Posted on by Laura Lee

Update on Submission: The Value & Power & Fun of Poetry–Submitted to Willowdown Books

dream courage harmony inspire rocks images Update: the work I submitted here is short-listed; the editors will determine the overall themes of the works they are interested in and then let us short-listed know if we will be published.  I was not familiar that as a writer I would ever be told this, so this is interesting.

As I find new (to me) literary journals, I am delighted to find the absolute joy of language and belief in the power of poetry to be prevalent.  The journals I am finding are truly labors of love, and the publishers and editors are publishing poetry because they love poetry, love language, and believe poetry is important.  What a pleasant change of pace from the local, national, and world news, which is portraying a country and world in hate-filled crisis after crisis!

For example, I just had to submit some poems to Willowdown Books out of the UK: Willowdown Books.

Willowdown is sponsoring “The Poetic Bond VIII,” a bound poetic journal in autumn; submissions are due by the end of the day tomorrow here: The Poetic Bond.

So what creates a “poetic” bond?  The publisher wants to create this bond by publishing poetry that is deeply connected with humanity, nature, and the universe.

You tell me, poets, if this isn’t the heart of poetry?  Deep connections.  Humanity. Nature. The universe.

Yes sirree.  Sure is for me.

Plus the play and delight of language.

Have a look at the “poetic bond” and Willowdown Books.

Oh! For submitting, we got to pick a book out, sort of a thank you for submitting.  This also shows support for the poets already published, so that’s a great idea.

Thanks for reading!

 

Posted on by Laura Lee

Submitted a Poem about BAD Summer Jobs–GeekyPress.co

motel                   Submitted a new, raw poem here:http://thegeekypress.com/

to their BAD SUMMER JOBS open call for poetry, fiction, and short plays.  I’ve sure had bad summer jobs!

 

This one had dogs, blood, and me running away from that motel job as fast as my 14-year old self could.  I don’t normally swear, but this poem called for it to be true to life.

If I were honest, this writing would be even more raw and awful, for it was an unsafe difficult job–but paid $4 an hour! A fortune we thought back then. I literally ran out of the motel, terrified.  Had I been older, I might have been amused, but I was working when (illegally) very young there.

I’m old enough to remember when most places didn’t care to check on your age. They really didn’t.  If some “official” wanted to see birth certificates, I’d just quit and go back in a week or so.

Did that at a fast food place, but that’s another story too. WHAT I LEARNED THERE! That I was not cut out for manual labor.  That work was very hard for very little money. That you needed to be strong to work in many fields.  That I would need an education to become something other than one who was burning self all day on fryers or fighting off men in motels…

Now back to the issue:

The call for submissions to the BAD SUMMER JOBS ends at end of day tomorrow, so if you are interested, check it out and get writing! They are accepting poetry, fiction, and plays about this theme.

Oh–a positive aspect about this publication? It splits all profits from sales of their print publications and e-books.

Thanks for reading.

Posted on by Laura Lee

“Ink and Voices,” a Mini-Review

cropped-be-creative-creative-creativity-256514     Perhaps my skepticism about poetry being ALIVE was too skeptical?  I am finding many fine literary magazines and communities, online and in paper, if I just take the time to look about a bit.  What’s different for me, however, is how many of the publications are online only or mainly online.  For an oldster like me who loves to learn and use technology, that’s fine.  I am just happy that literacy in all its forms appears to be thriving.

One publication I just found is Ink & Voices, which can be found here: Ink & Voices.

Ink and Voices acknowledges that the internet is full of places to share writing and art, but states they are different in that:

   Ink & Voices is an online publication and community for artists and writers. We are all about original and unapologetic voices, and providing a space for you to express your originality and humanness. We love pieces that are honest, raw and original.

This publication has three main sections, one for Mind, one for Body, and one for Soul.  Yes, they are brave enough to use those terms in this sometimes snide and toocooltoshowemotions society.   I found mainly fiction and artwork there, but liked what I saw and liked what I read.  Perhaps I just couldn’t find the poetry, but I did look. Nevertheless, Ink and Voices is accepting submissions or writing and art and has a separate category for poetry, all through Submittable.com.   The positive aspects here are that your work is read or viewed “blind,” and judged on its merit rather than your bio or name, or lack of a name in publishing.

I didn’t see a May or June issue, but they are still accepting submissions on a no deadline basis through Submittable.com, meaning they are paying to keep submission coming in.

I am going to investigate this new site more and consider submitting some poetry.  I know I’ll be viewing the artwork there.

If you create “honest, raw, and original” artwork, including written work, why not give Ink and Voices a view?  I personally like to support new literary ventures as well as the more-established ones.

Thanks for reading!

Laura Lee