Still Crazy can now be purchased using credit cards (Master Card, Visa, Discover, American Express). If you wish to use that method of payment, contact editor@crazylitmag.com.

Having just read a series of short story submissions that involve death and loss, I'd like to remind authors that a magazine that publishes too many pieces with these themes would be dreary and unreadable. I also think it is difficult to write about these themes in an artful way. In an essay that appears in Writing After Retirement; Tips from Successful Retired Writers (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014), I consider themes in over-fifty writing and address this issue, in particular. To quote myself:
". . . I do not disregard the darker aspects of aging; I just do not want to overemphasize them. I have the feeling that this is the case even for magazines that do not focus on this age group."

The issue of literary magazines charging fees for submissions

Many literary magazines are now charging small administrative fees for submissions.

Here are some links to articles discussing this somewhat controversial issue:

Literary Journals, Reading Fees, and You


The Truth Behind Literary Journal Online Submission Fees


Why literary journals charge online submission fees

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Interview of Mary Barnet in Still Crazy

The interview below appears in the July 2015 issue of STILL CRAZY.

INTERVIEW OF MARY BARNET

Carol Smallwood

Mary Barnet was nominated a second time for a Pushcart Prize for her recently published
86 Sonnets for the 21^st Century (Casa de Snapdragon, 2015). Her books are accompanied by the artwork of Richard E. Schiff, a Life Member of the Art Students League of New York.

Mary is Senior Editor of PoetryMagazine.com, http://www.poetrymagazine.com/index_real.html the longest continuously publishing poetry journal on the internet, founded in 1996.

1. Please describe your website and your duties as editor/writer:

I founded PoetryMagazine.com back in the web primitive days of the 20th Century, 1996, to be precise. That was when few webzines existed, and our advertising was primarily guerilla style; bumper stickers on walls all over New York City, ads in small periodicals as well as Poets & Writers. Early on, we introduced streaming video, and in 1997, we won a Webby Award for our streaming video. That got us a write up in USA Today by Sam Meddis, and we have grown steadily by the year. Our difference has always been the strict criteria we use to publish poets. We are not snobs, but we want to bring the best to our readership who have now come to expect that from us.

Over the years I have added to the mix of unsolicited submissions from which I choose, and then present. There are also Features by invitation by Andrena Zawinski; live poet interviews by Grace Cavalieri; reviews by Grace, Joan Gelfand, and others; and PoetryFilms by our own Richard E. Schiff.

2. Tell us about your career:

I began writing poetry as a small child, seriously at 16 years of age. I had reason, early on, to travel into South America at a time in the volatile days of the mid ‘60s. By 1968, I was living on my own in London, and there I put together the earlier writings and moved my work on. Nineteen sixty-eight was a pretty hip time to be in Britain, and I was in the middle of all that Piccadilly circus stuff in my man’s stovepipe hat and high boots and a wild Victorian embroidered cape I had picked up for a song. 

I returned to New York City in the early ‘70s and have written and published, since then, in many publications, including Crossroads, Gusto, New Worlds Unlimited, The New Jersey Poetry Society Anthology, Funky Dog Publishing, Recursive Angel, The Greenwich Village Gazette, The Poem Factory, Numbat, The Pittsburgh Review, and elsewhere .

Also, I was the Featured Writer in a special edition of Poet magazine. This was followed by my own chapbooks including Orchidia, Proud to be a New American, Landscape and Dad’s Shoes.  These lead to my books, The New American/Selected Poems (Gilford Press, 2006), Arrival (Casa de Snapdragon, 2010) and now, 86 Sonnets for the 21st Century (Casa de Snapdragon, 2015). Both of the latter were nominated for Pushcart Prizes.

3. Which recognitions/achievements have encouraged you the most?

My public readings that began when I was sixteen. I read at The Grace Church, Cage Figaro, and The Baggot Inn, all in Greenwich Village. Later, in 1970, I read at one of my now husband’s openings at the Avanti Galleries on east 72nd street.  I have also read recently at Princeton for the New Jersey Poetry Association.

In 86 Sonnets for the 21^st Century (Casa de Snapdragon, 2015) www.marybarnet.com, my sonnets are written for the modern English language. Sonnets are poems, used by, among others, Plutarch, Michael Angelo and William Shakespeare with a specified rhyme scheme and meter. Grace Cavalieri (host of “The Poet and The Poem,” interviews presented by The Library of Congress) and Joan Gelfand (National Book Critics Circle) both admired their originality and readers found their modern presentation of an iconoclastic poetry form refreshing as well.

For a sample, here is one of my recent sonnets:

My Sum

When I find myself in some reality of pain
I know old age can cripple us;
still  there is no need to make a fuss.
I won’t be able to travel to Spain;
many are the places I’ll never visit by boat or plane.
I can’t climb the steps of a bus;
I go so slow some folk just cuss.
Oh ! How I wish I could dance in the rain!

But nothing is lost in my craft;
I write with more facility than in times past.
I’m so happy with this some might think me daft.
All are friends to whom I serve up my words’ repast;
glad will I be if my life is no more than my writing’s sum!

                        March 2015

4. What writers have influenced you the most?

I have never allowed myself to be overly influenced, as I began writing before my mind was full of poets and poems. Chinese and Japanese poetry had an effect on me; brevity is the hallmark of the Haiku, after all. Economy of words goes along with our ideals of wisdom. Doesn’t everyone want to be the person of the “least words”?

5. How has the Internet benefited you?

Well, it gave me the idea that with a www you can reach all the way around the world with your circulation, automatically! And not a single tree paid for the thousands of pages of poetry we have generated in the past 19 years!

6. What classes have helped you the most?

The writing workshops I took part in at what was then The New School, I think it was in the ‘80s, or early ‘90s when Robert Pinsky was there, were invaluable to me.

The Master Class I took with Gerald Stern when I attended a Writers’ Conference at Williams College was also very enlightening to me.

7. What advice would you give others?

Be your own muse and inspiration and remember poetry is an art and a serious craft, requiring you read poetry and write poetry, every day if possible. I say possible, and really as a poet I can barely keep myself from poetry. I am very lucky my husband fancies himself a chef. That gives me a little time to work, and I eat well every night.

8. What is your favorite quotation?

This says everything:

“Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.” – John Donne∎

JULY 2015 ISSUE OF STILL CRAZY

  

Does your life have a soundtrack?      Have you ever chafed when a store clerk assumed you were a “senior” or when a young whippersnapper called you ma’am?

These topics and more are explored in the July 2015 issue of Still Crazy.

This issue also contains the first interview published by the magazine. It features poet Mary Barnet, interviewed by Carol Smallwood.

Go to www.crazylitmag.com for ordering information.  Selected poems and excerpts from essays/stories are available for viewing on the site for both this issue and previous issues.  You must register to read them.

Still Crazy is an independent magazine that receives no funding from organizations or institutions. We appreciate your support, whether from subscriptions, single-issue purchases, or donations.

Yours truly,

Barbara Kussow

Editor

Still Crazy

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Still Crazy literary magazine has a new blog.

As a first post for the new blog, here are the magazine's guidelines:

Writers’ Guidelines for Still Crazy

           

All submissions must be done via the online Submissions Manager.

Registration for the Submissions Manager is at http://www.crazylitmag.com/app/subm_reg.php

The Login for the Submissions Manager is at http://www.crazylitmag.com/app/subm_login.php

Register with the Submissions Manager with your name, address, and a short bio (give age, or simply “over 50”; representative publications) and choose a user name and password.  Then, follow these steps:  1) Give the title of your work; 2) Select the appropriate genre (poetry, short story, non-fiction); 3) Select your file.  The easiest way to do this is to browse your files.  For example, go to your “C” drive, select “Documents,” then the folder, then the file containing your work (e.g. c:\Documents\My Poetry\name of poem).  Click on the name of the file to upload it.  (Note: The path to your file will probably be different. This is only an example to illustrate general procedure.)

Length of Submissions

Poems 50 lines (Poems of 30 words or less are more likely to be accepted.)

Short stories 3,000 words (Stories of less than 2500 words are more likely to be accepted.)

Non-fiction 2,000 words

Formatting your document

Double space throughout. 

Tab indent your paragraphs five spaces.  (Do not use the space bar to indent          

paragraphs.) 

Place your name, address, telephone number, and email address in the upper left   corner. Number your pages.

For essays and short stories, place an approximate word count in the upper right corner of the first page.  For poetry, a line count is helpful.

The title should be centered.  One double space below your title, center your byline.  Use the name as you wish it to appear in the publication.  (Try to be consistent with the name in all places in the submission process.  For instance, it is confusing to get a middle name or middle initial in one place and none in another.)

           

Preferred file formats are .doc and .rtf.         

Please submit no more than five poems and/or two stories or essays per year.   Submit poems in one document instead of submitting each separately. Place your last name in the subject line, e.g. Poetry Submission Jones. (Don't use special characters, such as the hyphen or ampersand question mark.)

Contributors receive one free copy of the print magazine.

Accepts simultaneous submissions (but please notify immediately if your manuscript is accepted by another publication).

Previously published manuscripts sometimes considered, if they were published some time ago.  Recently published materials will not be considered. At the time of submission, author must make it known if a piece has been previously published.  Prefer materials not previously published. Previously published means both online and paper magazine format.

Fiction (short stories)

Interesting characters in interesting situations

General preference for a sparse style over a wordy style (but, of course, there could be exceptions)

If a story is about romance, the story and writing style should involve unexpected or unpredictable elements.  Generally, the editor does not want romances. The same goes for sports stories.

Take care with grammar and the mechanical aspects of your manuscript.

Poetry

Prefer free verse to rhymed poetry

Preference for poetry that tells a story.  In a poem, of course, the story is brief, elliptical, and told with interesting images. 

Nothing extremely experimental (though always open to fresh approaches).

Nothing too sentimental, e.g. Hallmark sentimentality

Non-fiction

Memoirs (Accepted memoirs usually relate to a broader social theme or movement, e.g. the 60’s.)

Articles that illustrate George Eliot’s quote: ”You’re never too old to be what you might have been.”

Articles about unusual interests or activities told in a winning style