Tag: poem

A Conversation with Yearling Editor Manny Grimaldi

Denton LovingLeave a comment

Earlier this month at the Kentucky Book Festival, I met Manny Grimaldi, who gifted me with a beautiful copy of Yearling: A Poetry Journal for Working Writers. Yearling is an annual publication that operates under the umbrella of Workhorse of Lexington, which in itself is a cool, wide-ranging operation that supports publishing and building community for writers. Manny is Yearling’s managing editor, and he agreed to answer a few questions about the journal that will be interesting and helpful for those of you looking for good publications where you can submit your writing.

DL: It was great to meet you at the Kentucky Book Festival, and to find out about Yearling. How long has Yearling been publishing? How long have you served as managing editor?

MG:  It was a pleasure conversing with you, Denton. Yearling: A Poetry Journal for Working Writers is an offshoot of a poetry feedback program through Workhorse of Lexington. I approached our editor-in-chief for work, and he instructed I take helm of the feedback program where folks sent in work only for response. Soon after in 2021, we launched Yearling with that ethos.

DL: The fact that Yearling provides feedback to submitters really sets the journal apart from so many others. As an editor, I know that requires a lot of work, but it’s also such a benefit to submitters. As managing editor, do you still provide that feedback yourself?

MG: I do provide the feedback, and a resounding yes to what you are stating, this is difficult work. But I do this with the helpful impressions of team readers. Never in the community of artists, whether actors, poets, editors, musicians, or novelists do I claim to do and develop in a vacuum. We help each other. In the end, I re-read each poem, draw together our conversations, solidify my impressions, and compose meaningful feedback. I read much gratitude for the deep reads from our authors, and some encounters with poets create avenues to their outstanding revisions.

DL: Yearling is a journal dedicated strictly for poetry. Are there any specific forms or styles that you’re especially looking to publishing in Yearling?

MG: As managing editor, I focus upon this principle: Does the work move me to forget I am reading a poem? A sonnet can do that. A villanelle can transcend form. I also hold anyone can do that, Denton. Provided they are telling the truth, and telling it well! Short answer: any style, any length, any form, we can print—we enjoy a book format now. We take everything from single poem submissions, up to six poem. Currently, in this issue, I hope to cull the heart of Kentucky writers and our surrounds as much as possible. That said, everything is read, considered, and published if it sings.

DL: If I understand correctly, then Yearling publishes in December of every year, and acceptances for that issue are sent out by October 1st. Is Yearling currently accepting submissions for the 2026 issue?

MG: We process submissions all year. Yes. Yearling prints December of every year, once a year. In practice, we have closed a year’s volume with the requisite number of poets, which is 40, as soon as April. We respond generally, schedules permitting, as promptly as possible.

DL: In addition to being an editor, you have also published multiple books of your own writing. Where can readers find your work, and how can they connect with you?

MG: Three books! Two are self-published—Riding Shotgun with the Mothman (2024) and ex libris Ioannes Cerva (2024), and the latest was published by Whiskey City Press, entitled Finding a Word to Describe You.

Mothman and Finding are full length. ex libris is a satirical chapbook released by anonymus scriptus. Mothman connects people with a window into family and personal demons. Finding is about romance, reveling in poetic forms, from the historical persona poem, to the broken sonnet, to tanka.

My work pops up on internet and print in everything from Club Plum, Rye Whiskey Review, Moss Puppy Magazine, and Jerry Jazz Musician. I appeared on Katerina Stoykova’s ACCENTS Nov. 5, 2025, podcast on WUKY, also available on Apple and NPR. I am easily reached by email: m.grimaldi2019 (at) gmail.com.

~

Thanks to Manny Grimaldi for taking the time to speak to me. Be sure to take a look at Yearling’s full submission guidelines and to follow on Patreon.

In case you missed it… check out some of my past conversations about writing and publishing with Kendra Winchester, Melanie K. Hutsell and Georgann Eubanks. Also, I hope you’ll have a look at Bill Griffin’s wonderful site, Verse and Image, where he recently shared some poems from my newest collection, Feller.

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Official Publication Day for Feller

Denton Loving6 Comments

Hello Friends,

Today, August 5th, is the official publication day for Feller, my new book of poems from Mercer University Press that explores themes of connection, longing, and the pursuit of a fully lived life. I’ve been writing these poems for about 12 years, so I’m really excited to finally be able to send this book out into the world, and to share it with you.

There’s a short window of time surrounding a book’s release where every action is amplified. If you’re inclined to help me help Feller reach more readers, here are a few things you can do.

1) Please buy the book. You can order Feller directly from Mercer University Press or from online retailers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org. Tertulia is offering a 25% discount if you order through their site by August 7th. You don’t even have to create an account. Just enter the code FELLER at checkout.

Feller is also available at great independent bookstores, such as City Lights, Parnassus Books, Novel Memphis, and others. If your local bookstore doesn’t already have copies of Feller in stock, please ask them to order it.

2) Please rate and review Feller or add it to your “Want to Read” shelf on Goodreads or any similar platforms such as StoryGraph, BookWyrm, or LibraryThing.

Remember that you don’t have to purchase a book from Amazon in order to rate and review it there. There are legitimate reasons not to support Amazon, but reviews there do make a difference. Reviews don’t need to be lengthy. Any short, simple message to recommend the book is appreciated.

3) Post about the book on social media and tag me. Photos of the book (with your pet or your baby, on a beach or a park bench, etc.) are especially great to share! You can find me on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

4) Come to events and invite me to read. I’ll be traveling a lot this fall. Check out my calendar of events to see if I’ll be near you. More dates are in the works and will be added soon. But I’m also still looking for opportunities to connect with more readers. If you host a book club or reading series, I’d love the opportunity to come talk about Feller. Let’s talk about getting something scheduled.

5) Teach it: If you’re a teacher and would like to teach from Feller, let me know. I’d love to connect with you and your students by visiting your classroom either in person or virtually.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KARI GUNTER-SEYMOUR.

In the days leading to publication, Feller has ranked as high as #9 on Amazon’s new releases chart for poetry, which feels remarkable! And look at these excepts from longer blurbs from three writers I deeply admire.

“Loving makes lyric sense of complex issues in poem after poem in Feller, with his special blend of eco-poetics and earthly reason.” — Elaine Sexton, Site Specific          “At once timely and timeless, Feller is a superbly striking and essential book.” — Matt W. Miller, Tender the River          “Reading Feller is a transformative, joyful, loneliness-alleviating experience.” — Annie Woodford, Where You Come From Is Gone

I feel incredibly blessed for Feller to receive some early attention, beginning with the exclusive cover reveal in Electric Literature! I gave my first official reading from Feller at the 48th Annual Appalachian Writers Workshop in Hindman, Kentucky. I spoke to Greg Lehman on his Moonbeams podcast. I answered some questions about poetry and shared a poem on Deborah Zenha-Adams’ wonderful blog. I spoke to Emily Mohn-Slate for one of her great Beginner’s Mind interviews. A poem from Feller was recently featured at Verse Daily. Two poems from the book were published this week at Salvation South.

And my friend Davin Malasarn—who is a one of the most artistic and imaginative people I know—created one of his famous book-and-donut pairings to celebrate the launch.

One of the most exciting things about publishing a book is to see it interpreted and reflected through the eyes of readers. The other exciting thing is to connect with all of you. I can’t wait. Thanks for all you’ve done and what you still might do!

If you’re not already receiving these posts directly to your inbox, please subscribe. And in case you missed it… check out my recent conversation with Zackary Vernon about his YA novel, Our Bodies Electric.

Official Cover Reveal for Feller

Denton Loving3 Comments

Friends, I’ve been really excited for today to come! After what feels like a long wait, I can finally share the cover for my new collection of poems, Feller. But first, here’s one last teaser:

To view the entire image, head over to Electric Literature who very graciously is hosting the official cover reveal. I’m incredibly grateful for Electric Lit’s support and help in launching this new book.

Exclusive Cover Reveal of “Feller” by Denton Loving

I’m also grateful to Mary-Frances and Jim Burt of Burt & Burt who designed this cover image. It’s really striking and hits the exact right emotional key. I’m always grateful to Mercer University Press, especially my editor Marc Jolley, for believing in my work in general and Feller in particular. And huge thanks to Kelly March for coordinating this cover reveal in the first place. She’s amazing!

Feller is a book that has been a long time in the making. Some of these pieces took over ten years to transform from first draft to finished poem. There will be more opportunities later to talk about the individual poems and what the collection is about. And as always, I’m more excited to hear what the poems and the book mean to you. So I hope you’ll read Feller. The official pub date is August 5th, 2025, but if you want to hear a few of the new poems, you can listen to this episode of The Beat, a poetry podcast hosted by Alan May.

And don’t forget to take a look at the whole image over at Electric Literature. I hope you like it as much as I do.

Wrapping Up National Poetry Month

Denton Loving1 Comment

I don’t ever remember a past April where I could visibly see poetry celebrated so often and in so many ways. Maybe one of the things we couldn’t predict about living in a dystopian world is how people would turn to poetry. Regardless, it was beautiful.

For my part, I had the privilege of reading poems to the monthly book discussion group, All Over the Page, at Lawson McGhee Library in Knoxville, Tennessee. I read poems from Tamp, as well as some new poems from a new book that will coming out in August.

Yeah, I sort of just buried the lede there, didn’t I? But that’s right. I have a new collection of poems coming out in August from Mercer University Press. It’s called Feller. I just saw the cover for the first time this week, and I love it so much. I can’t wait to share it with you all very soon.

In the meantime, that reading at Lawson McGhee Library was recorded as an episode of their podcast The Beat. You can listen to the episode here: https://the-beat.captivate.fm/episode/denton-loving-joins-us-live-for-all-over-the-page.

Special thanks to Alan May, Lawson McGhee librarian and host of The Beat, who invited me. Alan has a great book of poems out himself: Derelict Days in That Derelict Town: New and Uncollected Poems, published through BlazeVOX Books. I hope you’ll check it out.

There’s another lovely book recently out that you should know about, and that’s Beneath Occluded Shine by Claudia Stanek, published by Finishing Line Press. Claudia will be celebrating an online book launch on Wednesday, April 30, 2025, at Jules’ Poetry Playhouse. I’ll also be there reading a couple of poems along with poets Gail Hosking and Catherine Faurot. The reading is at 6:00 p.m. Pacific / 9:00 p.m. Eastern. It would be so nice to see you there.

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Submission Calls for Writers 3/21/2020

Denton LovingLeave a comment

submissions

What better time than in self-isolation to write and submit your writing? Here are 10 magazines and journals with open submission periods. They’re waiting for you to send your work, even in these strange days. So wash your hands, stay healthy, and send your words out into the world even if you’re stuck at home.

 

Whitefish Review

In these times of unexpected challenges that touch everyone (e.g., COVID-19, political unrest, sudden loss of income) we felt it was important to hear from artists and writers at this moment, so we can make sure that we are illuminating what is most vital and essential. We are seeking submissions through March 31, 2020. Send us 1 story (fiction or essay) or up to 3 poems (all in one Word document).

https://whitefishreview.submittable.com/submit/163232/25-new-work-for-the-current-times

 

11th Annual Spirit First Poetry Contest

Poetry submissions may be of any length and any style but must have a theme of Meditation or Mindfulness. Poems may reflect any discipline, any faith, or none. Poems must be previously unpublished. Poems not on the themes of meditation, mindfulness, stillness, or sacred silence will not be included in this meditation poetry event. Enter up to three submissions. Deadline: March 31, 2020.

https://www.spiritfirst.org/poetry_contest2020Entry.html

 

The Masters Review New Voices

Submissions for our New Voices category are open year round. New Voices is open to any new and emerging author who has not published a work of fiction or narrative nonfiction of novel length. All submissions must be less than 7,000 words.

https://themastersreview.submittable.com/submit/26106/new-voices-free

 

Valparaiso Fiction Review

Submissions to VFR should be original, unpublished fiction. Submissions should range from 1,000 to 9,000 words with possible exceptions. Please no novels, poetry, or children’s fiction unless otherwise noted. Excerpts from novels are acceptable only if selected piece operates as a stand-alone story. There is no submission deadline. Submissions are considered on a rolling basis.

https://scholar.valpo.edu/vfr/guidelines.html

 

Posit

Posit is interested in finely crafted, innovative literary and visual art. Submit 1-3 pieces of prose, including fiction and hybrids, but no nonfiction please. 1000 words or less each. However, if you are submitting very short pieces, please send us at least three to choose from. Please include a minimum of five and a maximum of six poems for us to consider. Deadline: April 15, 2020.

https://posit.submittable.com/submit

 

Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel

For Volume 23, we are asking for your poems, short stories, essays, flash pieces and black and white 2D art on encounters with the edge, however you define it. Unpublished work is preferred, but we aren’t sticklers. Send us your best creative work exploring Appalachian Edge. Submit up to 5 poems for one piece of prose up to 3,000 words. Deadline: April 15, 2020.

http://www.sawconline.net/pmsg-submission-guidelines.html

 

EPOCH

EPOCH magazine publishes fiction, poetry, essays, cartoons, screenplays, graphic art, and graphic fiction. In continuous publication since 1947, the magazine is edited by faculty in the Department of English Program in Creative Writing at Cornell University. For poetry, submit no more than five poems in one envelope. For fiction, submit no more than one story per envelope and no more than three short short stories per envelope. We consider fiction in all forms, short short to novella length. Deadline April 15, 2020.

https://english.cornell.edu/epoch-magazine-0?

 

Rattle Poetry

Themed Issue: “Service workers.” This may include those in the hotel, lodging, food service, tourism, or customer service industries, as well as many others. Poems may be written on any subject, in any length, but the poet must currently be, or have been, employed as a service worker for a significant period of time (years, not months). Please include a brief note about your background in the service industry and what effect it’s had on your poetry (if any). Submit up to four previously unpublished poems (or four pages of very short poems). Deadline: April 15, 2020.

https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/34383/service-workers

 

The Fiddlehead

The Fiddlehead is open to good writing in English or translations into English from all over the world and in a variety of styles, including experimental genres. Our editors are always happy to see new unsolicited works in fiction, including excerpts from novels, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Work is read on an ongoing basis; the acceptance rate is around 1-2% (we are, however, famous for our rejection notes!). A short fiction or nonfiction submission should be one story or essay, double spaced and maximum 6,000 words. Unless a story is very, very short (under 1000 words), please send only one story per submission. Please submit no more than 6 poems per submission. Deadline: April 30, 2020.

https://thefiddlehead.ca/submit

 

Birmingham Poetry Review

Unsolicited manuscripts of no more than five poems are welcomed. Pay is one copy of the Birmingham Poetry Review. Submit now through May 15, 2020.

https://www.uab.edu/cas/englishpublications/bpr/submit

 

 

 

Submission Calls for Writers 1/3/2019

Denton LovingLeave a comment

submissions

I didn’t make specific resolutions this year, but I do have goals for 2019. Mostly, I hope to just keep writing and submitting. I hope you will do the same. Here are ten opportunities for writers. Check them out, and have a happy new year!

One

One, the online literary journal of Jacar Press,

One reads submissions of poems continually. There is no deadline. To submit, send one poem in the body of an email to <onejacarATgmailDOTcom.> In a few short years, poems first published in One have won a Best of the Net, received an Honorable Mention, been reprinted in the New York Times. We publish the best works by Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winners, as well as newcomers and established poets from Africa, Asia, South America, the Middle East, Europe, the U.K. and the U.S.

http://one.jacarpress.com/submissions/

 

The Offing: Back of the Envelope

Back of the Envelope seeks writing of any length which relates to, or draws on, science and the natural world. Sharing its wonder or its horrors, relating the untold stories of discovery, or toying with everyday curiosities, we’re interested in hearing from those inside and outside the scientific community.

https://theoffingmag.submittable.com/submit

 

Oxford American

We welcome fiction submissions for our Summer 2019 issue. We are eager to feature a writer whose fiction has not yet been published in a major print publication. Stories under 10,000 words will be considered, and the selected writer will be paid $1000. Deadline January 15.  $5 submission fee.

https://oxfordamerican.submittable.com/submit/126851/debut-fiction-in-summer-2019-issue-open-only-to-new-writers

 

Longleaf Writers Conference Fellowships

The Longleaf Writers Conference is an annual gathering of creative writers from all over the nation and features award-winning writers in poetry and fiction and creative nonfiction who will offer a full week of intensive writing workshops, one day seminars, lectures, readings, and social events.  Fellows benefit from a special reading, direct work with faculty, and other specific duties that allow them access to our faculty and visiting writers. Fellowship applicants must have at least one book published in the last six years and should be actively publishing work in established literary magazines and/or have other awards of merit. This fellowship covers full tuition (all events, readings, workshops, etc. are covered for fellow) for the conference as well as superb lodging near one of the most beautiful beaches in Seaside, Florida, during the Longleaf Writers Conference from May 11-19, 2019. Past Fellows include Brandon Courtney, Rachel Weaver, Eugene Garcia-Cross, Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum, Stacey Balkin, Karin Lin-Greenberg, Erika Krouse, Sandra Gail Lambert, Blake Sanz, many more! DEADLINE: January 10, 2019. 

www.longleafwritersconference.com

 

Landlocked

LandLocked Magazine is a reinvention of Beecher’s Magazine. We love found pieces, eco-poetics, works about displacement, and stories of how your body fits (or how it doesn’t) into the world. Imagism and hybrid genres, including experimental and visual works, lyric essays, and prose poems are all welcome. Please send 3–5 poems per submission with no more than 10 pages in total. We want stories of literary quality and encourage fantastic, speculative, and weird literature. Send us your most imaginative and challenging writing in 4,000 words or less. We also encourage flash fiction of 1,000 words or less. Finally, we are especially drawn to nonfiction pieces that challenge the boundaries of the genre, incorporate fictional and poetic elements, and make us question how “creative” nonfiction can be. As far as length, we prefer under 4,000 words. Submit by February 01, 2019.

https://landlockedmagazine.com/submission-guidelines/?mc_cid=85cbcdeaa3&mc_eid=508eb4b613

 

10th Annual Spirit First Meditation Poetry Contest

Spirit First is pleased to announce its 10th Annual Meditation Poetry Contest. Poetry submissions may be of any length and any style but must have a theme of Meditation or Mindfulness. Poems may reflect any discipline, any faith, or none. Poems must be previously unpublished. Poems not on the themes of meditation, mindfulness, stillness, or sacred silence will not be included in this meditation poetry event. Enter up to three submissions. Please submit your poems all in one file or inside the body of an email (rather than three poems in three separate files). Be sure to include the author’s name, address, telephone number, and email address. There is no cost to enter this contest. Submissions must be received no later than February 28, 2019. There is NO FEE to submit.

http://www.spiritfirst.org/poetry_contest2019Entry.html

 

Cincinnati Review

The Cincinnati Review welcomes submissions from writers at any point in their careers. Please submit up to five poems, which should total no more than ten manuscript pages, at a time. Fiction submissions should be no more than forty double-spaced pages. We’re interested mostly in pieces of nonfiction less than twenty double-spaced pages, though you can try us for longer pieces if you think they’ll knock our socks off. We read until March 1, 2019, with an exception: miCRo submissions are open year-round. https://www.cincinnatireview.com/submission_guidelines/

 

Arkana Call for Submissions: The Micro Issue

For our Micro Issue, Arkana invites you to magnify the microscopic. Once called “little magazines,” literary journals have long been interested in cultivating small-scale communities and promoting the work of authors and editors toiling on their art outside of national markets. For Arkana’s Micro Issue, we’re commemorating this heritage while seeking work that packs a punch in pint-sized form. From nanotechnology, the singularity at the center of a black hole, microbiology, and microbursts to microbreweries, “The Itsy Bitsy Spider,” Hershey’s miniatures, Little Rock, and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, we want work that celebrates its smallness, amplifies the tiniest voices with the most to say, and challenges society’s perceptions of the marginal, modest, and miniscule. Send us up to 500 words of fiction or creative nonfiction, 10 lines of poetry, 4 panels of illustrated narrative, or 5 minute scripts for the stage or screen. In addition to publication in the Micro Issue, each piece will be considered for $50.00 Editor’s Choice Awards in each genre. The deadline for Issue 6 is March 31, 2019.

https://arkanamag.org/submit/

 

Blackbird

Send up to six poems at a time. Single-space, please. For fiction, double-space, please. We primarily look for short stories, but novel excerpts are acceptable if self-contained. Double-space nonfiction also. We primarily look for personal essays, but memoir excerpts are acceptable if self-contained. Unsolicited book reviews and criticism are not considered. Send one prose piece or two to six poems at a time, and please submit genres separately. Blackbird does not accept previously published work. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable so long as they are indicated as such and we are immediately notified upon acceptance elsewhere. Current reading period ends April 15, 2019.

https://blackbird.vcu.edu/v15n1/submissions.shtml

 

Quarter After Eight

Quarter After Eight is devoted to the exploration of innovative writing. We accept submissions in any genre from new and established writers through April 15, 2019. You may submit up to four poems at one time. Submit one essay or up to three flash prose pieces. You may submit one story or up to three flash prose pieces at one time.

http://www.quarteraftereight.org/submit.html

New Poem at Heartwood Lit Mag

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Thanks to Heartwood Literary Magazine for publishing my poem, Riding Lawn Mower, in Issue 5 of their journal, just released this week. Thanks especially to Editor Danielle Kelly. Heartwood is a beautiful literary journal published in association with the Low-Residency MFA program at West Virginia Wesleyan College. Please take a look at the poem on the Heartwood web pages, and check out some of the other great poems, stories and essays: http://www.heartwoodlitmag.com/riding-lawn-mower.

Riding Lawn Mower

After the first small-engine repairman
tells me five miles are too far for a house call
or a pick up, the second repairman tells me
I should disassemble the mower myself,
bring him the offending portion.

Lincoln said his father taught him to work
but never to like it.  My father taught me
to work on lawn mowers. Naturally,
I think about buying a new machine.

Instead, I crawl onto summer-warm grass
like my father taught me. I pull
S-pins and retaining springs, freeing
suspension arms and the anti-sway bar,
separating clutch rod from clutch lever.
I mechanic my way beyond my skill set
until the mulching deck falls limp.

A pneumatic drill unlocks frozen, broken
blades turned upside down. New ones
hex bolt on, naked edges glinting in the light.
I reverse engineer, reattach metal to metal,
secure it all with a taut pulley belt.

Such unbindings and rebindings are common.
This tractor and I will again tame briar hells
of blackberry, wild rose. We will battle stones
rising quietly in the pasture at night like ghosts.
There is no choice but to keep going,
to keep working until the final, unfixable end.