The mission of Poetry Northwest remains what it has been since its founding in 1959—to give place and attention to each poem it publishes, to serve as a gateway for emerging writers, represent its vital corner of the continent to a broader audience, and to attract and sustain readers with the promise of discovery. In every issue of the magazine, as well as online and in books, Poetry Northwest is interested in the ways that poetry intersects with the other arts and sciences, the way it has adapted to new modes of composition and distribution, and the role that poetry can play in restoring sanity, nuance, and balance to civic discourse. At the root of this vision, though, is the poem itself—its unique and special propensity for binding together the varieties of experience in words, form, and feeling.
Read a sampler of poems from their winter & spring 2019 issue, including work by Karen An-hwei Lee, Don Bogen, Elizabeth Knapp, Mark Wagenaar, and more.