Hi Donna, yes we accept simultaneous submissions. If we accept your poem you will need to withdraw it from consideration elsewhere. If you commit your poem to publication somewhere else I’m not certain it would still be eligible for printing in the anthology. After the anthology is published though, rights return back to the poet.

Hi Fiona!

Erasures, and poems containing quoted material, will be considered on a case-by-case basis. One thing to note is that we can’t handle color.

You should not submit a poem if you think there’s a chance it infringes on another artist’s copyright. Here’s an article which breaks things down well:…[Read more]

Hi Nancy, no need to worry about formatting in the submission email, as long as you include the needed info (name, location, full/half marathon, hours poems were written, and link to your poetry marathon’s author page) and follow the other guidelines you’ll be good!

Anwar, when you submit your poems you just need to include a link to your general page on the marathon blog (go to “My Page” on the blog and the URL bar should show the web address of your page, you can copy and paste that).

Hi Jan! Just wanted to clarify, I shared a bit about my preferences with poetry but that shouldn’t be interpreted as a theme for the anthology or anything like that. It’s just meant to offer some insight into my preferences in that I enjoy poems that have the power to make me feel powerful things, and that the emotional territory a poem covers is…[Read more]

What a beautiful moment in the poem:
“curled like a deer in a hollow,
silent and dappled in shade.”
I found the ending to this enchanting!

Whoa, this is so touching! I thought this part was gorgeous:
“You lurk in
cheesecloth dark, a humpback skull
in a budget apartment”

Love the country spirit this evokes!

Love the return to the dark blue, speckled eyes at the end. The depiction of the autopsy is chilling.

Wow, this poem packs an empowering punch.
This part was strong:
“pretty girls do not spend their teenage years
squirming in the basement, but i did it anyway.”

There is a lovely tenderness in this poem. I loved:
“become soft and stay this way
like kafka”
And the story of the little mouse was wonderful!

Loved this part of the poem:
“where laughter and black dog fur
discern their place”

This poem contains so much great imagery!
“It is on dandelion heads
Blown into gossamer” — This part especially.

The ending is beautifully put, and the setting of the cafe came to life.

I enjoyed your simple and graceful use of colors in this.

Loved this line! “Now bowing to time”

I loved the repetition “Struggle and rest” towards the middle of this poem.

“There are weights that no surface can bear” — What a great opening line!

Fantastic and strong ending!

“And at least that’s one thing I know
That your finger will run up those leaves” — I love this part! So intimately captured.