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About Us Magma is distinct from other poetry magazines because each issue has a different editor. The editorship circulates among the group that runs the magazine, with an occasional guest editor. Each editor brings his or her particular interests to bear, resulting in poems and emphases that no one else in the group could have predicted. The group is united by its commitment to the best in contemporary poetry, whether from new or little-known poets or the more established. We look for poems which give a direct sense of what it is to live today – honest about feelings, alert about the world, sometimes funny, always well crafted. Magma includes reviews of current publications and thought-provoking prose. The views expressed are those of the individual authors. Magma seeks to be a forum for debate, not to present a single Magma view. We publish three times a year in spring, summer and winter, with a selection of poems and articles on our website. 4 About the editors: Laurie Smith researches education at King’s College London and teaches literature at the City Lit. He is a long-term member of the Magma group and a trustee of the Poetry Society. Jane R Rogers works in book publishing and joined the Magma team in 2015. She is a member of the Greenwich Poetry Workshop and edits the group’s annual poetry pamphlet. Her poetry has been published in print and online. The launch reading for Magma 65 is at 7pm on Friday 15th July 2016 at the London Review Bookshop, 14 Bury Place, London WC1A 2JL with readings by contributors including Helena Nelson and Paul Stephenson. Admission is free. Magma 66 (November 2016) is edited by John Canfield and Ella Frears. The theme is Comedy. Contributions are now closed. Magma 67 (March 2017) is edited by Rob A Mackenzie and A B Jackson. The theme is Breath and Bones. Contributions are welcome from 1st June to 31st July 2016 – please see our website for more information. We are grateful to Arts Council England for support. Magma Poetry is registered charity number 1141075. To buy Magma Please use the order form on page 94 or buy online at www.magmapoetry.com/buy-magma Available in selected bookshops and in digital version through Exact Editions – see page 93. Contributing to Magma You are welcome to send us up to four unpublished poems by Submittable or, if you live in the UK, by post to Magma Poetry, 23 Pine Walk, Carshalton, SM5 4ES. We regret we cannot accept more than one submission per issue. Our submission periods are 1st June to 31st July, 1st October to 30th November and 1st February to 31st March. Submissions by Submittable are acknowledged on receipt, postal submissions when a decision has been made. We aim to notify decisions within a month of an issue’s submission window closing. Poems are considered for one issue only. Please send review copies to our Reviews Editor, Rob A Mackenzie, 30 Lochend Road, Leith, EH6 8RS. Other correspondence and enquiries to info@magmapoetry.com or our postal address above. www.magmapoetry.com Our website includes selections of poems and articles in Magma and details of how to submit, subscribe and order back copies.
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First read this! EDITORIAL Poetry is the lifeblood of rebellion, revolution, and the raising of consciousness (Alice Walker) When we chose our Magma 65 theme, Revolution, we hoped for political poems, personal poems and poems that look revolutionary on the page. We were delighted as, from six continents and especially Africa and South America, you sent us many thought-provoking poems, often coming at ‘revolution’ in ways we didn’t foresee. We found your poems most revolutionary when they expressed the personal – feelings and experiences that changed you or changed the way you look at the world. So, inspired by your poems we present our seven-point manifesto of the Magma 65 ‘Revolution’ issue. The revolution is personal too. Adapting the old feminist slogan we visit visions of civilian terror and meditations on Islam. Gillian Clarke has a revolutionary response to Dylan Thomas, while Kate Compston, our Selected poet, gives us poems on her own personal change. Revolution naturally makes us think of Che Guevara and we’ve explored the influence a lifelong love of poetry had on his raison d’être. There are decades when nothing happens, then there are weeks when decades happen (VI Lenin). Poems that include sudden violence, memories of Rosa Luxemburg and the old Bolshevik himself. Revolutions aren’t made; they grow (Wendell Phillips). Poems that show how revolutions can rise slowly, quietly, even beautifully, from small beginnings. Under the paving slabs, the beach (1968 Paris graffito). Poems responding to the shootings in Paris, recently and at Charlie Hebdo, and poems that show poets counteracting the growing sense of threat in cities with humour and zany hopefulness. The dog beneath the skin (WH Auden & Christopher Isherwood). Poems that investigate the animal instincts within us and the circus of our desires. Revolutions only need good dreamers who remember their dreams (Tennessee Williams). Exploring how our most personal revolutions are our dreams and desires. In dreams begin responsibilities (WB Yeats). Dreams that create new art and even change what we expect of art – poems here include unicorns, statues that smile and Paul Stephenson’s dizzying poems that ‘revolve’ line by line. Magma’s National Conversation series ends with two articles – the first from Will Self on how poetry will continue (or not) and the second where we explore whether we still need memorable poetry. This year’s Magma Competition winning poems and our reviews of new poetry collections from established and debut poets complete the Magma revolutionary mix. Join us in storming the mental barricades! Laurie Smith and Jane R Rogers 5

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First read this!

EDITORIAL

Poetry is the lifeblood of rebellion, revolution, and the raising of consciousness (Alice Walker)

When we chose our Magma 65 theme, Revolution, we hoped for political poems, personal poems and poems that look revolutionary on the page. We were delighted as, from six continents and especially Africa and South America, you sent us many thought-provoking poems, often coming at ‘revolution’ in ways we didn’t foresee. We found your poems most revolutionary when they expressed the personal – feelings and experiences that changed you or changed the way you look at the world. So, inspired by your poems we present our seven-point manifesto of the Magma 65 ‘Revolution’ issue.

The revolution is personal too. Adapting the old feminist slogan we visit visions of civilian terror and meditations on Islam. Gillian Clarke has a revolutionary response to Dylan Thomas, while Kate Compston, our Selected poet, gives us poems on her own personal change. Revolution naturally makes us think of Che Guevara and we’ve explored the influence a lifelong love of poetry had on his raison d’être.

There are decades when nothing happens, then there are weeks when decades happen (VI Lenin). Poems that include sudden violence, memories of Rosa Luxemburg and the old Bolshevik himself.

Revolutions aren’t made; they grow (Wendell Phillips). Poems that show how revolutions can rise slowly, quietly, even beautifully, from small beginnings.

Under the paving slabs, the beach (1968 Paris graffito). Poems responding to the shootings in Paris, recently and at Charlie Hebdo, and poems that show poets counteracting the growing sense of threat in cities with humour and zany hopefulness.

The dog beneath the skin (WH Auden & Christopher Isherwood). Poems that investigate the animal instincts within us and the circus of our desires.

Revolutions only need good dreamers who remember their dreams (Tennessee Williams). Exploring how our most personal revolutions are our dreams and desires.

In dreams begin responsibilities (WB Yeats). Dreams that create new art and even change what we expect of art – poems here include unicorns, statues that smile and Paul Stephenson’s dizzying poems that ‘revolve’ line by line.

Magma’s National Conversation series ends with two articles – the first from Will Self on how poetry will continue (or not) and the second where we explore whether we still need memorable poetry. This year’s Magma Competition winning poems and our reviews of new poetry collections from established and debut poets complete the Magma revolutionary mix. Join us in storming the mental barricades!

Laurie Smith and Jane R Rogers

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