NEW! Poem by Natalie Lyalin

Natalie Lyalin

SO WHAT, THE CLOUDS

So what, the clouds

with a piercing gold haze

so a red feather stuck to my foot

The gull’s squawk, so what

Mother, father, horseshoe crab

I thought I spotted them all in

the glare of sunset

So what, the smudge of life

sooting bleached branches,

disinfecting the parts that need it

So what, until we say goodbye

we had a weekend together

and I helped pick out your dress

What does it matter

The tin chandelier pocked with holes

So what the rain

I never visited or cared too much

The bottles and woven baskets full of sea glass

Hair grit, white towel snapping in the wind

Birds circling their condos

An abundance of banana bread

Celebrating America not on the fourth of July

but on the 16th, when nothing is happening

Surprisingly I am somebody’s mother

I have no council

I turn on the lights

The sun crests the bank of pines pushing on the dusk

While overhead a group of rockets take off from Cape Canaveral

making an arc toward heaven 

2017 Tomaž Šalamun Prize

The 2017 Tomaž Šalamun Prize is open for entries until July 15, 2017. 

$500 + chapbook published by Factory Hollow Press + one-month residency in Ljubljana, Slovenia

Judge: Matthew Zapruder

The Tomaž Šalamun Prize is open to poets at any stage of their career. Previous publication is neither a requirement nor a restriction. You can enter if you've published no books or 100 books.

Translations into English are acceptable if the author is still living and has given written permission. 

Prose poetry and hybrid forms are also acceptable.

The winning chapbook will be published by Factory Hollow Press in Amherst, MA.

The prize winner will receive $500, 10 free copies of their chapbook, and a free one-month residency at the Tomaž Šalamun Center for Poetry in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

If a translation wins the prize, the translator will receive $500, 10 copies of the chapbook, and the residency, but the original author also will receive 10 copies of the chapbook.

Individual pieces in the chapbook may have been published in print and/or online journals, but the chapbook itself must be previously unpublished.

Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, but please withdraw your submission immediately if your submission is accepted elsewhere.

Matthew Zapruder will judge the 2017 prize. Current/former students and close friends of the judge are not eligible. (If in doubt about your eligibility, query editorversemag@gmail.com.)

Entry fee: $12

Deadline: July 15, 2017

To enter: Submit a poetry chapbook (18-28 pages) to the link above.