Call for Poetry Submissions

As the summer comes to a close, it’s time for Daniel Rattelle and me to turn our attention to the serious matter of poetry. Last year, we had a grand old time editing our first volume for Little Gidding Press, The Slumbering Host. I pitched the idea to Dan the first time we met, chatting at The Union over tea. David Baulis’s cover design and Aaron Schepps’ arrangement gave us the feeling that St Andrews was the perfect place for the book to take shape. The book launch, planned for the Senior Common Room at St Mary’s, was cancelled on account of the lockdown. Let’s hope we can hold a proper reading this time around. All submissions will be considered for the Poets’ Corner, and we will gather the best of these together for an anthology around Christmas time. The Slumbering Host, last year’s volume, includes poems from James Matthew Wilson, Sally Thomas, Marly Youmans, and David Middleton (along with other gems).

If you would like us to consider your poems, please send them to clintoncollister@gmail.com with the phrase “Poetry Submission” in the subject line. Include a brief biography in the body of your email and attach a Word document with 2-4 poems and a photo of yourself. We prefer measured verse, but we are open to highly controlled and skillfully handled verse in other forms. We are looking for poems that depict permanent things in a fallen world: memorable images, moving stories, well-crafted lines, and things ordinary and extraordinary. Guiding lights include John Donne, Christina Rossetti, T.S. Eliot, Ruth Pitter, John Betjeman, Richard Wilbur, Gjertrud Schnackenberg, and Micheal O’Siadhail. Send us your poems, and keep in mind that we don’t accept simultaneous submissions.