A Q & A with the Editors of Bear Review

Marcus Myers | September 2023

How did Bear Review begin? Did you have any particular goals when starting the magazine?

Bear Review began ten years ago, after grad school, with the impulse that poet and cofounder B. Rivka Clifton and I had to build a virtual and physical space for good poems, regardless of aesthetic affiliations or credentials. It was a labor of love, really. During brain-storming sessions, we talked about the sense of duty we each felt: we wanted to give our time and appreciation to poetry and community, generally, and to poems and serious poets, specifically. We wanted to provide a curatorial service, one showcasing the many poets (and their varied poetries) with whom we’d fallen—or would soon fall—in love. Admiring the twentieth century’s editorial tradition of little magazines such as The Little Review and Blast, and the ethos established by humble online journals such as Octopus, Blackbird, and TYPO, we talked about creating Bear Review as a lasting online poetry entity, one whose collective spirit we hoped would reach readers far beyond our city. Even though Rivka and I had differing tastes, we agreed we knew a good poem when we read one. So, we put down roots by featuring poems from both established and emerging poets in our first six bi-annual issues. Renowned poets such as Traci Brimhall, Carl Phillips, DA Powell, and Monica Youn sent us their poems; they shared space and energy with then up-and-coming talents such as Shane McCray, Justin Phillip Reed, and Ruth Madievsky. And undersung talents such as Miriam Gamble, Megan Kaminski, and Ruth Williams sent us work. Our main goal then was to signal to poets at every level of development and acclaim, everywhere, that Bear Review would nurture their good poems. 

Share with us the opening sentence or line from a piece you recently published.

“Upon opening my face 

I found another face, 

even falser than the first.”

—from Brian Henry’s “Silent Treatment” 

What surprises or delights you most in the submissions you receive to the magazine?

When a poet takes emotional and intellectual risks, ones grounded by their awareness of form and tradition, even if only to be situated in opposition to them. We’re often delighted by poems having fun with shifting tonal registers, careful attention paid to what’s beautiful and ugly, real and imaginary in varied densities and textures of language. And we love a poem showing a good ear for the strange music of language and an eye for detail. Nothing beats a poem with something at stake, with something urgent to say, show, or sing to readers.

What’s on the horizon for Bear Review?

This spring we’ve launched an in-person reading series featuring Bear Review contributors from here and elsewhere. We’ll continue in the fall, and we’ll host at least two readings per season. Once we’ve established an in-person audience, we’ll strive to bridge poetry communities here in the Kansas City area, and we’ll work to bring in contributors from nearby midwestern and southern cities. We plan to host readings featuring local contributors, regardless of aesthetics, alongside contributors from farther away. We’re also cohosting an off-site reading during the 2024 AWP Conference in Kansas City, and we’ll participate in the Missouri Lit Journal’s off-site reading, fielding our contributors alongside those from Boulevard, I-70 Review, the Laurel Review, the Missouri Review, Pleiades, and River Styx. 

We’re considering bringing on a poetry editor-at-large from each of the other U.S. regions—we currently have editors living and writing poems in the Midwest and South—to find and publish poems by local underrepresented poets. 

How can readers connect with and support Bear Review?

Start by visiting our website: bearreview.com. Then follow us on social media. Celebrate poets and their poems in our current issue and archived back issues. Think of us as a potential online space for your best poems.