about quarter notes
Quarter Notes is a quarterly online literary magazine with a musical ear, founded and edited by writer/musician Lou Turner.
This small digital garden exists to cross-pollinate music, literature, and sound studies. All are welcome.
Rolling Call for Submissions
In a time where poetry and lyrics are often conflated as one and the same, writers and musicians are frequently asked: what's the difference? In response to that question, and in a world where both crafts continue to be devalued, I hope to cultivate attentiveness in the form of a literary magazine with a musical ear. This may look like poets experimenting with sound, or working in aural poetics; poetry or fiction about or otherwise listening to music; creative recordings of readings; sonic meditation scores in the vein of Pauline Oliveros, or Dylan Robinson’s ‘event scores’; personal essays about beloved albums that write with music more than about it (as described by Roland Barthes' "Grain of the Voice" or as exemplified by Hanif Abdurraqib's 68 to 05); reviews of records that read more like liner notes or essays rather than following the tradition of granting a numerical score. This space may be an avenue for musicians who also work on the page to publish literary work; or an interesting avenue for writers of all kinds to explore sonically. I most of all hope to make this corner one that welcomes and champions good listeners.
Submissions are accepted via email on a rolling basis. Please do not send standalone songs or song lyrics. Send your work as an attachment (any file type; no more than five poems or ten pages for prose) along with a brief bio and cover letter to quarternotesmag@gmail.com.
Quarter Notes Magazine 