I've been having conversations with several friends and colleagues and I've come to the conclusion that there is no right answer to the question of where I should send my work--the answer (as it always seems to be) is...
it depends.
It depends on whether or not I care about where I'm published, or if I want to be a apart of a certain journal's mission, or who else was published by a certain journal, it depends on how long I feel like waiting, it depends on whether I want to shoot for journals at the tippy-top, or journals that I frequently see listed on the acknowledgments page in books, etc. Hell, then there are the journals that, well, I just like the cut of their jib.
Yes, I don't know what that means.
The point is, researching journals, is only part of the problem--oddly, the smaller part. The bigger part is thinking about your work as a whole: realizing what's complete (or not), and realizing that your manuscript is complete (or not). Square that shit away, then submit like hell.
And to that end, I recommend newpages.
One great result of all this thinking about poetry and talking to friends about poetry, was that I was turned on to NewPages.com--thanks Henri. NewPages is a great resource for finding out about literary magazines, independent publishers, and independent bookstores--and hell, it's just fun to scroll through all of those pages about literary magazines and see who's out there. . .
