Poetry Bulletin: February 2024
A transparent moment + upcoming deadlines + publishing resources
Hey poets — since starting this project, I’ve heard from many folks who lament the lack of transparency in publishing. The more I listen, the more I realize we’re using a single word to hold a mix of wishes, needs, possibilities.
Sometimes people use the word “transparency” when what they mean is “I want a clearer path to getting my book published.” We want to remove the guesswork of submitting our poems. We want it to be easier. Transparency can clarify and simplify the process for us.
My hope is that we don’t just settle for transparency of process. What pulls me to this work is transparency of power.
And that transparency is everywhere right now.
There’s censorship at the Poetry Foundation—the boycott continues. There’s PEN making room on the stage for Mayim Bialik in the name of free speech, but dragging Randa Jarrar out of the room at the same event. There’s AWP treating a statement of solidarity as a threat. There are writers and artists losing commissions, losing shows, being dropped from residencies and talks… for speaking honestly about Palestine.
For those who wish for different power dynamics in Poetry-Land, here’s a(nother) moment where the facade has a clear and widening crack.
Here’s a moment where our response to those institutions and to each other becomes its own window.
I need to share an honest/earnest thing with you. Right now, here’s what’s on my heart, which is maybe always too much on my sleeve: it feels very odd/disheartening/cynicizing when a fellow writer posts their watermelon emojis and their “ceasefire!” and then later posts support (a review, a new publication, etc.) from or for the very institutions that are silencing writers.
The institutions, particularly in the case of the Poetry Foundation, that Palestinian writers have asked us to challenge through direct action.
What if we believed that every choice we make right now matters?
Each submission. Each podcast. Each event. The next book we read. The next interview. The next review.
The small scale—the dailiness, the here-ness—of such choices is sometimes the only thing that feels hopeful or meaningful to me now. Here is something I can do, with what I have, with what I know, right now.
When I cross paths with other writers in this practice, I feel less alone.
A note like this may cause some to say: But there’s no such thing as “clean” or “pure” or “good” participation inside or outside of these institutions! Late stage capitalism! Everything’s connected, and everything’s a mess! Everyone’s hands are dirty!
And I hear you, and I wonder in return: Who said you could only begin again in the work when your hands are perfectly clean? Who is protected by this rhetorical traffic circle? How does it delay or distract us from action—however imperfect, however incomplete? My hands are dirty too. May the dirt become my traction.
Emily
Take pictures from
river to unattainable sea,
of any journey to the ocean
for when I forget what
I promised myself, and him.
Replace memories evicted,
displace inheritance of displacement,
so I could savor the shore
while I was still young.
—from “Riis Beach” by Dina Abdulhadi
Making the Manuscript
“The art that I really love, whatever its medium, is steeped in this work of care. As I engage with it, it feels like I am being cared for too, seen and respected, perhaps challenged, sometimes soothed, always nourished in some way. This work of care doesn’t mean icy perfection. It means that I can tell that every decision has been made deliberately – to polish this surface or to leave this edge rough, that sentence gorgeously flowing or this one disjointed, this narrative fragmented or that plot line tight and pacy.” — a beautiful meditation on “the cringe stage” at
This is a good conversation about book distribution, especially the reality of your book being distributed via SPD (which is the case for many books from indie presses).
I love love love this reflection on silence in online workshops, by
: “I am trying to unlearn my impulse to internally label silence as awkward and to feel it as representative of a relational failure. Rather, I try to see it as a form of relational interaction that I find generative, intimate, pleasurable, satisfying, and easy, depending on the relational context.”In March, Debutiful is hosting a free session on publishing with indie and university presses. I’d like to share more resources about university presses in the bulletin—do you know of any? Do you have experience you could share? Let me know.
Creative Support: Funding, Resources & More
March 15 — The Poetry Lab is open for applications to the Markus D. Manley Award for BIPOC poets. This is a virtual opportunity with a stipend and other support.
May 15 — The Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize “recognizes the most outstanding book of poetry published in the United States in the previous year.”
If you’re not yet familiar with
, check it out… it’s a generous weekly roundup focused on disability arts and culture, and I always find something new to watch or think about or participate in.
Upcoming Manuscript Deadlines
Searching for chapbook reading periods rather than full-length possibilities? Check out this spreadsheet created by Anna Lena Phillips Bell and Ryan Bloom.
Feb 28 — Game Over Books open reading period (no reading fees, and full disclosure: this is the publisher of my first book and I’m grateful/proud to be a part of this press)
Feb 28 — Terrapin Books has an open reading period, but this press is a no go for me after learning about the rewriting/erasure of trans writers’ bios in the Braving the Body anthology, which is now being released with Small Harbor Publishing instead.
Feb 29 — Omnidawn First + Second book contest (fee waivers available by email: free.entry@omnidawn.com)
Mar 1 — Airlie Press Airlie Prize
There are more ongoing opportunities on the big list of publishers (as in, presses reading throughout the year).
The bulletin is made by Emily Stoddard. If you have ideas, updates to a publisher’s listing, or want to share a resource, say hello by replying to this note.
Thank you so much for your comments about the silencing of Palestinian and pro-Palestinian voices. This is something that needs to be said.
Any recommendations for specifically pro-Palestinian publishers? Thank you for this important work that you are doing.