Contemporary Ghazals

I know of only one hard copy journal in English devoted to the ghazal. It is Contemporary Ghazals , edited and published by R. W. Watkins. As of this post Watkins has published two issues, No. 1, Spring 2003. and No. 2, Winter Spring 2004. He is preparing issues 3 and 4, however, for publication in the near future. Little magazines have very unstable and unpredictable lives, dependent as they are on the resources, — financial and other — of their editors.

Contemporary Ghazals has an ISSN: 1703 082X. You may contact Watkins at 

    Box 111
    Moreton's Harbour, NL
    A0G 3H0
    Canada

You may also email Rob, or visit his MySpace profile.

The masthead lists the subscription price as $15 for 3 issues. Canadian or US dollars  that's a good deal.

This entry is not a full review of the issues I have, but I do want to give an idea of the content and feel of the mag. Contemporary Ghazals is 8.5 x 11 in  in black and white  with the cover of issue 2 being black and silver. It has what I fondly think of as the funky feel of little poetry magazines. Visually  it is very accessible: the page size is excellent for displaying the ghazals.

The prose contained expresses Watkins very strong support of the "Persian ghazal"  as advocated by Agha Shahid Ali. Issue 2 has an essay by Dr. Iftikhar Husain Rizvi  of India, a widely published poet and author of Urdu ghazals. (I hope to pursue the various types of ghazal soon in another post.) Dr. Rizvi's article will be part of what I discuss.

The ghazals in these first two issues all have the qafiyah (monorhyme) and some have radif (refrain) as well. "Daybreak " by Bill West, issue 2  p. 3, uses the radif "day" and rhymes the first line of each couplet with it. Watkins' "Ghazal for Shahid " in the same issue, p. 6, uses only a qafiyah, a monorhyme on -ition. In issue 1, p. 12,  Bill West's "In a Turkish Garden" uses only qafiyah.

So as to make at least some comment on content, I will point out that  Denver Butson's "Four Drowning Ghazals,"  issue 1, pp. 16 - 17, makes effective use of "deep image" poetics. Here's the makhta from the fourth ghazal:

she said, Denver let's suck wine from these stones
let's fashion wings and fly on their coffins

Other poets in these issues include Marcyn Del Clements, Daniel Hales, Barbara Little, James W. McMillan, and Teresa M. Pfeifer.

I recommend that you have a look at what R. W. Watkins is doing with  Contemporary Ghazals.