the collection at hand relates to English-language poetry at large, stylistically and thematically.
- We prefer reviews that consider how the collection operates as a book as well as in individual poems.
- We prefer reviews that eschew acerbic zingers and aesthetically dogmatic whistle-blowing, but we appreciate criticism that candidly addresses a collection’s weaknesses as well as its strengths.
We consider all submissions carefully and enjoy being surprised by reviews of poets we’re previously unfamiliar with, but this summer we’re particularly interested in seeing reviews of the books listed below.
Some Problems with Autobiography, Brian Brodeur (Criterion Books)
The Trees Witness Everything, Victoria Chang (Copper Canyon)
The Penguin Book of Greek and Latin Lyric Verse, Christopher Childers (Penguin)Swan Song, Armen Davoudian (Bull City)
Let Our Bodies Change the Subject, Jared Harél (Nebraska)
Take Me with You, Wherever You’re Going, Jessica Jacobs (Four Way)
Survivor’s Notebook, Dan O’Brien (Acre)Broken Spectre, Jacques J. Rancourt (Alice James)
Rise above the River, Kelly Rowe (Able Muse)
Door to Remain, Austin Segrest (UNT)
Spectacle, Lauren Goodwin Slaughter (Panhandler)
A Wake with Nine Shades, Jennifer Sperry Steinorth (Texas Review Press)
Green Regalia, Adam Tavel (Stephen F. Austin State University Press)
What Follows, H.R. Webster (Black Lawrence Press)