Think of a time when you had to wear a hat — in church, during graduation, on a winter day, at a wedding, on the beach, at a baseball game, while cooking or gardening, on a date, at a rodeo, while fishing or golfing, while dressed as Santa Claus — and write a poem or prose piece about yourself in the particular hat. In the piece, you could reflect on how the hat makes you look and feel, or the occasion where/when you wore the hat. You can also write about a favorite hat — in this case, tell us how you obtained the hat and why you love it. Yes, we are talking about actual hats — and not the metaphorical multitude of hats we all wear. If you have a photo of yourself in the hat, great — but, if you don’t, send an image of the hat alone (try to find something like it via Google Images). Sometimes a hat can define an experience or the image we try to project — and we’re hoping our head gear serves as inspiration for this series.
PROMPT: Tell us about a time you wore a particular hat in a poem (any reasonable length) or prose piece (300 words or fewer — this word limit also applies to prose poems). We prefer material that focuses on one subject — in this case, one hat. You can also write about a favorite hat — if you do so, tell us how/when/where you got the hat and why it means so much to you.
WHAT: Submissions can be original or previously published poems or prose. You retain all rights to your work and give Silver Birch Press permission to publish the piece on social media. We are a nonprofit blog and offer no monetary compensation to contributors. If your piece was previously published, please tell us where/when so we can credit the original publisher.
WHEN: We’ll feature the poems and prose in the Silver Birch Press ME, IN A HAT Poetry and Prose Series on our blog starting in November 2016 . We’ll also feature the work on Twitter and Facebook.
HOW TO SUBMIT: Email one poem or prose piece to SBPSUBMISSIONS@gmail.com as an MSWord attachment — and in the same file include your name, contact info (including email address), one-paragraph author’s bio (written in third person), and any notes about your creative process or thoughts about your piece. Please put all this information in one MSWord document and title the file with your last name (and only your last name). Write “HAT” in subject line of email. If available, please send a photo of yourself at any age that complements the poem or story or send a photo of a hat (something similar to the hat you write about) — and provide a caption for the photo.
SUBMISSION CHECKLIST
To help everyone understand our submission requirements, we’ve prepared the following checklist.
1. Send ONE MS Word document TITLED WITH YOUR LAST NAME (e.g. Smith.doc or Jones.docx).
2. In the same MS Word document, include your contact information (name, mailing address, email address).
3. In the same MS Word document, include a one-paragraph author’s bio, written in the third person.
4. In the same MS Word document, include a note about your poem/prose or creative process written in the first person (this is optional — but encouraged).
5. In the same MS Word document, include a caption for your photo (including where, when and/or date taken).
6. If available, send a photo of yourself at any age as a SEPARATE jpg attachment (not in the MS Word document). Title the photo with your last name (e.g., Jones.jpg). Also send a current photo to accompany your bio.
7. Email to SBPSUBMISSIONS@gmail.com — and put HAT in the subject line.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Wednesday, November 30, 2016.
IMAGE OF AUTHORS IN HATS (from left, starting at top row): Margaret Atwood, Sandra Cisneros, Tom Wolfe, Zora Neale Hurston, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Fante, Marianne Moore, Walt Whitman, Truman Capote, Toni Morrison, Hunter S. Thompson, Langston Hughes, Jack Kerouac, Sylvia Plath, Mark Twain, Dorothy Parker, and Zadie Smith.
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