jeromegagnonblog

New Poems

New poems are scheduled to appear in theSanta Clara Review, a publication of Santa Clara University, and the upcoming anthology, A New Season: Poems from a World in Flux. Edited by Vallejo co-Poets Laureate Jacalyn Eyvonne and Kathleen Herrmann, the anthology will highlight San Francisco Bay Area voices but “welcomes poets from all regions…” Due around the end of January.

Revision

In the last year or two, especially, I’ve come to enjoy the process of revision. There’s a certain perspective gained in seeing how a poem develops from point A to point B, and beyond. Of course, it helps if you’re not attached too much to the status quo. Case in point, I recently observed as one troublesome word changed from “rising” to “meandering” to “wilding” to “rewilding.” Of course that last change was what it should have been all along. Sometimes you just have to sit down in the chair at your computer or your writing pad and put in the time.

Those Winter Sundays

Born and raised in Detroit, Robert Hayden (1913-1980) “was the first Black American to be appointed as consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress (later, U.S. poet laureate),” according to poets.org. One of his most memorable poems, “Those Winter Sundays,” evokes a “tumultuous” childhood but it also speaks of love’s austere presence. It appeared in A Ballad of Remembrance, Paul Bremen, 1962, and can also be found at www.poets.org.

Contests and Submissions

Ninth Letter, a print journal from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, is currently accepting both experimental and traditional forms of prose and poetry. www.ninthletter.com

Publication in Booth Magazine and $1,000 will be awarded to the winner of the Susan Neville Poetry Prize. Submit up to three unpublished poems stories through December 31, 2025. www.booth.submittable.com

Ecotheo Collective accepts all forms of literary and visual expression for their print and website issues. They seek work that reflects “questions of ecology and spirituality from within and outside all religious traditions.” Publishes four times a year. www.ecotheo.org

Wishing you peace and joy now and in the New Year!