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How to find out about Poetry Submission Windows

Hey all, what a way to end a year. Brexit is coming, Tories are gobbling up the fat of the land, and lots of us are vulnerable. We need poetry right now, and poetry is under threat. I currently work in an underfunded library which is no longer buying from independent publishers, so we get hardly any new poetry books (but you can donate them, to help out, and you can request them to show the big suppliers we don't just want James Patterson books). I follow Maggie Smith (the poet), on Instagram . She's amazing, she gives out good advice like you might get from a wise woman in the woods, it's inspiring, it's magical, and it's a blessing. Her poem, Good Bones, deservedly gets a lot of attention, and is well worth googling if you've not had the pleasure yet. So I'm keeping moving, I'm checking what's working, reminding myself what's good. So many of us write poetry, maybe just for ourselves, as an act of coping, to defiantly make something

Poetry submission windows which are currently OPEN! - November 2019

Well this election is scary. There are so many good people wanting to make an impact and do good things to help people. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could just elect people who could collaborate and find the best ways to do these things together? I fear that's not going to happen, but I hope that something pretty good will. You've got to accentuate the positive, right? I got to go see Amanda Palmer live in Glasgow (definitely not Manchester) recently, and one of the things she was talking about was how she got criticised for making light of a dark situation in her song, Oasis (it's a marvellous song with a joyous video here ). She does. She said to us that where there is darkness it's essential that we go into it and we make light. I'm all about the darkness myself (goth poet ahoy), but she's right, we need light, we need the volte, so if you've got some light to bring to these darkening days, or if you've just got a little black cloud that

Review: Vertigo and Ghost by Fiona Benson

I am hardly new to the party in reviewing Fiona Benson's astonishing second collection, Vertigo and Ghost. It came out from Cape Poetry in January 2019, and has already been talked about a lot. Here's a good review from The Guardian back in January.  - (they were selling it at a discounted price then - worth checking). You don't need me to tell you it is an excellent poetry book.  Fiona has already won the Forward Prize for best poetry collection, giving her £10,000, and the book is also shortlisted for the 2019 TS Eliot prize. I only just got round to reading it as I have a bit of a book backlog - it's a hazard of working in a library! I got it on inter-library loan (thanks Newcastle libraries) because like most libraries at the moment, my local library has had funding cuts and now can't get much poetry at all, so it takes a little longer, but if more of us get poetry out of libraries, it becomes more cost effective to buy the books. Have at it! Anyway, Vertig

Poetry submission windows that are open right now - October 2019

I seem to have been super busy lately, and I'm only just getting the feeling I'm catching up on myself, not that I'll ever get the to-do list finished, but lately I've been wondering if we can't just burn the second page of it. Brexit is still happening, we now have a prime minister my daughter calls Bobby Jobby, and women of colour on the BBC are getting grief for calling Donald Trump racist. FFS. I saw this quote from the previous American laureate Tracy K Smith in The Rialto. She finished her term this year and has been replaced by Joy Harjo. If you agree with her that poetry is a necessary remedy to the darkness you're in, here are some open windows to hurl your poetic light through... The Poetry Village  - they're lovely people, whose imprint, Maytree Press, will be publishing my first chapbook next year!!! They publish two poems a week online, plus gorgeous art. Their window is currently always open. Southlight  - based in the South of Sco

Interview with Georgi Gill from The Interpreter's House

Back in June 2017 I had a  villanelle  (the poem form, not the Killing Eve character) published in The Interpreter's House #65. I loved The Interpreter's House. Back then they published these beautiful little journals with gorgeous graphics, lovely formatting, and great poems, so I was really interested in 2018 when all changed in the House. The people, the website, the logo, even that beautiful format. The Interpreter's House is now edited by Georgi Gill, assisted by  Andrew Wells  and it comes out three times a year as a freely accessible online magazine. You'll find it  here . It is still beautiful, it still boasts gorgeous graphics, lovely formatting, and great poems, and now it's easier to access. As well as editing The Interpreter's House, Georgi Gill is a PhD researcher at the University of Edinburgh, exploring poetry in dialogues about multiple sclerosis. Her chief areas of interest, according to  her website  are "the work of Ciaran Carson* a

Poetry submission windows that are open right now - August 2019

Toni Morrison has died, which sucks, because she was an amazing writer, but I'm also excited to see the writers who carry her torch forward to light up the world. She taught that it was important to use whatever you had to bring others up with you, and we need so much more of that. So, if you have some inspiration, some creativity, even some little glimmer of magical wierdness, here are just some of the submission windows for poetry that are currently open. Tbh, I have been super busy recently, so I'm not as up to date as I'd like to be, and there are not as many opportunities as usual, so this is all I have for just now, but I'll update it if I come across anything else later in the month. Magazines: The Poetry Village  - they're lovely people, because they've just published one of my poems . Two poems a week online, and it's so worth following. Southlight  - based in the South of Scotland. Obsessed with Pipework  - four issues a year, but submis

Submissions windows that are open right now - July 2019

Here are just some of the submission windows for poetry that are currently open. I'd say more about them, but hey, we're all busy, so here's the info: Magazines: BlueHouse Journal - it's brand new and it's open for subs until 1st August. The Poetry Village - they're lovely people, because they're publishing one of my poems soon. Two poems a week online, and it's so worth following. Panoply - open until 28th July, US based. Southlight - based in the South of Scotland. Obsessed with Pipework - four issues a year, but submissions are always open. Anthologies Animal Heart Press has open submission windows for two anthologies, one with poetry from womxn, and one for poetry from Nigerian poets. Windows close on 1st August. Submissions for the  I'll Show You Mine Chapbook competition  close on 10th July, so hurry up for that one. Sex writing only. Free competitions: University of Hertfordshire single poem prize If you've go

Review: Toffee, by Sarah Crossan

Toffee by Sarah Crossan is supposed to be a Young Adult book, but don't let the teens keep it to themselves. The story is perhaps best introduced by this widely referenced quote from the book itself: I am not who I say I am, and Marla isn't who she thinks she is. I am a girl trying to forget. She is a woman trying to remember. This story is about a teen who feels she has nowhere to go and an elderly woman so used to being unseen that she barely sees herself anymore, and now she's got dementia to deal with. Sarah Crossan is the Irish Children's Laureate, and she writes young adult verse novels, which is not a description I love for this book. It is written in poem-type-things which use poetic aspects, but mainly serve to provide narrative of the story in vignettes, cutting to the important bits. The protagonist, Allison, is not ready to talk about the trauma that has brought her together with the elderly and confused Marla, and one particular incident i

Interview with Kate Garrett from Picaroon Poetry

I've mentioned Picaroon Poetry before on this blog. It's a web based poetry magazine that I really love, and I've been really happy to have had a couple of my poems published in it. Picaroon Poetry is run by Kate Garrett, who I am delighted to say has agreed to be my very first interviewee on Skeleton Architecture. I'm planning to do this as hopefully a regular thing, and if it's as easy to work with everyone else I'd like to interview as it has been to work with Kate that will work out beautifully! Kate has a new poetry collection out now, The saint of milk and flames is published by Rhythm & Bones Press, and you can get print and ebook versions of it here , alternatively, you can get a signed copy from Kate for £10 (or £15 international), which includes postage, just go to her Paypal, here . Let's get on with the interview.... Many thanks to Kate Garrett, for agreeing to be my first interviewee.  Kate, I first came across you as the editor

Follow on Bloglovin

I follow lots of blogs on Bloglovin, so it's like a magazine on my phone and I never need to miss a post. If you want to follow me you can subscribe above or if you want to use Bloglovin too just set up an account (you can use your Facebook login if you have one), and then you can find Skeleton Architecture here . <a href="https://www.bloglovin.com/blog/19960335/?claim=9mckj7hacgg">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Poetry submission windows that are open right now - June 2019

If ever there was a time that we needed dreams and visions to help us lay the foundations for our changing future it's now! The politicians are not doing enough for the climate emergency we're facing (big up to Scotland for doing more than some, but it's still not enough). The far right are being given power by the electorate, as if they had legitimate opinions or something, but hooray for the greens and lefties making gains too. The Great Bloviator, Donald Trump has been invited  to visit our shores where he's stirring his hateful pot, and slagging off Meghan Markle. Rude. Let us hope the Queen's brooch game is strong, or perhaps she'll just wear a 'Nasty Woman' badge ( here's a rather lovely one )? So, in the face of this, if your poetry game is strong, or if you just want to push yourself to get your poetry out there  here are just some of the submission windows for poetry that are currently open: Magazines: Spitball Magazine - NEW

Skeleton Architecture

Ever get bored of talking about yourself all the time? I have decided that this blog is getting an overhaul, I don't want it to be all about me, instead, I want to use it to show you what's going on in the poetry world that I'm excited about, so it's getting a new name, a new look, 𝅘𝅥𝅮a whole new world𝅘𝅥𝅮 Why skeleton architecture? Well, it's kinda goth, which suits me, and it's also from a brilliant quote from Audre Lorde: Poetry is not only dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before. Transformation might take a while. Please bear with me. I think this could be interesting.

Poetry update

Hi all, just to let you know that I've just got my early copies of this year's The Speculative Book and it's sooooo cute. My poem is on p121, but the first story is by Chris McQueer and it's a magnificent story which tells you what happens to bees when you feed them energy drinks. You've got to read it!  You can pre-order the book now  here  and if you fancy subscribing to them you can use my discount code, MCKEE. In other news, I'm delighted to be able to tell you that I'll have a poem in the forthcoming issue of Severine Literary Magazine, although the next poem that's coming is in Picaroon Poetry. Today I've been exploring Dumbarton Castle, and trying to write something for a poetry anthology on mental health, and really  struggling with what might be taboo when you're breaking taboos. I'll get over it!

The red dress and discount update

Hi all, more good news this week in amongst the Brexit mess. My Poem for my red dress has been accepted for the fab Irish online poetry magazine Dodging the Rain, check it out here . Also, the lovely people at Speculative Books have let me know that this year's Speculative Book (including my poem He follows his own course ) will be coming out in April. Speculative Books are doing a subscription scheme which allows you to pay monthly and get a poetry book every single month while supporting a nice wee organisation. I've got a discount code for your first month if you fancy subscribing: MCKEE.

Winter is ending update

I've been doing lots of research lately on Scottish history, which is showing me just how much we never move on even if we think we're dead modern. I've also been writing poetry, I've been super inspired by Jacqueline Saphra's amazing poem Cimex Lectularius (see my post here for more on that), and have been writing a poem a week because of that, and informed by all my Scottish history research, and also the ongoing slow-motion car crash which is Brexit (as I write Westminster have rejected no-deal but not actually got rid of it, and they've asked for an extension but not actually got it *sigh*). Anyway, I've had a couple of bits of good news. Firstly, I'm going to have another poem in the May edition of the wonderful online poetry magazine Picaroon Poetry  - such a good magazine, I'm chuffed to bits to be in again. Secondly, my poem about a grumpy old man who was genuinely in a swimming pool with me is going to be in this year's Speculative Bo

Happy New Year!

I can still wish you happy new year before January's out, right? Having spending a while doing research and convincing myself I can't write, I'm back in the room in 2019, sending my little baby poems out into the world. I have broken up the chapbook I was trying to get published, I've rewritten lots of stuff, and I'm happily sending them out to places where I hope they might find a happy home, while supporting some of the fantastic poetry magazines out there. One of those fantastic poetry magazines - Picaroon Poetry  - run by the marvellous Kate Garrett - has already accepted one of my babies. It was one of the ones that I'd started to feel bored by, so I tore it to bits, rewrote it, and sent it off to Kate, who will be sending it out into the world in Picaroon Poetry #16 in May (which is terribly organised if you ask me, I don't even know what I'm doing tomorrow!). Thanks Kate!  Hopefully I'll be letting you all know about more successes soo