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

Posted on by Laura Lee

Fifteenth poem submitted

Maybe that number is a charm.

I do remember the number 2,500, though. That was the number of contacts it took to find a full time teacher job.

Wait. No… that was when I stopped counting.

Did I get a full time teaching job? Yes I did. Took five years of hard work, and many jobs in the meantime.  I learned something from each job.  The year I had five part-time jobs was exhausting–but I loved each job.  I’m too old for that now, I think.  My head would spin when I checked my calendar.

And this is just a photo I really like.  Yay to beautiful clouds!

Best wishes to all.  11063591_1129659353714480_4688048317150249088_n

Posted on by Laura Lee

Why Strangers Wept (parked here to edit and revise) (learning to use Iphone app)

img_1235-1And from the Iphone app no less!

Why Strangers Wept

Did darkness heal or was it
holding hands at noon
with a small boy who
needed a nap?

Was it the sun
or the silence of the moon
that lifted it all, just a bit.

Maybe it was someone
who remembers
the smaller child and knew
why strangers wept.

On the street, a young girl
skipped then ran then walked
while humming, purple ribbon
escaping black hair.

Posted on by Laura Lee

Fourteen Pieces of Writing Out for Submission and…

woman-typing-writing-windows   Thirteen poems and one piece of nonfiction are “out” for consideration.  I’ve submitted to established literary journals as well as journals about to publish their FIRST issue!

My goal, however, is to read and write more.  That’s how I can learn and grow as a writer and a person, I believe.  While it’s fun to submit, it can overtake the important activities of actually reading good literature and writing more.

Do you find submitting pieces of writing helps your writing or hinders it?

Good luck to those who are submitting!  I’ll keep posting links to new sites I find.  I have found the “Discover” feature of Submittable.com to be helpful in finding new (to me) sites, and then those sites lead to more sites.

Thanks for reading.

Laura Lee

Posted on by Laura Lee

Streetlight Literary Magazine, a Mini-Review

streetlights    Streetlight Magazine ‘s

mission is “to publish exceptional talent, both new and established, from our region and across the country.”  Streetlight publishes poetry, fiction, essays, memoir, art/ photography, and blog posts.  In addition, Streetlight sponsors writing contests and strives for a three-month decision on submissions.  Publishing since 2012, it appears each issue contains poetry, fiction, essays/ memoir, art/photography, and blog posts.  The latest issue contained an ekphrastic poem, always a plus for me.  The artists do get a short bio with publication, another plus.

I found the site a bit confusing to navigate, but the content good. The artwork and photography was breath-taking.

It’s good to find new writing sites, and I enjoyed this one.

Thanks for reading!

Laura Lee

 

Posted on by Laura Lee

Twin Cinema Poetic Form

whitman-2033-5e85a780991cf80bddfa412174d63cf9@1x       Rattle Literary Journal

published a winning poem today, “DRPK   US” written in a Twin Cinema poetic form.  While I have read poems before that can be read horizontally or vertically, I’ve not seen such a structuring before nor seen a label for this form.

In The Straits Times, writer Olivia Ho writes that a Twin Cinema poem is:

It is a poem written in two columns. Sometimes, the columns are meant to be read individually, running line by line in counterpoint.

But I find it at its most compelling when the poet achieves not just two, but three ways of reading it, not just top to bottom, but also across, a poem at once broken and unbroken, reaching across the gaps to put a new twist on opposing meanings.

In a blog about Southeast Asian Poetic Forms (find it here: Southeast Asian Poetic Forms

notes that:

In its original form as developed by Yeow Kai Chai, the twin cinema consisted of two discrete columns of poetry. The columns were separate and did not read as a coherent line across both columns. Each individual line of a column contained imagery that could correlate or contrast to the opposing line of the other column.

I love this playing with both the oral aspects of poetry and the physical/ white space aspects.

I’ve written specular poems, or sometimes called mirror poems that read as poems from the first to the last line and then from the last to the first line.  That was tricky and worthwhile; both versions of the poem need to make grammatical, syntactical, and poetic sense.

What verse forms have you tried? What’s your favorite?

Thanks for reading.

Laura Lee

Posted on by Laura Lee

Submissions this Week and Writing Outside my Usual Genre

marketing-man-person-communication   I do enjoy tracking my submissions via submittable.com.  If you are a writer, this site makes it quite easy to submit your writing and to track it: Submittable

If you don’t yet have an account, you can set up a free account and enter your author bio in a matter of minutes.

Yesterday I wrote outside of my genre and submitted a peace poem and a short nonfiction piece written totally in dialogue.  Six submissions this week, three rejections.

It was fun to try writing entirely in dialogue; good thing I’ve listened to teens talk over the years!

How are your submissions going?

Thanks for reading, writers!

Laura Lee

Posted on by Laura Lee

Link to Two Published Poems at Tuck Magazine

tuck magazineI am pleased to have had two poems published here, in Tuck Magazine.

I am particularly happy to be published here since Tuck Magazine tries to bring social justice issues to light, while helping its writers publish.  Perhaps you want to get a more global look at issues; Tuck Magazine does that.

Where have you been submitting?  How is writing and publishing going for you?

Thanks for reading!

Laura Lee

Posted on by Laura Lee

Writers: a nice feature of submittable.com

typewriter-vintage-old-vintage-typewriter-163116     Writers!  Perhaps you knew about this great feature of Submittable, but I did not until today.   Submittable.com is a site where some publishers collect submissions to journals and contests, reply to the writers,  accept submissions, reject submissions.  It’s a way to read submissions “blindly,” without seeing an author’s name.

I like using Submittable, since it also helps me keep track of what piece of writing I’ve submitted where.

What I just discovered, however, is a great find: the “discover” section of the website.  There I found many journals listing their requirements, deadlines, etc.  All in one place.

I also found sites I now like to read from (is that the term…read from? Read there?)

So, writers, if you haven’t discovered the DISCOVER feature of Submittable yet, here you go: Discover Opportunities Submittable.  If you don’t have an account there yet, you will need to create a free account.

What are some useful writing tools you have discovered?

Thanks for reading!

Laura Lee