Callout for poems for Issue #8: root, bloom, cultivate

The theme for issue #8 is: root, bloom, cultivate. Floral, gardening, farming, planting, and related poems are very welcome for this topic, as are poems about personal growth, putting down roots, family trees, raising a family, and so on. The featured artist will be Laura Crawford. The deadline is March 31st. As with every issue, poems submitted do not need to follow the prompt/theme. A single $100 award will be given for an outstanding poem. There is never a reading fee. Prize winner interview will be published in the same issue.

Poems can be any style, but preferably non-rhyming. Submit up to five poems, each no longer than 64 lines, to laststanza@outlook.com as a Word document or within the body of your email. All proceeds from the sale of LSPJ are used to purchase copies for libraries and for the editor’s choice award, so there is no budget for author copies at this time. Published poems will be considered for a Pushcart Prize nomination.

Pushcart Prize nominations

 

Seeking poems of premonition, coincidence, folklore, magic

Last Stanza Poetry Journal is seeking poems on: premonition, coincidence, folklore, magic. The cover image is by Amy Brewer-Davenport, our talented featured artist for this issue. 

Poems can be any style, but preferably non-rhyming. Submit up to five poems, each no longer than 64 lines, to laststanza@outlook.com as a Word document or within the body of your email. All proceeds from the sale of LSPJ are used to purchase copies for libraries, so, unfortunately, there is no budget for author copies at this time. Poems will be considered for Pushcart Prize nomination.

Issue #7 has a deadline of December 31st.

As with every issue, poems submitted do not need to follow the prompt/theme.

New starting with this issue is a single $100 award for an outstanding poem. Never a reading fee.

Looking forward to the spring issue, the theme will be planting, growing, blooming to complement our featured artist's floral paintings. 

Seeking submissions for Issue #6 of Last Stanza Poetry Journal

 

Calling all poets! The theme for Issue #6 is: The Elephant in the Room. As usual, the prompt can be taken two different ways. What in your life is large and obvious but never written about or that you've studiously avoided writing about? What have you always felt wasn’t worth writing about although it's a significant part of your life? What are you silent about that you might benefit from writing on and sharing? Or, as a second take on the prompt, send in poems featuring elephants—real, imagined, stuffed, etc. The cover image by Jeffrey Spahr-Summers inspired this theme, and he’ll be the featured artist/photographer for issue #6. I’m currently seeking an illustrator for future issues. 

Poems can be any style, but preferably non-rhyming. Submit up to five poems, each no longer than 64 lines, to laststanza@outlook.com as a Word document or in the body of your email. All proceeds from the sale of LSPJ are used to purchase copies for libraries, so, unfortunately, there is no budget for author copies at this time.

Issue #6 has a deadline of September 15th.

As with every issue, poems submitted do not need to follow the prompt/theme.

Seeking poems for Issue #5 of Last Stanza Poetry Journal

The theme for issue #5 is Lost / Found / Rediscovered. This can be interpreted in two ways. Do you have poems you’ve written long ago that never were published but you love and want to submit somewhere again? Send them—any subject or style. The other interpretation of the theme is that the poems submitted are about something lost, found, and/or rediscovered. If possible, I’d love to have you send a photo of that item if it is a tangible thing, person, place, etc. Or, if it’s still lost, a photo of a very similar item (or a painting/drawing) that will be published with your author bio at the rear of the journal. I’ll also create an online album of these photos on the Last Stanza Poetry Association’s Facebook page. Poems can be any style. Please submit up to five poems, each no longer than 64 lines, to jennykalahar@att.net as a Word document or in the body of the email. 

The deadline for this issue is June 30th. As with every issue, poems submitted do not need to follow the prompt/theme.

Note: please have permission to use photos that are not your own. I will credit the photographer online and in the journal. All royalties from the sale of LSPJ are used to purchase copies for libraries, so, unfortunately, there is no budget for author copies at this time.

The illustrator for the next issue will be Heather Blaha.

All issues are for sale online in ebook and softcover on Amazon.com and other sites worldwide.

Calling all poets! Submit to Issue #4 of Last Stanza Poetry Journal

Calling all poets! Submissions are now open. The prompt for Issue #4 is The Undictionary. 

I’m a great admirer of clarity, but sometimes the words in the dictionary aren’t the ones you need to precisely describe a person, place, thing, or emotion. Families have Undictionary words, particularly innocuous oaths. My dad’s side of the family said “Ishillimay!” when declaring something was keenly full of nonsense. This was accompanied by both hands swatting at the air dismissively. My parents, brothers, and I used “pank.” We all knew what that was—you panked snow to make a snowball, and you panked the towels into the hall closet to make them fit on the shelf. It was a real word to us. 

For the next issue of the journal, please include one or more words from your own (or your family's) Undictionary in your poems. No need to define them within the poem—the meaning should be clear (or not) within the context. Edward Gorey and Lewis Carroll never needed to explain their nonsense words, after all. If, however, you'd like to add a footnote as to the origin of your made-up word, that would be cool.

As with all prompts for Last Stanza PJ, poets do not have to utilize it. I want to read whatever you’d like to send. The deadline for submitting up to five poems is March 31st. Any form, any length, any topic. Please send them in a Word document or in the body of an email to jennykalahar@att.net. All royalties from the sale of LSPJ are used to purchase copies for libraries, so, unfortunately, there is no budget for author copies at this time.

I'm also seeking illustrators and photographers to feature in the next and future issues, so please spread the word to your visually creative friends. A special thank you to Lylanne Musselman, the illustrator of Issue #3. The illustrator for Issue #4 will be Christina Hollering.

Seeking submissions for Last Stanza Poetry Journal, Issue #3: Altered States

Open to all poets! Now accepting submissions for Issue #3 of 𝐿𝒶𝓈𝓉 𝒮𝓉𝒶𝓃𝓏𝒶 𝒫𝑜𝑒𝓉𝓇𝓎 𝒥𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓃𝒶𝓁. The theme is: "altered states." These are unusual times. What has altered in your life, or in the lives of those around you? What angers you? What is better this year than in the past? What will never be the same going forward?

The deadline for Issue #3 is December 31st, 2020. 

Any form, any length, up to five poems. Non-rhyming poetry is preferred. Please see Issues #1 and #2.

If accepted, I'll ask for a bio and author photo. Submissions are welcome in a Word file or in the body of an email. No reading fees and no obligation to purchase the journal. All proceeds will go toward the purchase of copies for libraries. Send your writing to: jennykalahar@att.net 

I'm also seeking artists for the interior and covers--photographers, painters, sketchers, sculptors, etc. for future issues.