Next summer we will publish the first issue of The Stinging Fly to be dedicated entirely to poetry. No fiction will appear in the issue. Just poetry.
It feels vaguely wild to edit an issue without any fiction. Almost unimaginable. And, if I say so myself: really exciting.
The issue won’t feature poems exclusively. Alongside a modestly sized mountain of poems, we’ll publish some discussions of poetry, investigations of poetry, inclinations toward poetry, poets talking about poetry, poets not talking about poetry and some not poets talking about poetry. Of course, all of this will be topped off with a decent, juicy dollop of poetry.
Our hope for the issue is that it opens new conversations and dialogues. New avenues and renewed avenues. We’re looking for poetry that allows multiple readings, poetry that reflects the world back to us in a new way, poetry that treats language like paint, poetry that treats language like language, poetry that reconfigures something in us, or something in the poem. We hope that the poetry issue will allow a momentary widening of a lens, rather than setting something in stone.
You can read recent issues of the magazine to get an idea of the kinds of poetry we generally run with. But bear in mind that we’re looking for poetry that excites us. There is no formula for that, no painting by numbers. Don’t write something you think that we’ll publish: write something that energises you. Something that feels like poetry.
We will be open for submissions during the month of October and we ask that you send us up to three poems via Submittable.
I look forward to reading your work.
Cal Doyle
Poetry Editor
Read our submission guidelines here.