Lucky to Be Local

Putting your words out into your community is a way to "keep it local."

I recently received the second issue of The Más Tequila Review. It's a substantial endeavor, undertaken by an Albuquerque poet with an MFA in creative writing and no job to support this journal. It's a hefty, but not slick, publication. A labor, a love, a publication with guts. 


Richard Vargas, the man behind this, is just one of many New Mexicans creating new journals. Here are a few other journals, with links, and their tireless editors, determined to get our words out.


New Mexico Poetry Review - Kathleen Johnson
Malpaís Review - Gary Brower
Adobe Walls - Kenneth Gurney
Santa Fe Literary Review - Miriam Sagan


I don't know where you live, or what journals are available in your area, but I want to encourage you to send your poems to local journals above all others. There is something intensely satisfying about being with your peers, your friends, poets in your area that you admire. 


It feels necessary and honorable to be allowed to put your voice in places near your house, to let it reach into backyards and parks and coffeeshops that you love, into the sky and the trees, into the ethereal center of your world. 


These journals, these editors and their teams, are the ones that can help you make that happen.