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"The Midwest is not, of course, a precise geographic term. It is more a state of mind than a stretch of map."
- The W.P.A. Guide to America 1935-1941
What is the Midwestern state of mind? And more importantly, what is a Midwestern poem? Are the concerns, emotions,
ideas, and exuberances of the Midwestern poet any different than those of poets from anywhere else? Good questions for an editor of a magazine that purports to "present the voice of the American heartland." Certainly our landscape is primarily rural. Our state of mind seems conservative, stubborn, and at times, self-righteous. We are test marketers' dream consumers. Our history is that of a people who stopped part way to the golden shore, a history of "good enough." Yet our history is also that of labor
radicals, wild eyed zealots, utopian dreamers, and social reformers. And our landscape includes great land grant universities and cities of broad and sort of broad shoulders. In other words, the Midwest seems as confused and strange as the rest of the country.
So, what kind of poem am I interested in? I'm interested in a poem that is accessible on the surface level and is also able to open up and expand on larger, more universal levels. I'm interested in, to quote Helen Vendler, poems that provide "an urgent sense of the outer or the inner world exactly captured..." I like a strong authorial voice in a poem — and I like a poem where the poet obviously has something at stake. And finally, I'm fond of a poem that is grounded in a solid sense of place, that understands the importance of geography. And maybe that brings us back to the question of the Midwest.
- Matthew Graham, Senior Editor
