About 14 by 14
The concept of 14 by 14 is simple: we hope to find and publish good contemporary sonnets.
Four centuries after Sidney and Shakespeare, the sonnet in English is alive and well, with traditionalist and modernist poets alike appreciating the seemingly inexhaustible scope of the fourteen-line form. As Don Paterson put it in the introduction to his anthology 101 Sonnets (1999):
The sonnet might be one of the greatest achievements of human ingenuity ... it isn’t some arbitrary construct that poets pit themselves against out of a perverse sense of craftsmanlike duty — it’s a box for their dreams, and represents one of the most characteristic shapes human thought can take.
Paterson’s anthology is recommended, as are the essays linked here.
We have a leaning towards sonnets that fall recognisably within the tradition — namely sonnets in meter, with rhyme, but we’ll also look at unrhymed sonnets and new takes on the form.
We publish online only, although conceivably we might want to do a print anthology at some stage in the future.
Peter Bloxsom is an Australian freelance writer and web developer. His articles, fiction, reviews, essays, humour, poems and other writings have appeared in print and online over a period of thirty years or so. As well as editing and publishing 14 by 14, he co-edited (with Paul Stevens) an ezine of assorted poetry and prose, The Chimaera. And yes, he has written a few sonnets; you can read one here.
Patricia Wallace Jones is an artist, poet, and retired disability advocate. More of her artwork can be seen at: http://imagineii.typepad.com/imagineii/.
14 by 14 is indebted to the seven outstanding individuals who served as selectors for Issues 1-11. They are listed at right and details are available on the Acknowledgements and Links pages of the issues on which they served.
We are currently closed to submissions. Please see our home page for an update on 14 by 14’s future.
Editor: Peter Bloxsom
Artist: Pat Jones
Selection panelists, Issues 1-11:
David Anthony (1-11)
Robert Crawford (1-11)
Rhina P. Espaillat (1-11)
Anna Evans (1-7)
Julie Kane (5-11)
Rose Kelleher (1-4)
Paul Stevens (1-11)
If you have spare cash and would like to support 14 by 14, a donation (however small) towards costs would be gratefully received. Only if you easily can. What costs? Well, there’s web hosting and software tools, but more significant is the expenditure of time that otherwise might be devoted to income-earning work. Contrary to rumours, there is no “New Aston Martin for the Editor” fund.
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