Leave it, Gary! It’s not worth it.
Gary is a poem. At the end of each month, when Submittable clicks over from blue to grey, he consoles himself with a few drinks in a pub (possibly outside of Epping, possibly it’s somewhere else entirely). Sometimes he’s joined by Rich, Lynne, Graham and Cerys, each carrying their files of Please Do Not Be Disheartened e-mails.
If you’re a poet reading this, there’s chance you have a Gary poem. Many of our poems are Gary. We will proudly write many more Gary poems. Some of our Gary poems – and definitely some of yours – are pretty good. Some are probably not, but they taught us something important.
Where are we going with this? Well, read on, and see if your Gary is a poem that we might like. Or take a look at our last issue. Maybe your Gary would find some good drinking buddies there? Maybe you’re birthing a new Gary right now?
We have a strong bias towards poems that address contemporary issues. It is not the only thing we publish, but it feels a bit Humanity: the Explosive Final Season at the moment, and that might be worth writing about.
In our last issue, we published poems about climate change, domestic violence, war in the Ukraine and the Middle East. We chose these poems because they were unflinching about horrors without slipping into voyeurism, and we had a strong sense that the poet knew exactly where they were standing in relation to what they were writing about.
We like lyricism. Not exclusively, but as a species, we sang before we spoke. The sound you make is really important right now (see above re collapse of humanity). Make a human sound or no one will hear you.
We like form. But we mean this in the broadest, most omnivorous sense – poems that make good formal choices that amplify what you want to say. Poems that know where to break a line, how to balance sense, musicality and feeling. We like complexity, nuance and rarity. We don’t like willful obscurity. The planet is dying. There really isn’t time.
We accept simultaneous submissions. But let us know as soon as you know if Gary gets lucky with someone else. Don’t send us something that has been published previously (including on your own social media channels).
To submit, send us up to four poems in one word file, if your poem has a particularly complex form then send a pdf so that it is fixed, but please also send it in a word document. Where possible, our preferred font is Times New Roman 12 pt. Please also send a 50 word third person bio the body of your email to blackirispoetry@gmail.com. We aim to get back to you within four weeks. If for any reason, we’re struggling to meet that timeframe, we’ll let you know.
Our next submission window opens on Friday 22 March 2024. It closes at midnight, Sunday 7 April 2024. Sadly, we can’t read submissions sent outside this window.
