EDITOR'S STATEMENT, ISSUE 6

"Why separate women poets from their male counterparts?" It's a concern voiced time and again when journals seek to feature women's writing. It seems hardly heard, though, when diachronic/historic accounts of women's poetry are penned (e.g., Boomer Girls, University of Iowa, 1999), women are pigeonholed by their culture and subsequently analyzed (the many recent titles of Irish and Scottish women's poetry, for example), or when sociopolitical collections are compiled (e.g. the recent By Herself: Women Reclaim Poetry by Molly McQuade, Graywolf Press, which has as part of its description "...have women moved beyond the status of cultural outsiders to become full participants in poetry and its criticism?") 

An important question. But perhaps the more millennially-attuned thinker would ask, "Have women moved beyond the status of technological outsiders to become full participants in electronic media?" 

Many webzine editors with whom I correspond will attest to the dearth of women's writing on the web. This was the real motivation for Slope #6: to highlight but a fraction of those women poets willing to charge toward the new electronic horizon before us. To receive new, unpublished work by poets as uncompromising and important as McHugh, Brown, Lederer, Schilpp, Bang, and every other poet featured in this issue, is a blessing - and a rarity. 

Slope #6, then, is not a "statement," not a "celebration" (oh, how tired is that description!). It is what it is, a melange of dynamic, conflicting, divergent, convergent, spastic and subdued voices and styles by a superb, international blend of craftswomen. This collection also reminds us that a growing number of women (but not enough; indeed, there were poets I solicited who were unsure about "going online") certainly refuse to be technological outsiders, just as they refused in the past to be political and social outsiders. 

- Ethan Paquin, 12 September 2000
 
 
 
 

ABOUT SLOPE

Slope is a bi-monthly, online journal devoted to contemporary poetry being
written around the globe in English. Contributors hail from countries including Australia, Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. We encourage new and emerging writers, while continuing to publish award-winning and established poets.

Slope occasionally features "sampler" issues. Recent or upcoming examples include New Avant Poetry (Issue 5), Contemporary Womens Poetry (Issue 6) and New Welsh and British Poetry (Issue 8).

Poets featured and/or forthcoming in Slope include James Tate, Forrest Gander, Heather McHugh, Dara Wier,  Franz Wright,  Eric Pankey,  Eugen Jebeleanu,  Matthew Rohrer, Mary Jo Bang, Ron Silliman, Joe Wenderoth, John Kinsella, Timothy Liu, Margot Schilpp, Pam Brown,  Peter Finch,  Kevin Hart,  Peter Minter, Brian Henry,  Lee Upton,  Katy Lederer,  Drew Milne,  Mark Bibbins, Coral Hull, Graham Foust, Jonathan Monroe, Susan Schultz, Louis Armand, Spencer Selby, Christine Hume, Javant Biarujia, and many others.
 
 
 
 

WRITERS' GUIDELINES


The editor invites electronic submissions of 2 to 6 poems in experimental and traditional styles. 

All poems submitted must be previously unpublished and accompanied by a brief biographical note. Unsolicited poems, reviews, interviews and poems in translation will be considered year-round. Please query before sending reviews and interviews. 

Rights revert to poets upon publication. Unfortunately, we can not at this time offer payment for any work accepted.
 
 
 
 

SLOPE EVENTS & NEWS

Readings are being planned in Boston, Massachusetts; Melbourne, Australia; and New York City. Check back for details.

Michael Farrell has been named Australia editor for Slope

Ethan Paquin has been named American editor for Stride Publications
and staff member of Contemporary Poetry Review.

A print collection of poems published in Slope is being planned.
 
 
 
 

MASTHEAD

Editor & Founder: Ethan Paquin
Australia Editor: Michael Farrell
Designer: Steve Palmer of 76design