Now out!
Acumen 110 – September 2024
Explore Acumen 110 to discover vibrant contemporary poetry and literary insights showcasing new work by talented poets such as Biljana Scott, James Deahl, Susan Mackervoy, Doreen Hinchliffe, Tim Love, Louise Warren, Huw Gwynn-Jones, D.W. Evans, Roberta Dewa, Philip Rush, Lynne Wycherley, Kathryn Daszkiewicz, Christine McNeill, John Greening, Anthony Lawrence, Frank McMahon, Mike McNamara, John Gilham, Geri Dogmetchi, Vuyelwa Carlin, Rachael Clyne, Duncan Forbes, Joan McGavin, Michael Swan, and many others. Highlighting the issue is an in-depth interview with Kathleen McPhilemy, a feature on poetry and jazz, and Fred Beake’s critical essay, ‘The Romantic Modernist: The Poetry of William Carlos Williams.’ The Poetry in Translation section features new translations of Heinrich Heine, Marina Tsvetaeva, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Du Fu. Reviews by Colin Pink, Belinda Cooke, Edmund Prestwich, and others offer critical insights into recent literary works. Don’t miss this edition, which blends original poetry, engaging analysis, rich translations, and comprehensive reviews to celebrate contemporary poetry.
An annual subscription to the Acumen Journal covers 3 issues packed with great poetry, plus stimulating reviews and essays. It represents great value for money for either yourself or as a thoughtful gift for a poetry-lover.
Editorial
Welcome to Acumen. Do check out our pages and great poems.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF ACUMEN. And a special thank you to those of you who have renewed your subscriptions and have added a donation, so that we can keep the price lower. If you haven’t renewed your subscription for Acumen, please do so here.
Thank you to everyone submitting poems and prose. We continue to receive a very high number of submissions so thanks for your patience while everything is carefully reviewed. Please remember we do not accept simultaneous submissions, but we consider postal and electronic submissions. To prepare your submission and for more information please see here.
I was delighted to include in Acumen 107 new work by writers across the UK, Europe, North America, India and more, Writing at the turn of the 20th Century, Zinaida Gippius paved the way for Anna Akhmatova and Marina Tsvetaeva, and was a barometer for Russian and European experiences, as the essay in 107 by Peter Eagles considers.
Thanks to all those who joined our online Acumen reading and celebration for Acumen 106, and those who joined our readings in Dulwich. To see more about the events see here. We will be planning a new event to celebrate Acumen 107, more to follow, or follow Acumen on Eventbrite.
I end with lines that have been attributed to Yeats, but more likely originated from English author and playwright, Eden Phillpotts: ‘The universe is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.’ I hope that the coming months give you magical things that your senses can sharpen to find, especially through the troubled world that often surrounds us.
Guest Poems and Young Poets
Acumen’s aim is to be wide-ranging, publishing contemporary poets both known and unknown, relying on the strength of the poetry rather than the name behind it.
Selected poems from each issue are posted on the website as guest poems for the week. We add photographs and very short biographies – a thing we don’t do in the magazine, preferring at that stage to let the poems speak for themselves.
Pauline Hawkesworth
I have been an athletics coach and administrator for over forty years. And, secretary to architect husbands practice for most of my life. Poetry workshops, 2 monthly are very much enjoyed. Also Secretary to Portsmouth Poetry Society (est.1972). I had a hardback poetry book published in 1969 by Mitre Press, plus pamphlet in 1998, from Redbeck Comp. A book from IDP Booklet Comp. 2007 and pamphlet 2017. A love of painting switched dramatically when I was fifteen, to non-stop swamping of poetry!
Jeremy Page
Jeremy Page is the author of three full collections of poems, most recently The Naming (Frogmore Press, 2021), and a novella, London Calling (Cultured Llama, 2018). His translations of the Lesbia poems of Catullus were published as The Cost of All Desire by Ashley Press in 2011. He has edited The Frogmore Papers since 1983 and lives close to the South Downs in Lewes.
Dawn Sands
Dawn Sands is 17 years old and was a Top 15 Foyle Young Poet in 2023. Her favourite carbohydrate is bread and she can be found on Instagram @dawnllswriter.
Amanda Allbert
Amanda Allbert is a 22 year old from Southern California. She devotes her free time to writing poetry and fiction. Her poems have also been featured in Crowstep Poetry Journal.
We love to publish new and established writers, in our journal and/or on our website and we are proud to have discovered many new voices.
We welcome unpublished poems, translations of poems, articles and debate on poetry covering a wide variety of topics and with different writing styles.
Find out how to submit your poems.
Poetry and Prose
Books and publications
We have a range of quality poetry publications for sale which we hope you will enjoy reading including hardbacks, paperbacks, pamphlets and single issues of the journal.
Electrifying Announcement!
Acumen is among the longest-running literary magazines today.
Patricia Oxley started Acumen in 1985 armed with only an electric typewriter, and without subscribers or contributions. Since then it has grown to one of the country’s leading literary journals.
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