Poetry magazine has had a major influence on American poetry for a long time now. Founded by Harriet Monroe in 1912, it discovered or furthered the careers of many of the great American poets of the last century, including T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, Marianne Moore, Langston Hughes, James Merrill and Gwendolyn Brooks.
And after all these years, Poetry is still perhaps the most sought after poetry publication in the country. PBS last week ran an article highlighting the magazine's rich history of rejecting work--not surprising when you consider that it receives about 100,000 submissions each year and publishes just 300. Among the notables, Obama's inaugural poet Elizabeth Alexander admits to being turned down in the past year, and former poet laureate Billy Collins revealed that he waited 26 years after an initial rejection before submitting a second time.
Of course, not everyone takes rejection as quietly as Collins did. Poetry's senior editor Don Share told the Chicago Tribune that shortly after starting his job he was threatened by a famous novelist whose work the magazine had rejected. "He couldn't believe we rejected his poems. When you work in poetry all day, it's internal. People get shaken. I was shaken."
A top literary magazine can expect those sorts of private complaints, but Poetry has had to deal with a more public controversy since 2002, when Ruth Lilly donated $200 million to the magazine. For a publication with a circulation of just 10,000 it was akin to winning the lottery. The magazine established the nonprofit Poetry Foundation to manage the gift, but, not surprisingly, just how it spends all that money has been a subject of serious debate, leading some in the poetry world to question whether the Lilly's gift has been a blessing or a curse (the Tribune details some of the growing pains here).
One can't argue, though, that Poetry has since grown in both resources and influence: the Foundation now devotes about $2 million a year to educational programs; its website is, I think, unparalleled in the poetry world; and the magazine's circulation has more than doubled. Just last weekend, Poetry moved into a new $21.5 million headquarters in downtown Chicago. Designed by architect John Ronan, the building features a 125-seat theater and a poetry library (open to the public), and should serve as an impressive embassy for the art.
The magazine, in contrast, still boasts its simple but iconic 9 x 5 inch look. And, controversies or no, when it turns 100 next year it will still look awfully good.
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