The Cliffs "Soundings"

The Vertin Press--editors t.kilgore splake and Jikiwe
The Historic Vertin Building
220 Sixth Street
PO Box 7
Caulmet
Michigan
49913
USA

The Cliffs enters spring/ summer '06 with an eclectic mix of urban and wilderness poetry, and an edge of political dissent/ social critique that has been largely absent from previous issues: in America in 2006, even those who have moved beyond politics into a deeper, more philosophical critique of life seem to have an opinion. And on the day the Iraqi parliament announces it may well be another four years before British and American troops come home, you can well understand the political hang-up.
Poets include Ralph Murre, Gerald Nicosia, A.D.Winans, Antler and Alan Catlin. (Contributors I haven't mentioned aren't necessarily inferior poets, by the way; I am listing on the basis of probable familiarity.) The presentation is as superior as you would expect from splake and Jikiwe, with fine colour photographs by tks and a pastel by Alec Hall so rich in colour and detail it looks, at first glance, like a photo.
A single copy of the magazine can be obtained from the above address for $7.50 ($9.00 ppd). Which sounds a lot--it's only in the poetry world that we expect purveyors of the medium to starve--but for the labour and intelligence that goes into The Cliffs, I think it's worth it. One sample copy and you may well be taking out a subscription.