"Putting Poets and Poems in Dialogue with One Another." A Chat with Steve Halle, Editor of Spoon River Poetry Review

Editor of poetry mag founded in 1976 takes us behind the scenes

Good day! I come with news of another editor interview, freshly wrapped.

Today I had the pleasure of speaking with Steve Halle, Editor of Spoon River Poetry Review.

SRPR (Spoon River Poetry Review) is a volunteer-based, nonprofit poetry journal housed at Illinois State University in Normal, IL and operated by the Spoon River Poetry Association. It has been in continuous publication since 1976. Each issue publishes new poetry in English and in translation, includes a chapbook-length Illinois Poet showcase and interview, and features an article-length review essay, which investigates three or more books of contemporary poetry that have a formal, thematic, or subject-based connection.

The magazine is named after Spoon River in Illinois. It is not to be confused with the Spoon River Anthology, which Steve cited as a common mistake submitters make.

Apart from that, Steve characterized the magazine as open to all forms of poetry, subjects and approaches. While over the past few years he saw a lot of covid-related poems, many of which treated themes of alienation and isolation, there is no subject or style that is off limits here.

What he personally favors is work that has a documentary dimension, which sheds light on political and/or historical events. But these events need not be current. (He prefers the work to relate “news that stays news.”) On the other hand, he also likes work that has a mystical component, work that explores the body and elevates the body’s processes to a higher dimension, what he called “the visceral mystical.”

All this said, there are no particular boundaries as to what is right for this magazine. Steve likes work that surprises, challenges, and, as Emily Dickinson more or less said, makes him feel like the top of his head has been blown off.

The magazine is also very interested in translation. For this, Steve prefers work translated from “lesser-resourced languages,” i.e. languages deriving from countries who do not necessarily have a ministry of culture and which do not already dominate in the translation field.

Oh, another thing Steve mentioned is that he’s interested in the kind of poems which have been rejected elsewhere. Hearing this, I wondered if poets should mention this in their cover letter, if it might help to mention that one’s batch of poems has been rejected by 80 places already. He said, “I mean, it could make a difference…”

As Editor, Steve focuses on raising money for the journal and website development (what he called the “un-sexy tasks” of keeping a lit mag afloat), as well as answering the magazine’s more existential questions. These include, Why does this journal exist? What makes it different? How do we build community with our readers and with the public?

Steve addressed these questions in the interview. And, of course, he addressed a lot more. For all that, you’ll have to watch the video!

Submissions to SRPR are open from September 15th - February 15th. The magazine receives several hundred submissions per month. Writers should send 3-5 poems in one submission.

They are also always open to volunteer readers. If that interests you, contact Steve directly at cshalle@ilstu.edu.

To everyone who came out to tune in today, thank you! Your faces are the sweet pumpkin pie in my cold autumnal soul.

And, of course, thank you to Steve, for taking the time to peel back the curtain of another lovely little magazine.