New Year Sale: Get Magma Back Issues at a Reduced Price, Ends 31 January

Magma is having a one-off on-line sale of back issues Magma 28 to Magma 44 inclusive. Until the end of January 2010 they are on special Sale Price of £3.50 including postage and packing – or £4 if you live outside the UK. (Usually the price including p&p is £5.70 for M28 to M41, and £6.70 for M42 to M44.)

As it says in the most recent Magma e-Newsletter “They are called back issues, but one of the joys of Magma is that each issue never really goes out of date. Poems by Seamus Heaney and Billy Collins (M36), Gillian Clarke (M42), Matthew Sweeney (M42, M38)) Roddy Lumsden (M43, M41), Martyn Crucefix (M42, M39); and fascinating articles about poetry by Mark Doty (M38), George Szirtes (M39) and Al Alvarez (M33) – to name but a few – are as fresh now as they were when they were first published.”

I agree, and in fact I hold the uncontentious view that a good poem is always relevant, and a great poem can be re-read many times It is also fascinating to look at early published work of a poet who is now fully published and acclaimed – such as Jen Hadfield, Tim Turnbull or Lorraine Mariner; or read about the New Imagination by Laurie Smith which is still new, or articles such as “Mistakes Poets Make “ in Roddy Lumsden’s article in Magma 31 (2005) which continue to be made or avoided.

Picking out the gems of what was published in the past is a real education, and revisiting trends in their nascent stage can be like reading with fresh eyes.

But old articles about developing trends may seem dated; or a poem written to a new idea which has since been explored more successfully by others, may now simply seem adequate. So I am asking myself the question of whether a poetry magazine has a shelf-life, and what it is. There is something wonderful about a newly minted magazine, and reading poems and articles never seen before in public. I have a need to know what poetry magazines are publishing in the here and now, what subjects and forms are being explored and how, and what that says about the future.

As I write this I am flicking through some back issues and I am falling on the Presiding Spirits articles, which appropriately are in themselves about looking backwards and forwards. Maybe that is it – some of us need to look both ways.

About the Sale:

The Magma Archive will give you a taster of what is in each issue. When you click on the issue number under a cover image more information will appear. Once you have selected the issue(s) you wish to buy, following the links to make your on-line purchase at the current reduced price, and the magazine(s) will be posted directly to you.