#Poetry Submission

[diet-mountain-dew-nyc]

"I wanted to be unforgettable. Indelible. I wanted to haunt their hearts and minds—to be everywhere and nowhere, spectacular and out of reach. Only in the chaos did it dawn on me. Being remembered is not the same as being missed."

[inkpensonpaper]

Today, I mourn the loss of safety for the LGBTQIA+ community.  I speak specifically on the horrendous legislation that is currently being passed in Tennessee, however this applies to a vast many other recent situations and determinations in a vast many other states and across our country as a whole. 

The LGBTQIA+ community preaches nothing but love, acceptance, and understanding.  I beg you to follow in our footsteps and have compassion for the people who have been allowed very little of such in recent times. Our government's priorities are terribly skewed. Their mission is not one of equality, but one of power.

Regardless of what they may say in their reasoning for criminalizing transgender Healthcare and drag shows, their priority is not to protect our children. If they were prioritizing our children, they would be more focused on creating a safer environment in schools and providing easier access to healthcare across the board. If they were concerned with our children's wellbeing they would focus on the amount of children sleeping on the floors of various DHS offices across the country because they have nowhere else to go. Instead, they choose to manipulate and further marginalize an already drastically persecuted community.

Make no mistake - I in no way excuse anyone who uses the LGBTQIA+ community as an excuse to commit acts of crime and hatred, but I also do not condone criminalizing us in that community because of those people's actions. Similarly, I also make no excuses for anyone who uses Christianity as an excuse to commit acts of hatred, just as I also do not condone the stereotyping of the entire religion based on those people's actions. I currently am not a strong believer in any particular faith, however I can claim to have been educated on and raised in Christianity. From what I recall, Jesus spared no mind to who you were or what you looked like or how you lived; he sat with the whores, he spared time for the poor, he healed the sick, and he played in the streets with the children. He paid no mind except that you were not harming those around you and he preached to love thy neighbor - one would think he meant no exceptions to that love.

We are not mindless doodles, drawn into the edge of the page of an assignment only to be furiously erased before being turned in to be graded because we are not that particular professor's definition of socially acceptable. We are art. Just as you have your shapes and curves and colors and deserve to be appreciated and admired and accepted, we also have our own palettes and lines and designs that deserve to be sources of inspiration and hope and love. We will not allow ourselves to be discarded and turned away from the museums and galleries of our country's history. We deserve a spot to be displayed in there just as much as you or anyone else does.

I am a firm believer that the hatred that is fueling this horrid legislation is the same strand of hatred that stemmed many of the world's greatest atrocities. It is the same disregard for humanity that caused the Holocaust, led to the Trail of Tears, formed Asian internment camps, and many more attempts to dehumanize and erase marginalized communities from the relevant narrative.

If you do not see the harm in passing this and other similarly harmful and ridiculously disrespectful legislation, then do me a favor and remove yourself from my life. I have no space in my circle for anyone who chooses to ignore the wrongful criminalization of necessary and affirming Healthcare for transgender folks, of safety for physicans providing said Healthcare, of harmless self-expression in the form of extravagant and flamboyant methods of dress, and of so many more stretches and implications of this legislation.

We in the LGBTQIA+ community may teach peace, but do not mistake that ache for peace as submission. We are not afraid to raise our voices, for we have spent far too long allowing ourselves to be silenced.

[daniellewrote]

Fairytales

Graceful like a fairy in her garden Wings so delicate, they never harden Casting spells, making potions, and the dark arts Practicing the magic is where it all starts From goblins and gnomes To fairytales and sparkling stones Use the stars in the sky to guide you home Never past the grass meadows can you roam Danger lurks in the dark and unseen crevices The limbo between where hell and heaven is

[rejoicerevolting]

(signage hung above the threshold of this blog)

there's a beautiful

woman who lives in this blog

and she feeds raccoons

[wildwillowmagazine]

There are only two weeks left to submit to our theme-less February issue! We want any kind of art you got (within the guidelines): poetry, flash fiction, nonfiction, fiction, photography, art, comics, graphic design, etc. We want it all, no restrictions! Just art! 

[mypoeticsoul-ny]

With You

With you I have meaning

A heart that is gleaming

Together forever, on this tricky endeavor

Without you I was lost, without a cause

A persona I created, feeling deflated

As if my world had fallen, my skin crawling

You're back where you belong,

Though you'd never left all along

Love you forever I will

Our hearts footing the bill

At times it's so tough

There's patches that are so rough

Happy times and sad moments

Our love is our proponent

The love I feel, more filling than a meal

The love I give you, more than I'd ever knew

Your arms are my happy place

With you is my safe space

Always itching for more

I look forward to seeing you walk through that Marriott door

-DRN

[wiseoldowl72]

I was really bummed that I couldn't go to the Supernatural Thanksgiving event here in KC tonight. My neurological issues acted up. I didn't need to be in a new space without my support ppl. SO, on the way home from another afternoon event (creating ornaments for a charity party) we stopped at the grocery story and I bought this Ivy and a China Doll plant for $4 each. Repotting them made me very happy. I'm also accepted that there are things I can not change and just have to go with the flow. Being Chronically ill has taught me that.

Now I'm chillin' with my laptop and doing ok. And did you hear, I submitted 3 of my poems for consideration for publishing! Definitely a win for today.

[fixing-bad-posts]

Asexuality is a spectrum. No two asexuals are the same 🖤🩶🤍💜

[tigerpetalpress]

November 2023 Submissions

Tigerpetal Press is now accepting poetry submissions for the month of November! At the end of the month, all submissions will be considered, but only one will be chosen for publication and offered a publishing contract. See previously published chapbooks. Deadline: November 30, 2023 @ midnight Type: poetry Theme: recovery; healing; personal growth Each participant is allowed one (1)…

[diet-mountain-dew-nyc]

Pain is just a puppet without the darkness there to do its dirty work.

[scarlettnox]

Getting rejection emails is always such a great way to humble one self. Shame I wasn’t riding a high, the latest one was sure to be a nice crash

[thoughtcascades]

"right person wrong time" nahhh wrong person, waste of time.

[rejoicerevolting]

(a tanka)

liken your heart to:

solid gold, fresh cut flowers…

and still none compare

to the many faceted

gem that guides your every move

I love my anon (aka my wife)

[wildwillowmagazine]

Sometimes to heaven I go,

wrapped in sheets the color of clouds,

leaving brown skin, dark eyes, in my wake,

by Juanita Rey, pg. 3

Check out the TMP Magazine archives to read more poetry like this from volume 5! 

[sweatermuppet]

hello! beaver magazine is open for submissions in all categories. i personally read every poetry submission

read past issues, guidelines, & submit here on the beaver website

[wnq-writers]

They called me a dreamer like it was a bad thing, until my dreams started to come true.

Ekta Somera