Sam Rasnake

Sam Rasnake was born on the Outer Banks, North Carolina, and has a B.A. (English, Philosophy, Humanities), M.A. (English), and an Ed. S. (Counseling Leadership) from East Tennessee State University. He's got a soul mate and two children, and lives in the mountains of East Tennessee. Since 1993, he's been chapbook editor for Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, a print journal – formerly based in Virginia, presently based in South Carolina – and since 2001, he's edited Blue Fifth Review.

As a writer, he's studied with William Stafford and Amy Clampitt – two of America’s most gifted poets and teachers. He is the author of one chapbook, Religions of the Blood (Pudding House) and one full-length collection, Necessary Motions (Sow’s Ear Press).

He blogs at sam of the 10,000 things.


Publication Questions:

1) What projects are you currently on? (Include issue #s, books, chapbooks, broadsides, special projects, print and web).

As an editor, I just selected the annual winner of the 16th edition of the chapbook series for Sow’s Ear Poetry Review. In fact, I’ve been the series’ only reader. That’s been a real pleasure for me, as well as a growing experience. The series has enabled me to select works by many wonderful writers such as Lynne Knight, Floyd Skloot, Andrea Carter Brown, Peter Meinke, and Jeffrey Lee. My role as chapbook editor for Sow’s Ear gave me the confidence I needed to edit my own vision of a magazine – Blue Fifth Review – a biannual journal of new poetry and art. I emphasize new works for inclusion because I want to proclaim the notion that the Internet is a viable and respectable medium for the arts. My goal is for Blue Fifth Review to be a highly regarded venue for writers and readers. For that reason, I only consider works that have never appeared in other literary journals – print or online. I’m proud of the many important writers whose works the issues have featured: Marge Piercy, J.P. Dancing Bear, Evie Shockley, Eleni Sikelianos, Daphne Gottlieb, Susan Terris, Virgil Suaréz, Leslie Marcus, Natasha Sajé, E. Ethelbert Miller, Gerhardt Thompson, Vicki Hudspith, Dorianne Laux, Peter Pereira, Eileen Tabios, Rebecca Loudon, Nathalie Handal, Barbara Jane Reyes, and Robert Klein Engler.

At least once a year, an issue of Blue Fifth is thematic with a focus on a wide range of possibilities. Some of the special issues have included landscape, film, violence against women, and the world from female and male perspectives. The Spring 2008 Supplement issue will focus on writing about Appalachia. I’ve asked Felicia Mitchell, writer, editor, and friend, to guest edit this special issue – a first for BFR.

Two years ago, I expanded Blue Fifth to include a Broadside series that features, quarterly, a poem and audio file from selected poets.

As for my own poetry – I’m at work on a large work-in-progress: The Divination of Sticks. Part 1, Religions of the Blood – a chapbook collection – was published by Pudding House Press. I’m in the process of finishing and fine-tuning the next two sections: Inside a Broken Clock and Tales of Brave Ulysses.

Also, I’m a member of a writers’ group – a small circle… Edison Jennings, Felicia Mitchell, James Owens, and myself – and we’re working on a collaborative chapbook of poems.

2) What has been your biggest challenge as a poetry publisher/editor?

My greatest difficulty has been in not allowing the editing to take away from my own work as a poet. It took me about a year or so – three or four issues – to become familiar enough with html language so that the building of each issue would not be burdensome in terms of time and work load. I’ve learned a great deal, and I’m now at the point where I don’t allow myself to become bogged down with the how-to of creating each issue. That gives my writing self and personal life much more freedom and needed space.

3) Do you regret any paths you have followed as a publisher/editor?

Not really.

4) Name one poet who has not appeared in your publication which you would love to have included and why.

Jeff Daniel Marion. He’s such an important writer from my part of the world – Appalachia. Blue Fifth is not – by any stretch of the imagination – a regional publication. I’ve consciously focused on a national and even an international presence in its pages, but I dearly love and identify with Marion’s amazing poetry. Some day.

5) Who is the designer of your web site and how much input do you have in the design of the web site and the other design elements including covers for books, etc.?

At Blue Fifth Review, I do the whole process myself – reading submissions, selecting the works, designing and laying out each issue. That’s been my role from the beginning, the Winter 2001 issue, and that will continue. It fulfills my vision.

6) What recognitions have you received as a publisher/editor?

Very little for myself. I’ve received nods, comments, and reviews from many circles – while certainly satisfying to me as an editor, that speaks more directly about – and rightly so – the strength of the writers featured in the pages of BFR. I was pleased last year that Eve Stern’s “Longing for Pangaea,” a powerful work in a special issue devoted to the world from the female perspective, was a finalist for Best of the Net 2006 (Sundress Publications).

7) Where do you see your publication/editing in 5 years?

I had originally envisioned Blue Fifth Review as a five year venture. When the five years passed, I thought about ten. As I approach the eighth year, I want to add more.

In five years I hope to have at least two more chapbooks published or a second collection.

8) What are some of your other interests?

Music, films, birds, art, philosophy, and baseball.

9) What is your favorite poem as of today and why?

Elizabeth Bishop’s “Crusoe in England” is probably my favorite piece. It’s so perfect – sound, form, language. I cannot imagine poetry without the works of Bishop, and I think this poem is her finest moment.

10) Recommend a poetry book, blog or web site to our audience (not from one of your press) and why.

I can’t stop at one…

Works:
Emily Dickinson, Jelaluddin Rumi, Cold Mountain, Elizabeth Bishop’s Geography III, James Wright’s The Branch Will Not Break, Jorge Luis Borges’ El Hacedor. These writers and works changed my way of living in the world.

Blogs:
Slilliman’s Blog by Ron Silliman.
Jilly Dybka’s Poetry Hut Blog.
Kate Greenstreet’s Every Other Day.
These blogs – and I visit them religiously – keep me directly in touch with contemporary poetry.

Web sites:
Verse Daily
Poetry Daily
The Diaries of Franz Kafka
Slate
Great ways to start each day.

11) What is the most exciting aspect of being a poetry publisher/editor?

The most rewarding part of my editing Blue Fifth Review has been the many poets I’ve come to know through their publication in the journal. That experience, at least for me, has been beyond value.

12) Leave us with a recipe for poetry.

Watch a great film – Dekalog by Krzysztof Kieslowski.
Listen to great piece of music – Kind of Blue by the Miles Davis Quintet.
View the paintings of Frida Kahlo.
Read an anthology – Against Forgetting: Twentieth Century Poetry of Witness, ed. By Carolyn Forché.
Take pen in hand. Then listen. The words will follow.