The Blue House -- Vol 6, Issue 6 (February 2008)

This was my first visit to "The Blue House," which boasts archived issues from as early as 2002, so certainly not a newcomer to the poetry publishing scene. Sad to discover [i]yet[/i] another website with such poor, poor design. The poems suffer in presentation and navigation is unpleasant, at best.

That aside, it's the poetry that really matters, and so that's where I headed. After a grubby assortment of ill-made metrical verse and poorly proofread contributions, there wasn't much hope. One wonders how it is even possible to steadily select such poor writing to be "published" in any kind of poetry journal--even by chance, you'd think, one or two good pieces would creep in. The editor's own poem, published prominently among the others, explains much. From her poem, "Mirror Street," we learn: "the world is something/made/of concrete/lies/and politics/but earth/is with/us truly."

Further exploration revealed the editorial essay, "How Not to Hate Your Writing," which seems, perhaps, misguided. A little more critical judgment surely would only improve things. "The surest way to erode confidence is to begin to compare your own work with that of others," we learn. I'm not sure that a small blow to the confidence of this "editor" would really be a bad thing.

Truly. The kind of "online journal" that earns online journals their dubious reputation.
of concrete,
lies
and politics

but
earth
is with
us truly.