Mezzo Cammin is a semiannual online literary journal

Literary magazine

A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...

 devoted to formalist poetry

New Formalism

New Formalism is a late-20th and early 21st century movement in American poetry that has promoted a return to metrical and rhymed verse.-Origins and intentions:...

 by contemporary women as well as to bring attention back to work that was more famous in previous eras. The journal's title comes from Judith Moffett

Judith Moffett

Judith Moffett is an American author and academic. She has published poetry, nonfiction, science fiction, and translations of Swedish literature...

's poem "Mezzo Cammin", which in turn takes its title from the opening line of the famous Italian poet Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri

Durante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...

's Inferno

Inferno (Dante)

Inferno is the first part of Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. It is an allegory telling of the journey of Dante through what is largely the medieval concept of Hell, guided by the Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as...

. The journal is currently associated with the West Chester University Poetry Conference

West Chester University Poetry Conference

West Chester University Poetry Conference is an international poetry conference that has been held annually since 1995 at West Chester University, Pennsylvania, United States. It hosts various panel discussions and poetry craft workshops, which focus primarily on formal poetry, narrative poetry,...

. The editor in chief

Editor in chief

An editor-in-chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. Additionally, the editor-in-chief is held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members as well as keeping up with the time it takes them to complete their task...

 is Kim Bridgford. Its advisory board consists of well-known poets such as Annie Finch

Annie Finch

Annie Finch is an American poet. She is author of numerous books of poetry as well as poetry translation, poetry anthologies and criticism, opera libretti, and poetic collaborations with visual art, music, theater, and dance. Her writings on poetry address topics including meter and prosody,...

, Allison Joseph

Allison Joseph

Allison Joseph is an American poet, editor and professor. She is author of six poetry collections, most recently, My Father's Kites: Poems . She grew up in Toronto and the Bronx. She graduated from Kenyon College with a B.A., and from Indiana University with an M.F.A...

, Marilyn Nelson

Marilyn Nelson

Marilyn Nelson is an American poet, translator and children's book author. She is the author or translator of twelve books and three chapbooks.-Early life:...

, and Molly Peacock

Molly Peacock

Molly Peacock is an American-Canadian poet, essayist and creative nonfiction writer. She is an alumna of Binghamton University.-Career:...

.

History

The first issue of the journal came out in the summer of 2006. It was created in response to "the tendency that still persists in academia of choosing the work of male poets to define a given era or literary style".

Mezzo Cammin emerged from community of women poets at the West Chester University Poetry Conference. The magazine was also affiliated with Fairfield University

Fairfield University

Fairfield University is a private, co-educational undergraduate and master's level teaching-oriented university located in Fairfield, Connecticut, in the New England region of the United States. It was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1942, and today is one of 28 member institutions of the...

 early on. In 2010, Kim Bridgford, Mezzo Cammins editor in chief, became the director of the WCU Poetry Center in 2010. The magazine affirmed its link with West Chester in its Fifth Anniversary Issue.

Women Poets Timeline Project

Launched on March 27 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts

National Museum of Women in the Arts

The National Museum of Women in the Arts , located in Washington, D.C. is the only museum solely dedicated to celebrating women’s achievements in the visual, performing, and literary arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay...

 in Washington, DC

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, the Mezzo Cammin Women Poets Timeline Project is expected to become the world's largest database of women poets. The date of the launch was symbolically chosen to be at the end of Women's History Month, just before National Poetry Month.

The database started out with information about 15 women poets, which will be expanded over time. The project will include biographical article of the poets, including photographs and reprints of their work when possible. One of the early challenges of the project has been the obtaining of copyright

Copyright

Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...

 permission for the republishing of works online.

See also

• New Formalism
  New Formalism
  New Formalism is a late-20th and early 21st century movement in American poetry that has promoted a return to metrical and rhymed verse.-Origins and intentions:...
  
  , the movement to revive formalism in poetry
• New Formalist, a literary journal devoted to all formalist poetry