ABOUT THE MAGAZINE:

acumen places an emphasis on publishing a wide range of poetry both in style and in its poets.  Work is considered from both established and talented newcomers, on an equal basis.  It publishes around 50 poems per issue (out of around 3,000 submitted in each four-month period) as well as reviews, poetry comment, and reader feedback. The critical articles aim to be well written and readable and which, we hope, will set the reader thinking and promote discussion within the correspondence columns of the magazine. Letters to acumen are always welcome.

'For more than 20 years Acumen has served as a forum for poetry and writing about poetry.' -- The Guardian.

'A strong and distinctive literary taste filtered through the actual choice of poems,' -- Poetry Review.

'I do admire the way you give each volume a form -- musical rather than literary, so that each section
has a theme, or tone of its own...It is not unusual for you to do this and the creative editing is why
ACUMEN is such a splendid journal' -- Edward Storey.

acumen is published three times a year (January, May and September), A5 perfect bound, with at least 120pp per issue.

To find out more about the editors, their books and their readings, press side-button About Us.

Contact us e-mail or snail-mail via Contacts.

To see what acumen is currently supporting, press Events.   The Torbay Poetry Festival now has entries on this part of the site. 

Subscribe to the magazine on-line at Subscriptions.

To submit poems without exasperating editors read the guidelines on Submissions. Please do not send e-mail submissions without prior agreement.

Poem of the Week.  Poems from acumen 64. 

acumen 64 is NOW OUT!

PLEASE send all books for review to the Reviews Editor at Swansea.

Waterhouse & The Tempest
Sean Elliott
&
For All Seasons
Barbara Cormack

Both pamphlets are produced to a high standard
with a full colour cover.

Price: £3.50 each
or
£6.00 for both.

Editorial
Poems:  Fatima AL Matar, Danielle Hope, Wendy French, John Mallet, John Arnold, Louise Wilford,
                Jonathan Attrill, Idris Caffrey.

‘Whose Comrade?’ Whose decade? – Mary Michaels.

Poems: Graham Seal, Christopher North, Jo Peters, Kathleen Kummer, Derrick Porter, Margaret Wilmot,
              Sue Boyle, Emily Wills, Nancy Mattson, J.S. Watts.

A New Poem by Keats? – Roy Davids.

Poetry: Roy Davids, William Oxley.

Interview with Rupert M. Loydell.

Poems: Bernard O’Donaghue, Chris Hardy, Bridget Thomasin, Michael Jennings, Andy Brown,
               Helen Ashley, William Bedford, Norman Buller, Anthea Simmons, Alan Brownjohn, Ann Alexander,
              Angela Pickering..

Wallace Stevens & the French Connection – Geoffrey Godbert.

Poems: Pushkin (trans. Julian Farmer), Michael Bartholomew-Biggs, Adrian Buckner, Michael Croshaw,
              Keith McFarlane, Kona Macphee.

Sleeping with John Heath-Stubbs – William Oxley.

Poems: Mavis Howard, Julie Whitby, Roy Cameron, Ann Alexander, Dave Etchell, Wendy Pratt,
               Danielle Hope.

Obituaries – Mick Imlah, Derek Stanford.

Poems: Simon Curtis, Simon East, Terence Reid, Fred Beake, Gerard Benson, Julia Deakin.

Reviews: Cameron Hawke Smith, William Bedford, Fred Beake, C.J.P. Smith, David Cooke,
                  June Hall, Cameron Hawke Smith.

Poetry Comment: Reviews Editor.

Acumen Magazine is supported by the Arts Council of England (South West).