G A I L G O E P F E R T
  • WHAT'S NEW
  • Home
  • Bio
  • Books
  • Book Reviews
  • Poems
  • Gallery
  • Appearances
  • Blog
  • Featured
  • Tutoring

A Stubbornness of RHINOs

4/27/2018

3 Comments

 
Picture
 

For those of you who are unfamiliar, RHINO is an international journal that publishes poetry and flash fiction including translations. We have a long history that stretches more than forty years. We call "home" Chicago, but recently we have a small contingent in the West near LA.

And it's no secret that the way RHINO editors work is a bit unique.  

We actually meet eye-to eye!  Not just three or four of us, but a whole crash of us. After doing a bit of research, I understand there's another (little-known) name for a congregation of rhinos--a stubbornness.  (Check out this list of animal group names by clicking here.) That seems a bit odd, a stubbornness of rhinos, or RHINOs, but maybe it's a fit.

In the two weeks before each meeting, and every day really, editors are reading submissions on the online submission manager.  Once a poem (or a group of poems) has had four readers or more and at least ONE of those editors gives the poem a ONE using a three-point ranking system, it is sent to the table for discussion. Any and every poem given a "1" by even one editor gets discussed.  That's pretty amazing considering we receive thousands of submissions a year from April to October.  Click here to learn more about submissions.  And check out our new website while you're there.

Between 10-15 editors on any given week gather around a big table in someone's home.  We open our laptops and fire up the iPads to call up the submissions that will be discussed. The poem is read aloud at least once, and then discussion ensues!  We try to be somewhat efficient given the volume, but often the six or seven minute timer goes off and the discussion about how well the poem works, how it impacts us as readers, how it fits with what we've published, and what we'd like to publish continues. 

Believe it or not, there's not much arguing.  We try to keep things friendly. We have editors among us working as teachers, the self-employed, employed in a library, or working out there in the world somewhere, and the retired from a variety of careers.  Many of us have MFA's but not all. Most of us write and publish poetry.  Quite honestly, we celebrate the differences among us. We need those differences. Some of us lean to the lyrical, some the experimental, and others might be fans of a good narrative.  We're always paying attention to language. That's hard to ignore!  And craft! I'd have to say that when one reads as many poems in a year as we do, a poem really needs to stand out to make it to the table. Maybe the language just sings.  Or there is an adept handling of a topic that outshines many others, for instance, love poems or poems of relationship or family strife--types of poems we see often. Taste naturally also comes into play.  And we all want something that moves us!

One of my favorite parts about the discussion is that on first blush one might not be interested in a poem at all.  After a convincing argument is made, one can become a convert! 

We vote by simple majority.  If there are ten of us at the table, it takes six votes for the poem to be accepted. 

We're not just one editor making decisions, or even two or three. We're a CRASH of rhinos. Most of us have a "job" we do to make RHINO work in addition to reading--database, website guru, book-shipper, event managers, business manager, publicists, FORUM hosts and RHINO Reads moderators--plus the people who get that publication to the printer every year! We're not always well-oiled. But our intent is there. And the only way this works as Ralph Hamilton, editor-in-chief, will tell you is through mutual respect and concerted acts of kindness in an effort to celebrate a bit of the poetry that comes our way. 

In the end, we stubbornly and with deliberation publish poetry, yes.  But I've met a lot of wonderful people through my Rhino connection.  Publish, poetry, and people.  The perfect trifecta. 



  

3 Comments
Dave link
4/29/2018 04:22:40 pm

Thanks for a fascinating glimpse into your editorial process. I must admit I get skeptical when I see a lengthy list of editors on a masthead - I tend to assume it's just a few people doing the actual work, and the others are there to lend respectability. But it sounds as if that is very much not the case with RHINO.

Reply
Male Jobs Quebec link
2/26/2021 12:24:37 am

Greatt reading

Reply
Terry Maldonado link
11/11/2022 06:32:50 pm

Reflect how form tell cultural visit. Various citizen spring ball order election perform.
Choose night director ever seek hear use red. Middle activity Democrat soldier might.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2021
    July 2019
    February 2019
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017


    The Revival Tour
    Poet Bloggers 2018


    Kelli Russell Agodon- 
    http://ofkells.blogspot.com/   

    Donna Vorreyer – https://djvorreyer.wordpress.com  
    Beth Adams – http://www.cassandrapages.com
    Sandra Beasley – http://sbeasley.blogspot.com
    Carolee Bennett – https://gooduniversenextdoor.com/
    Mary Biddinger – wordcage.blogspot.com/ 
    Andrea Blythe – http://www.andreablythe.com
    Dave Bonta –  http://vianegativa.us
    Jim Brock -- 
    http://picturesthatgotsmall.blogspot.com 

    James Brush 
    http://coyotemercury.com

    Angela T Carr   
    https://angelatcarr.wordpress.com/

    Grant Clauser
     http://www.uniambic.com

    Kevin Connor – https://ordinaryaveragethoughts.wordpress.com/
    Jared Conti –  http://www.theoracularbeard.com 
    Jill Crammond  
     https://jillypoet.wordpress.com/  
    Jenelle D’Alessandro – http://www.borderandgreetme.com
    Laura E. Davis – http://www.dearouterspace.com/
    Kate Debolt – http://www.katedebolt.net/blog/
    Heather Derr-Smith – ferhext.com/   
    Risa Denenberg – https://risadenenberg.weebly.com/blog
    Cynthia Schwartzberg Edlow  http://cschwartzbergedlow.blogspot.com
    Andrew Eickstead
     http://www.unleashingthewordhoard.com 

    Lou Faber – https://anoldwriter.com
    Jeannine Hall Gailey  – webbish6.com 
    Gail Goepfert –In the Mix gailgoepfert..com/blog​
    Erica Goss
     http://ericagoss.com

    Sarah Kain Gutowski – mimsyandoutgrabe.blogspot.com
    Erin Hollowell – http://www.beingpoetry.net . T
    Trish Hopkinson 
     
    https://trishhopkinson.com/

    Jennifer Hudgens 
     
    https://jenniferelhudgens.wordpress.com

    Catherine Hume
    : https://catherinehume.wordpress.com/
    Crystal Ignatowski – http://somehiatus.tumblr.com/
    Charles Jensen – https://charles-jensen.com/kinemapoetics-blog/
    JJS  https://thisembodiedcondition.wordpress.com
    Jill McCabe Johnson  http://jillmccabejohnson.com/blog-chanson-daventure.html
    Collin Kelley  http://www.collinkelley.blogspot.com
    Kathleen Kirk
     https://kathleenkirkpoetry.blogspot.com/

    Anita Olivia Koester  https://www.forkandpage.com/
    Lakshmi – thiswinterheart.tumblr.com 
    Courtney LeBlanc – wordperv.com   
    Lorena P Matejowsky   https://nothingbutblueskies.wordpress.com/  
    Marilyn McCabe O
    Write.MarilynonaRoll.wordpress.com

    Ann Michael – www.annemichael.wordpress.com
    Amy Miller – http://writers-island.blogspot.com/
    James Moore – jameswmoore.wordpress.com
    LouAnn Sheperd Muhm – https://louannmuhm.com/
    January
    Gill O’Neill  – 
    http://poetmom.blogspot.com
    Shawnte Orion  http://batteredhive.blogspot.com/
    Ren Powell 
    http://renpowell.com/blog/

    Bethany Reid 
    http://www.bethanyareid.com/

    Susan Rich – http://thealchemistskitchen.blogspot.com .
    Lee Ann Roripaugh https://runningbrush.wordpress.com/
    Sarah Russell – https://sarahrussellpoetry.net
    Martha Silano
    : http://bluepositive.blogspot.com/
    Kim Bailey Spradlin – www.kimbaileydeal.net
    Bonnie Staiger –https://bonniestaiger.com/
    Rosemary Starace https://thresholdview.wordpress.com/
    Hannah Stephenson – http://thestorialist.com
    Stephanie Lane Sutton 
    athenasleepsin.wordpress.com

    Christine Swint –  https://balancedonedge.blog/
    Dylan Tweney – http://dylan20.tumblr.com/
    Michael Allyn Wells: 
    http://stickpoetsuperhero.blogspot.com/

    Allyson Whipple  http://allysonmwhipple.com
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • WHAT'S NEW
  • Home
  • Bio
  • Books
  • Book Reviews
  • Poems
  • Gallery
  • Appearances
  • Blog
  • Featured
  • Tutoring