The 2River View

For my literary journal review, I found an interesting magazine called The 2River View. After I spent some time going through ODY, I decided to go online and see what I could find there. I stumbled upon this magazine that has a full functioning site containing archives, news, and information about featured poets. The homepage is found at http://www.2river.org/. I chose the new issue because of the brilliantly colorful artwork on the cover. The magazine included some more artwork and two poems from each poet featured in the issue. Having these two poems from each poet helped to see what their style is and if I might want to read more of their other poems. Some had a recurring theme in their poetry. One poet's poems contained thoughts of the death. In the poem "Facts of Death," the speaker is talking about the death of her father, giving great imagery of her father's body in his grave. In the second poem, "Somewhere in Between," the speaker is talking about the death of her grandfather. The speaker reveals that she had not spent much time with her grandfather and never would since he is gone. Some of the other poems in the magazine were very random. There doesn't seem to be a recurring theme linking the poems. I liked this alot though. You are able to get a little taste from each of the poets. One of my favorite poems is titled"Alongside the Dumpster." The speaker notices things that have been left besides the dumpster. He begins to question who has left these items and why. I myself have noticed things besides the dumpster but have never thought about why they were there. My simple conclusion would be that someone just doesn't want those things anymore. One item that I laughed about in the poem was the inflatable doll. The lines: "Who, for example, abandoned/the deflated 'pleasure doll'?/ And who, God help us,/ picked it up?" Often things by the dumpster are taken by others, but I found this to be hilarious. Another poem I liked is "My mind's a cathedral, exploded in." The speaker gives great imagery liking the appearance if the brain to a cathedral. I found this very interesting and began to wonder what my mind would look like. After the poems and artwork, there is information about the poets featured. I hadn't heard of any of the poets in the magazine, but many have been writing for years. One woman has been writing poetry for fifty years. There were a very diverse group of poets in this magazine. If you are looking to submit poetry for this magazine. The magazine is published four times a year. They only accept poems that have not been published before. I really like this because every poem I have read in this magazine is the first time it being read by others. I think this is nice for the readers because it is like being let in on a secret. A secret that is shared with the other readers of this magazine. I think it gives a more personal touch to the magazine. I see it as a wonderful place for people to shave their poems with others.