VPR: Valparaiso Poetry Review

02/06/2024

Closing Note

I appreciate all the kind comments about the new issue of VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW appearing this week. Following the Spring/Summer 2024 release, the 50th issue that marks completion of 25 years in publishing, I have made the difficult decision to suspend further production. I am proud that VPR has presented so many fine poems and book reviews by a wide range of authors over two and a half decades. Please read my editor's note of gratitude about the history of VPR:
https://www.valpo.edu/valparaiso-poetry-review/2024/05/23/editors-note-of-gratitude/

That unique position and necessary purpose VPR held in its early years has changed because of the positive progression of Internet technology providing today’s vast array of opportunities for online publication or distribution of poetry. Consequently, the journal is now closed to new submissions; however, everyone is invited to browse the contents of all issues, about 1400 poems and nearly 300 pieces of prose, which will remain available in the archives. Thank you, again, to all contributors, readers, and other supporters throughout the years!

—Edward Byrne, Editor of VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW

Twenty-Five Years of Valparaiso Poetry Review I am pleased to present this new release of Valparaiso Poetry Review. Volume XXV, Number 2 closes 25 years of the journal’s publication. Begun in 1999, VPR has existed as one of the longest running online literary journals. During its quarter century t...

29/05/2024

New Issue of VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW

I am pleased to present the new release of VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW, which includes 31 poets, three book reviews, an editor’s note on the history of VPR, and my photo cover art. Volume XXV, Number 2, the 50th issue, closes 25 years of the journal’s publication. Begun in 1999, VPR has existed as one of the longest running online literary journals.

During its quarter century tenure, nearly 1400 poems have appeared alongside about 300 pieces of prose—book reviews, author interviews, and commentaries or essays. As always, I extend my sincere gratitude to all the contributors, readers, and other supporters of VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW throughout the past two and a half decades.

I encourage everyone to visit and read the new issue of VPR at the following link: https://www.valpo.edu/valparaiso-poetry-review/

21/12/2023

PUBLICATION OF NEW VPR: FALL/WINTER 2023-2024

As fall transitions to winter tonight, the time has come again for the Fall/Winter release of VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW. One of the nation’s longest running online poetry journals, publishing since 1999, VPR enters its 25th year with the 49th issue (Vol. XXV, No. 1) containing works by 35 poets, plus three book reviews. Check it out! All past editions are also available in the VPR archives: https://www.valpo.edu/valparaiso-poetry-review/

22/05/2023

PUBLICATION OF NEW VPR: SPRING/SUMMER 2023

The new issue of VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW is now available. Publishing since 1999, VPR is one of the nation’s longest running online poetry journals. The Spring/Summer 2023 issue (Vol. XXIV, No. 2), the 48th release, contains works by 33 poets, four book reviews, and an interview of Elaine Sexton about her new collection of poems! All past editions are also available in the VPR archives: https://www.valpo.edu/valparaiso-poetry-review/

14/12/2022

FYI
The following is a public service announcement that might interest some contributors and readers. The Valparaiso University Department of English is seeking candidates for a tenure track Assistant Professor of English in fiction writing with a secondary expertise in poetry writing. This teaching position would begin in August, 2023. It would also involve editorial work with Valparaiso Fiction Review and possibly Valparaiso Poetry Review. VPR is not part of the search committee. Hiring information and application details are available at https://apply.interfolio.com/118304. Inquiries can be directed to the search chair, Prof. George Potter: [email protected]

08/12/2022

PUBLICATION OF NEW VPR: FALL/WINTER 2022-2023

The new issue of VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW is now available. Published since 1999, VPR is one of the nation’s longest running online poetry journals. Supplement your reading list with pieces from the Fall/Winter 2022-2023 issue (Vol. XXIV, No. 1), the 47th release, containing works by 34 poets and a featured essay on ecopoetry! All past editions are also available in the VPR archives: https://www.valpo.edu/valparaiso-poetry-review/

23/05/2022

NEW ISSUE OF VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW

Publishing since 1999, VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW is one of the nation’s longest running online poetry journals. Check the latest issue (Spring/Summer 2022: Vol. XXIII, No. 2), the 46th release, which introduces new works by 32 poets and contains four book reviews. All past editions are also available in the updated VPR archives: https://www.valpo.edu/valparaiso-poetry-review/

27/10/2021

24/07/2021

"July, 1935-1943 (from a painting by Charles Burchfield)" by John Ruff
In this late week of July, a recommendation that readers visit the VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW archives to check out John Ruff's "July, 1935-1943 (from a painting by Charles Burchfield)," which appeared more than twenty years ago in the premiere publication of VPR, the Fall/Winter 1999-2000 issue (Volume I, Number 1): https://www.valpo.edu/vpr/Ruff.html

I decided that the idea had possibilities                    for a much grander scale                     

02/07/2021

"Peonies in July" by Peter Vertacnik
For this beginning of July, a recommendation that readers visit the VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW archives to check out "Peonies in July" by Peter Vertacnik, which appeared in the Spring/Summer 2020 issue (Volume XXI, Number 2) of VPR: https://www.valpo.edu/valparaiso-poetry-review/2020/05/18/peter-vertacnik-peonies-in-july/

  PEONIES IN JULY   By six am it’s already so warm the dew has fled our lawn. The vaulted walnut chitters on. Up early to refill the bird-bath, I shuffle with the bucket’s brimming weight   across the yard, spying the peonies, their withered heads fused to stooping stems, brown and brittle, a...

26/06/2021

"Pentecost: 30 June 1993" by John Knox
In this last week of June, a recommendation that readers visit the VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW archives to check out "Pentecost: 30 June 1993" by John Knox, which appeared more than twenty years ago in the Fall/Winter 2000-2001 issue (Volume II, Number 1) of VPR: http://www.valpo.edu/vpr/knoxpentecost.html

19/06/2021

"Searching My Father's Books" by Neil Aitken
On this Father's Day weekend, a recommendation that readers visit Neil Aitken's timely poem, "Searching My Father's Books," which appears in the current issue (Spring/Summer 2021: Volume XXII, Number 2) of VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW: http://www.valpo.edu/valparaiso-poetry-review/2021/05/19/neil-aitken-searching-my-fathers-books/

  SEARCHING MY FATHER’S BOOKS   I find he has traveled lightly, covered much ground, but left no more than the sparest of lines, a scribbled note cribbed from professors past, their stories also ended, the road carrying on. More than wild beast, he leaves a faint trail, a mark here, a path blaze...

12/06/2021

"Cold June"
Check out another June poem from the archives of VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW, "Cold June" by Joel Long, which appeared in the Spring/Summer 2004 issue: http://www.valpo.edu/vpr/longcold.html

05/06/2021

"June"
A poem from the archives of VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW, “June” by Lightsey Darst, which appeared in the Spring/Summer 2008 issue: http://www.valpo.edu/vpr/darstjune.html

29/05/2021

"Brood X"

With various areas of the country experiencing emergence of 17-year cicadas numbering in the billions, a recommended reading is “Brood X” by Melanie McCabe, a timely poem featured in the just released Spring/Summer 2021 issue of VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW: https://www.valpo.edu/valparaiso-poetry-review/2021/05/19/melanie-mccabe-brood-x/

  BROOD X   1. Down crannies, runnels of earth, sixteen Mays have thrust yellow blades of sunlight, have sighed the news of lilacs. All the while the white nymphs slept, listening to ticking in tiny cells not yet turned on. On a spring night, soon, unclenching soil will click that staccato code on...

26/05/2021

NEW ISSUE OF VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW

Publishing since 1999, VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW is one of the nation’s longest running online poetry journals. Check the latest issue (Spring/Summer 2021: Vol. XXII, No. 2), the 44th release, which introduces new works by 39 poets, plus book reviews and a commentary about the cover art. All past editions also are available in the updated VPR archives, which now include more than 1300 poems and over 250 reviews, essays, or interviews: https://www.valpo.edu/valparaiso-poetry-review/