This was the 4th January, 2021 announcement that the online poetry blog, Stride Magazine, was closing. This wasn’t a total surprise to me, and I take some hope in the ‘Bye for now‘ that this may not be permanent.

I have both objective and subjective reasons for rueing any permanent closure. Taking the second, I have regularly had poetry published with online Stride, the first in 2007, and am naturally most grateful for this. Editor Rupert Loydell has always been an active supporter of my work – just maintaining the personal note – providing a platform for it.

More objectively, it has always been an excellent poetry magazine. No frills: just poetry and poetry reviews, this latter perhaps the most prolific of all the online forums? I don’t know for sure, but this in itself has been a considerable promotion of poetry and poets.

Unlike most online poetry magazines/journals today, Stride did not use social media to advertise and promote. I think there has been a welcome proliferation of online poetry which is highlighted through social media, especially Twitter (in my experience). This means there is more poetry out there, whether to read and/or to get published. I think in lockdown this has been generally positive and productive.

That Stride didn’t use this is what it is. And was! In that respect, but more so the sustained focus on the poetry it valued and promoted, Stride will be missed for its distinctiveness.