Poetry Well, an organization committed to celebrating and promoting poetry as a vital part of our individual and collective wellness, seeks submissions for an anthology titled, Braving the Body, which will be published by Terrapin Books in early 2024. The anthology is part of an ongoing project which includes a series of generative writing workshops anchored by conversations between esteemed guest poets, as well as live performances in New York City and Kansas City (during AWP 2024). Poet and breast cancer survivor, Nicole Callihan, serves as curator for the project and will serve as editor for the anthology alongside Pichchenda Bao and Jennifer Franklin.
Braving the Body invites poets to reflect on the experience of living in a body. We believe poetry serves as the connective tissue between lived, embodied experiences and the rich internal world. What does it mean to be in a body which can both betray us and bring us ecstacy–a suffering body, a mothering body, a body in its “prime,” a body in the midst of change, a body which has experienced trauma or neglect, a body which is simply trying to get its morning coffee or moveout the door? What stories of our bodies can we share which will offer healing and restoration, not just for ourselves but for the world?
We are interested in diverse and varied poems from diverse and varied bodies. We encourage play and diligence; exploration and discovery; delight and sorrow. We look forward to reading your work!
Submissions will be open during the month of September in Submittable. The first three hundred submissions will be free, after which a $3 fee will be charged to cover Submittable fees.
Poets may submit up to three poems. Although unpublished poems are preferred, previously published poems are acceptable as long as reprint rights are available from either the poet or the publisher. Please include a 50-word bio in your cover letter.
Honorarium will be one complimentary copy of the anthology. Poets will be offered the opportunity to purchase additional copies at a discounted price.
Notifications will be made by November 15.
Nicole Callihan’s most recent book, This Strange Garment, navigates her 2020 breast cancer diagnosis and the resulting treatments, and was published by Terrapin Books in March 2023. The winner of an Alma Award, her book, SLIP, will be published by Saturnalia in spring 2025. Her work has appeared in Kenyon Review, Colorado Review, Conduit, The American Poetry Review, and as a Poem-a-Day selection from the Academy of American Poets. She has received support from the Rockefeller Foundation, Ludwig Vogelstein, and the Sustainable Arts Foundation. Find out more at www.nicolecallihan.com.
Pichchenda Bao is a Cambodian American poet and writer. Her work has been published by the New Ohio Review, the Ilanot Review, Cultural Daily, the Coop:A Poetry Cooperative, the West Trestle Review, the Adirondack Review, great weather for MEDIA, Newtown Literary, the Cambodian American Literary Arts Association and elsewhere. She has received fellowships and support from Aspen Words, Kundiman, Bethany Arts Community, and Queens Council on the Arts. She lives, writes and raises her three children in New York City. More at www.pichchendabao.com.
Jennifer Franklin has published three full-length collections, most recently, If Some God Shakes Your House (Four Way Books, March 2023). In 2021, she received both a Cafe Royal Foundation Grant in Literature and a NYFA/City Artist Corps Grant in Poetry. Her work has been published widely in anthologies, print publications, and online including in American Poetry Review, Gettysburg Review, Guernica, The Nation, The Paris Review, Poetry Society’s “Poetry in Motion,” and Prairie Schooner. More at www.jenniferfranklinpoet.com.