American Literary Translators Association
Essential news and resources for translators, including academic opportunities, grants and awards, and a professional discussion forum. Sponsors the prestigious National Translation Award. ALTA is located at the Center for Translation Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas.

The Barefoot Muse: A Journal of Metrical Verse
Online journal launched in 2005 publishes formal poetry. Meter required, rhyme optional. Submission deadlines are June 1 and December 1. Send 3-6 poems (preferably under 40 lines each) pasted into the body of your email to evnsanna@comcast.net. No simultaneous submissions.

Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction
Twice-yearly online journal publishes short pieces that straddle the boundary between prose-poems and essays. Eclectic, thought-provoking, occasionally surreal. Closed to submissions in summer.

CryBloxsome.com: Underground Writing
In-your-face webzine bills itself as "the death kick to oblivion for pretentious literary wank." Dark-humored, rebellious mini-essays include "The Man Who Invented Nothing (TM)." Warning: Mature language and content.

CUE: A Journal of Prose Poetry
Publishes prose-poems, book reviews, critical essays, interviews and translations. Featured authors have included Ron Silliman, Lisa Jarnot, David Lehman, Mathea Harvey.

Emerging Writers Network
Book reviews and interviews with writers of literary fiction and nonfiction. Site organizer Dan Wickett says his mission is "to develop a network consisting of emerging writers, established writers deserving of wider recognition, and readers of literary writing in order to increase the exposure of such writers to as many potential readers as possible."

Jordan Davis: Million Poems Blog
Surreal poem-a-day weblog ranges from tragicomic political jeremiads to lyrical journeys through an inner landscape. (We especially liked #1681.) Davis is also a regular contributor to The Constant Critic, an online publication that reviews new books of experimental poetry.

LiteraryTranslation.com
Information gateway for translators, sponsored by the British Council Literature Department and the British Centre for Literary Translation. Find out about competitions, conferences and workshops, and meet other writers from around the world in their discussion forums.

Online Etymology Dictionary
Find out the origins of thousands of English words. Discovering how different words are interconnected can prompt some creative juxtapositions in your writing.

POESIA: A Literary Quarterly of Poetry and Poetry Reviews
Foreign authors are encouraged to submit poetry and reviews. Translators of others' work into English should include copyright releases signed by themselves and the original author, and a copy of the work in the original language.

Sentence: A Journal of Prose Poetics
Critically acclaimed prose-poem journal from Firewheel Editions has published such authors as Russell Edson, Beckian Fritz Goldberg, kari edwards. Jamey Dunham's 'Urban Myth' from the first issue was selected for Best American Poetry 2005.


Selected Prose Contests and Calls for Submissions

Young Lions Fiction Award +++
Entries must be received by August 15
The New York Public Library will award $10,000 to a US author 35 or younger for a published novel or collection of short stories. Publisher or agent should submit 10 copies of book or bound galleys. Contest established in 2001.

Lantern Books Essay Contest +
Entries must be received by December 31
New contest seeks essays of up to 1,500 words on the themes of animal advocacy, vegetarianism and environmentalism. Prizes of $1,000, $500 and $250. Possible publication. No fee to enter. No simultaneous submissions.


More Sponsors' Messages

Tom Howard/John H. Reid Poetry Contest
Postmark Deadline: September 30
Open to poems in any style, theme or genre. $2,000 in prizes will be awarded, including a top prize of $1,000. The winning entries will be published. Early submission is encouraged. The entry fee is $5 for every 25 lines. Submit online or by mail. You may submit poems that have been published or won prizes elsewhere, as long as you own the anthology and online publication rights. Unpublished work is also welcome. Winning Writers is assisting with entry handling for this contest. Guidelines:
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WriteSuccess Newsletter
Sign up now for WriteSuccess's free biweekly newsletter for freelance writers. Editor Mary Anne Hahn has a knack for finding the most interesting literary sites and markets. It's easy to feel lonely as a freelancer. Mary Anne's inspiring attitude and success notes from readers create a sense of community.
http://www.listpartners.com/cgi-local/subscribe?4338


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CafePress.com makes it easy to put your words and images on shirts, greeting cards, postcards, mugs, magnets and posters. Order them for yourself or for gifts, or sell them online at a profit. CafePress makes each item to order, so you don't have to commit to a large batch all at once. It's quick and easy to set up your store, and there's no set-up charge. We've been getting a kick out of our Judge Jendi mugs. Now through July 26, save $5 off an order over $40. Use the coupon code SUMSAV. Get started here:
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This month, we're departing from our usual format to share some insights from one of our subscribers about stylistic choices in free verse. In the May and June critiques, I said that poems with very short lines (one or two words) often didn't work for me. I've found that beginning poets overuse them as a shortcut to making prosaic diction look poetic without sufficient attention to the cadence and meaning of the phrases. Not every word in a poem is important enough to carry a whole line by itself.

Newsletter subscriber Bruce Wilkerson felt my criticism of this technique was over-broad, and sent one of his poems along with an eloquent explanation of how he used line breaks to enhance the meaning and sound of the piece. We appreciate his allowing us to reprint the following correspondence.

Date: 7/8/2005
From: Bruce Wilkerson
To: critique@winningwriters.com

...I've been reading through your critiques and I do find them very intelligent and insightful - I've even become convinced that you are truly human. You can't know how much of a relief that is! I hope you don't mind if I say though that you make one affirmation that I have trouble fully accepting; I'm not so sure though that I agree with you concerning the "super short verse" (the May 05 critique) which certainly has the inconveniences that you mention but which does have some advantages (well I often like using it). As far as trying to sound profound, whatever the length, a "poet" - if you like the word - that wants to sound profound, generally comes across as some two-bit prophet. I hope to God I never sound profound! Please tell me if I do.

...Here's a poem I took out and tried to dust off, it has still got a little grime under the fingernails though. I know it's in a style that is very different from what you seem to like but it's the one in which I used the most one word lines. If you are interested in a few reflections about why I like them, you can go down and read after the poem - but don't say I didn't warn you.

untitled still

once in the dark
camouflaged under my cover
from dangers imagined
still
I would ring my haven
with tigers and bears
until the relief of day
let me bolt from my bed
believing all was
won
excited
to
be together with my
teddies

missing

today
so I lie here waiting
once
the clock has rung
twice
recalling those monsters
that would scare me
once
the lights went out
again
hiding
my head under my pillow
hoping they might pass
to where they roamed
once
a dream

now

they rule the world by day
and so must I
hide my face
under my brow
knowing I will be
exposed alone
to this cold morning
once
the alarm has sounded
twice
rousing me
when I only want
seconds
to rest in peace
forgotten
once more
amongst my
kind
teddies


I like using [short lines] because they interrupt the syntactic chain, and thus the phonemic one, giving the reader the choice to interpret the word as an isolated element, the notion(s), or one whose scope is dependent on the other elements in the chain of speech (sorry about the jargon). In other words, it's a nice way to underline the polysemy of a word or eventually bring to mind homophones of the same word. For example, if you add a pause after the word "once", its meaning is quite different from the word "once" when it is integrated into the melody of the phrase. Another example is the preposition "to" in a sentence, the vowel will be realized as a schwa, whereas isolated, it will become a long U sound like in the words "too", "two".

Thanks,
Bruce

********

Date: 7/8/2005
From: critique@winningwriters.com
To: Bruce Wilkerson

Dear Bruce,

Thanks for your poem and thought-provoking "defense" of the short line. You make a good case! I've taken aim at this stylistic choice lately because I see less-experienced poets relying on it too much to break up their prosy phrases into something that looks like poetry. I'm trying to provoke them to listen more closely to verbal rhythms; they may still end up with short lines, but hopefully will have put more thought into why the lines break where they do....

continues

This dialogue appears in full at:
http://www.winningwriters.com/critiques/2005/0507-wilkerson.htm

Coming in the August 15 Winning Writers Newsletter
2005 Wergle Flomp Contest Winners Announced
Best Free Poetry Contests for August 16-September 30