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Invariably the poems I love best provide an intense focus. They zero in. It is as if a single aspect of human experience steps forward into a cone of light and speaks its soliloquy. Nothing extraneous interferes. One could speak of this focus in many terms, as distillation or alchemy or integrity; as a process of economizing, particularizing or even husbandry.
My pet term is the “umbrella idea.” I envision a protected zone where a poem’s premise moves forward unimpeded.
Does the term seem strange? The root of the word “umbrella” is “umbra,” Latin for shadow, and this would seem to oppose that other compelling concept, the cone of light. Yet it is vital for a poet to occupy the darker places, the mysterium of the unconscious, the mythic, undertow-like forces that inform our everyday lives. In the shelter of the umbrella idea, a poet may explore these shadowy areas, give them their due, and shine a different kind of light.
Like a parasol or “sunbrella,” the umbrella idea also provides a cone of cooling shade, where no matter how intensely heated the subject matter, one may write from a position of objectivity. One sees clearly, without blinding glare. “Strong emotion recollected in tranquility” is how Wordsworth described the process of writing poetry. The umbrella idea contains that tranquility.
Sometimes, too, the umbrella idea is like a child’s bumbershoot, useful when skipping through puddles. It is not always necessary to be capital S Serious, and it is seldom desirable to write in deadly earnest.
To sum up, Umbrella wishes to publish news of the underworld, with its passions, confusions and frights; it also welcomes irony, humor, wryness, outrageousness, crookedness, and unalloyed joy. Its core equation: Idea + Imagination x Craft = Lasting Poetry.
Do you write under the umbrella? Then I hope to publish your work.
What is an Umbrella poem also like?
- It’s probably short, no more than a page or two.
- It probably isn’t a prose poem (i.e., a poem written in paragraphs), though there have been exceptions.
- No matter what the overt subject matter, its real subject is the human condition.
- It has momentum.
- It has a distinguishing style.
- If written in form, the form fits the subject matter; no one would call the poet’s choice of form arbitrary.
- If written in free verse, it is disciplined, with its own sonics and structure; no one would call it “prosy.”
- It employs Standard English punctuation, orthography and sentence structure. In general we are unmoved by fragmentary writing and punctuational oddity. We expect to see periods, commas and capital letters at the start of sentences. We believe the art moves forward not on avant-gardey gimmicks but on the thinking of new thoughts, or new slants on old thoughts.
- It’s fresh, imaginative. It knocks the editor’s socks off.
- It has an umbrella idea!
What is an Umbrella poem not like?
- Rambling
- Grandiose
- Depends on pathetic fallacy (the attribution of human traits to nature or things). Not even one image like this please! Yes, we’ve made a few exceptions when we thought the attributions were extraordinary but the main advice is: send such poems elsewhere; other journals welcome this type of trope.
(Please note I am not referring to fables or certain types of persona poems, but on tired old tropes that describe the moon/wind/trees/swallows acting or experiencing love or malice or some other type of human intention.)
- Employing any type of trope that seems “tacked on” for poetic effect rather than being revelatory.
- Sentimental, frilly.
- Old-fashioned in some way. Though we welcome formalism, we are not open to archaisms (oft, ’t’was, inverted syntax, etc.).
- Concrete (with the lines set up to form some kind of picture). Very complicated formatting is usually not feasible here for technical reasons.
- We cast a cold eye on words such as moon, blood, heart, gossamer, diaphanous and the following phraseologies: I think of, I remember, I imagine, I see in my mind’s eye, and the way followed by images or phrases used to exemplify something. (There are no forbidden words in poetry or any type of writing but often these words and phrases are used in trite ways. They appear so often in submissions, it’s risible. If you want your poetry to be fresh and nongeneric, consider.)
- Exhibits even one instance of “syntactical arrest.”
Many of the poems that hit our box do this . . . so please understand what it is before you submit. Just about every journal publishes this awkward, generic type of writing; Umbrella happens to be fussier.
- Just so you know, certain themes are beginning to bore us. There are too many birds in poems. Almost every submission period brings in poems that recast fairy tales. Anachronisms are becoming endemic: King Tut driving a Jeep, Moses smoking a joint. During one recent sub period, we must have received 6-7 poems about Jesus walking around in contemporary circumstances.
Poems about poetry and the writing of poetry turn up a lot; they are seldom surprising and of interest only to other poets (if then).
Prose is also a key element of Umbrella’s mission. Enthusiasms, experiences, viewpoints, misgivings, reverence, irreverence are welcome under the umbrella too. Please see the Guidelines for more information about the particular columns for which we seek submissions.
Umbrella isn’t intended to further academic careers; its mission is to bring a readership to fine poetry from all quarters. Therefore Umbrella is especially open to literary poetry written by poets who do not have MFA’s and/or who work outside of academia. If you are an academic who supports this philosophy, then you too are warmly invited to submit.
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