Genre: Poetry

What Is an Elephant?

The Time Is Now
4.2.24

In the ancient parable of the blind men and the elephant, a visually impaired group has gathered around an unfamiliar creature to them, each encountering by touch a different part of the animal. Although there are different interpretations of the parable, a poem by nineteenth-century poet John Godfrey Saxe describes how the first of the six men falls upon the elephant and exclaims that the animal is nothing but a wall, the second feels the tusk and disagrees saying the animal is like a spear, the third approaches the squirming trunk and calls the animal snakelike, and another feels the ear and states that the animal is like a fan. The story points at the limits of subjective truths and what is lost by only seeing one side of something. Write a poem that explores a single item, image, or action through a prism of different potential truths. Experiment with expressing contradictions and coexisting truths.

Deadlines for Five April Contests Are Fast Approaching

G&A: The Contest Blog
3.27.24

April Fool’s Day may be just around the corner, but your writing deserves to be taken seriously. Consider submitting your poems, essays, and short stories to these prizes and fellowships, all with April 14 and 15 deadlines (and one with no entry fee). Don’t forget to carefully read the contest guidelines before entering, and good luck!

Desperate Literature
Short Fiction Prize
A prize of €1,500 (approximately $1,628), publication in the Desperate Literature prize anthology, and a weeklong residency at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation’s castle in the Umbria region of Italy is given annually for a work of short fiction. Winners also receive a consultation with literary agent Charlotte Seymour (Johnson & Alcock Literary Agency), an editorial meeting with the Literary Consultancy, and the opportunity to give readings at Desperate Literature in Madrid and Burley Fisher Books in London. Megan McDowell, Ottessa Moshfegh, Samanta Schweblin, and Alejandro Zambra will judge. Entry fee: €20 (approximately $22).

Florida Review
Editor’s Prizes
Three prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Florida Review are given annually for a poem or group of poems, a short story, and an essay. The editors will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $25 (which includes a subscription to Florida Review). 

New Ohio Review
Literary Prizes
Three prizes of $1,500 each and publication in New Ohio Review are given annually for a poem or group of poems, a short story, and an essay. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $22 (which includes a subscription to New Ohio Review). 

Poetry Foundation
Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships
Five fellowships of $27,000 each are given annually to U.S. poets between the ages of 21 and 31. Entry fee: None.

University of Arkansas Press
Etel Adnan Poetry Prize
A prize of $1,000 and publication by University of Arkansas Press is given annually for a first or second poetry collection by a writer of Arab heritage. Series editors Hayan Charara and Fady Joudah will judge. Entry fee: $25.

Visit the contest websites for complete guidelines, and check out the Grants & Awards database and Submission Calendar for more contests in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and translation.

Jessica Jacobs and Philip Metres

Caption: 

Philip Metres, author of Fugitive/Refuge (Copper Canyon Press, 2024), and Jessica Jacobs, author of unalone (Four Way Books, 2024), speak about the coincidence of their shared book-cover imagery and themes of faith and ancestry in their new poetry collections for this episode of “The Sound of Ideas” morning program from Ideastream in Cleveland.

Genre: 
Poetry
Tags: 
Jessica Jones
unalone
Four Way Books
Philip Metres
Fugitive/Refuge
Copper Canyon Press
Ideastream
interview
2024

Jessica Jacobs Reads “Lost” by David Wagoner

Caption: 

In this 2021 video, Jessica Jacobs reads David Wagoner’s poem “Lost” and talks about why she chose it for “The Poem I Wish I Had Read” series produced by the Boutelle-Day Poetry Center at Smith College. Jacobs’s new poetry collection, unalone, was published in March by Four Way Books.

Genre: 
Poetry
Tags: 
Jessica Jacobs
unalone
Four Way Books
David Wagoner
The Poem I Wish I Had Read Series
2021

Seeing Shapes

The Time Is Now
3.26.24

“I read Call It in the Air, / Ed’s book about his painter sister & her death / at 44, like Billie Holiday, & I start to consider / 44. No. Not the death, just the conch of it, / how it whorls & opens, limelights / —44 limelights a woman,” writes Shamala Gallagher in her poem “‘The New York Times’ Says Aloe Is a Hoax,” published in the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series. The lines in the poem shift from lightness to darkness, and the image of recursion and spiraling reappear as the speaker allows her mind to wander freely after a long day. Write a poem that experiments with a recurring shape that you’ve observed. Consider the connotations or associations with this shape, whether it be a number, ray of light, or plant. How might a simple form inspire you to think about the shape of time in your life?

Dinner Out

The Time Is Now
3.19.24

Anne Carson’s 2017 poem “Saturday Night as an Adult,” which had a viral moment on X last summer, is structured as a short block of text recounting observations and thoughts around a dinner date with two couples. “We really want them to like us. We want it to go well. We overdress. They are narrow people, art people, offhand, linens,” writes Carson. “We eat intently, as if eating were conversation.” While the existential despair may seem tragicomic, Carson conveys an honest vulnerability that touches upon disappointment at the potential smallness of life. Write a poem that builds upon your observations of a mundane social encounter in order to capture larger concerns on your mind, perhaps using sharp, terse statements as Carson does in her poem. Is there humor to be found in these minute details?

Diane Seuss Presents Modern Poetry

Caption: 

In this Left Bank Books virtual event, Diane Seuss reads from her new collection, Modern Poetry (Graywolf Press, 2024), and joins poet Jane Hilberry in a conversation about their fathers, writing practices, and friendship. Seuss is interviewed by Bianca Stone in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

Genre: 
Poetry
Tags: 
Diane Seuss
Modern Poetry
Graywolf Press
Jane Hilberry
Left Bank Books
reading
conversation
March/April 2024

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