Call for submissions: MY IMAGINARY SKILL Poetry and Prose Series

OVERVIEW: Most of us wish we had a  special skill  — say, we could dance like Fred Astaire, play tennis like Serena Williams, cook like Julia Child, paint like Pablo Picasso, and on and on — that usually revolves around a particular interest or passion for music, art, sports, or whatever else gives our lives joy. Well, even if you don’t possess such a skill in real life, you can imagine you’re an ace in some category — and tell us about it in our MY IMAGINARY SKILL Poetry and Prose Series.

PROMPT: Tell us about your imaginary skill in a poem (any reasonable length) or prose piece (300 words or fewer– this word limit also applies to prose poems).

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 and in a potential print edition.

WHEN: We’ll feature the poems and prose in the Silver Birch Press MY IMAGINARY SKILL Poetry and Prose Series on our blog starting in June 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 “Skill” in subject line of email. If available, please send a photo of yourself at any age enacting your skill (for example, dancing, diving, cooking, singing) and provide a caption for the photo (when, where).

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 an author’s bio, written in the third person (e.g., Ginger Rogers lives in Missouri…”).

4. In the same MS Word document, include a note about your poem/prose or creative process (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 enacting the skill — 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 SKILL in the subject line.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Wednesday, June, 15, 2016.

IMAGE: Dancer supreme Fred Astaire (left) and tennis ace Serena Williams (right).

Revised Call for Submissions: STARTING TO RIDE Poetry & Prose Series

NOTE: STARTING TO RIDE Poetry & Prose Series is a revised version of our LEARNING TO RIDE Poetry & Prose Series. Based on the submissions we have received to date, we’ve decided to revise the guidelines to allow work about both learning to ride a bicycle and teaching someone else to ride a bicycle — and are also allowing material about when the author first started to ride a bike (not necessarily about the learning process per se). Deadline has been extended to April 30. 2015. (If you’ve already submitted, there is no need to re-submit.)

OVERVIEW: Most of us have a story (or stories) about how/when/where/why we learned to ride a bike — or taught someone else how to ride, or have vivid memories about when we first started to ride a bike. We want to hear about your bike-related experiences and invite you to submit your work to our STARTING TO RIDE Poetry and Prose Series. (Non-riders can also participate by explaining why they’ve never learned how to ride a bicycle.)

PROMPT: Tell us about learning to ride a bike, teaching someone else how to ride, or something that happened when you were a novice bicycle rider in a poem (any reasonable length) or prose piece (300 words or fewer). If you’ve never learned to ride, tell us why in poetry or prose.

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 and in a potential print edition.

WHEN: We’ll feature the poems and prose in the Silver Birch Press STARTING TO RIDE Poetry and Prose Series on our blog starting in May 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 “Ride” in subject line of email. If available, please send a photo of yourself around the time you learned to ride a bicycle — or a photo of the person you taught to ride, with that person’s permission (if it’s your child, submitting the photo implies permission)  — and provide a caption for the photo (when, where). Photos with bikes encouraged!

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 an author’s bio, written in the third person (e.g., Bobby Schwinn lives in Ohio…”).

4. In the same MS Word document, include a note about your poem/prose or creative process (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 the age you learned to ride a bicycle — or a photo of the person you taught to ride a bike, with that person’s permission (if it’s your child, submitting the photo implies permission) — 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 RIDE in the subject line.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Saturday, April 30, 2016.

PHOTO: Bike rider in training (wheels), photo from 1950s purchased on etsy.com.

Call for Submissions: MY SWEET WORD Series Halloween Edition!

For many of us, some of our most vivid memories involve sweets and treats — especially recollections surrounding Halloween, Trick or Treating, and our candy treasures. We want to hear all about your Halloween memories in a poem, prose poem, or flash fiction. Please send a photo of yourself at any age in Halloween attire.

PROMPT: Tell us your Halloween recollections in a poem (any reasonable length) or prose poem/flash fiction piece (200 words or less).

WHAT: Submissions can be original or previously published poems or flash fiction. You retain all rights to your work and give Silver Birch Press permission to publish on social media and in a potential print edition.

WHEN: We’ll feature the poems/flash fiction in the Silver Birch Press MY SWEET WORD Series Halloween Edition during the week leading up to Halloween (actual dates to be determined, based on number of submissions).

HOW TO SUBMIT: Email one poem or prose poem/flash fiction 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”Halloween” in subject line of email. Please send a photo of yourself — at any age — in Halloween attire to accompany the poem, and provide a caption for the photo (when, where).

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 an author’s bio, written in the third person (e.g., Mary Anderson has been writing since age eight…”).

4. In the same MS Word document, include a note about your poem/flash fiction or creative process (this is optional).

5. In the same MS Word document, include a caption for your photo (including where, when and/or date taken).

6. Send a photo of yourself at any age in Halloween attire as a SEPARATE jpg attachment (not in the MS Word document). Title the photo with your last name (e.g., Jones.jpg).

7. Email to SBPSUBMISSIONS@gmail.com — and put HALLOWEEN in the subject line.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Friday, October 16, 2015

PHOTO: Mary Leonard and friends (Halloween, 1953).

Call for Submissions: WHEN I HEAR THAT SONG Poetry and Flash Fiction Series

It seems that everywhere you go — from the supermarket to the airport — music plays over the sound systems. Sometimes these songs are emotional triggers, casting you back to the time and place where the music and the memory converged. We want to hear about your song-related memories in a poem, prose poem, or flash fiction. Nothing generic — that is, we’re NOT looking for work about music in general or lots of songs, and we are NOT looking for homages to singers or musicians, or poems that are riffs on songs, or poem/stories that include an abundance of lyrics from the original source  — we’re looking for work about how a specific song sparks particular personal memories. To be even clearer: We are looking for how one specific song takes you back to a specific moment when you formed an emotional connection with the song. In short, we are looking for poems and stories about a past event/day/moment (not an impressionistic amalgam of moments) — the poem or story is the narrative of that event/day/moment. Please send a photo of yourself at any age to accompany the writing.

PROMPT: Tell us your song-related recollections in a poem (any reasonable length) or prose poem/flash fiction piece (200 words or less). The poem or story should be about a particular song (one song) that sparks particular memories. For the series, you can also submit found or erasure poems based on song lyrics (cite your source — title of song and composer).

WHAT: Submissions can be original or previously published poems or flash fiction. You retain all rights to your work and give Silver Birch Press permission to publish on social media and in a potential print edition.

WHEN: We’ll feature the poems/flash fiction during the Silver Birch Press WHEN I HEAR THAT SONG Poetry/Flash Fiction Series starting in October (actual date to be determined, based on number of submissions).

HOW TO SUBMIT: Email one poem or prose poem/flash fiction 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”Song” in subject line of email. Please send a photo of yourself — at any age — in a separate jpg file to accompany the poem, and provide a caption for the photo (when, where).

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 an author’s bio, written in the third person (e.g., Mary Anderson has been writing since age eight…”).

4. In the same MS Word document, include a note about your poem/flash fiction or creative process (this is optional).

5. In the same MS Word document, include a caption for your photo (including where, when and/or date taken).

6. 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).

7. Email to SBPSUBMISSIONS@gmail.com — and put SONG in the subject line.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Saturday, October 31, 2015

Call for Submissions: MY SWEET WORD Poetry & Flash Fiction Series

With apologies to George “My Sweet Lord” Harrison (RIP), Silver Birch Press announces the MY SWEET WORD call for submissions of poetry and flash fiction. For many of us, some of our most significant memories (pleasant or otherwise) involve sweets and treats — running to catch up with the Good Humor truck, baking cookies during the holidays, trick or treating, visiting the corner candy store, making a trip to Dairy Queen, learning to share our goodies, and so much more. We want to hear all about your sweet (or bittersweet) memories in a poem, prose poem, or flash fiction. Please send a photo of yourself at any age to accompany the writing.

PROMPT: Tell us your recollections about sweets in a poem (any reasonable length) or prose poem/flash fiction piece (200 words or less). For the series, you can also submit found or erasure poems based on a “sweet” recipe or article from a cookbook or magazine (please cite source).

WHAT: Submissions can be original or previously published poems or flash fiction. You retain all rights to your work and give Silver Birch Press permission to publish on social media and in a potential print edition.

WHEN: We’ll feature the poems/flash fiction during the Silver Birch Press MY SWEET WORD Poetry/Flash Fiction Series starting in September (actual dates to be determined, based on number of submissions).

HOW TO SUBMIT: Email one poem or prose poem/flash fiction 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”Sweet” in subject line of email. Please send a photo of yourself — at any age — to accompany the poem, and provide a caption for the photo (when, where). (We’d love to see Halloween photos, ice cream eating photos, kids with cookies photos — but will accept photos sans sweets.)

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 an author’s bio, written in the third person (e.g., Mary Anderson has been writing since age eight…”).

4. In the same MS Word document, include a note about your poem/flash fiction or creative process (this is optional).

5. In the same MS Word document, include a caption for your photo (including where, when and/or date taken).

6. 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).

7. Email to SBPSUBMISSIONS@gmail.com — and put SWEET in the subject line.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Wednesday, September 30, 2015

IMAGE: Found photograph from 1970 purchased on ebay.

Call for Submissions: Where I Live Poetry & Photography Series

Here in Los Angeles we’re grateful that each day people from around the world visit the Silver Birch Press blog — and we’d  like to get to know you better through your poetry about and/or photographs of the place where you live.

PROMPT: Tell us about where you live in a poem — and especially how you feel about the place and what it means (or doesn’t mean) to you. Or show us where you live in a photo.

WHAT: Submissions can be original or previously published poems or original photographs. You retain all rights to your work and give Silver Birch Press permission to publish on social media and in a potential print edition.

WHEN: We’ll feature the work in the Where I Live Poetry & Photography Series during February and March 2015.

HOW TO SUBMIT: Email one poem to silver@silverbirchpress.com as an MSWord attachment — and in the same file include your name, contact info, one-paragraph author’s bio (written in third person), and any notes about your creative process or thoughts about your poem. PLEASE — put all of this information in one MSWord document and title the file with your last name (and only your last name). Write”Live” in subject line of email. For photos, send up to three jpgs (ideally about 1 mb each, but we will consider smaller files for the blog). Thanks!

DEADLINE: Sunday, March 15, 2015

Post Script: Call for Submissions, I Am Waiting Poetry Series

On November 7, 2014, Silver Birch Press issued a call for submissions for poems in our I Am Waiting Poetry Series. See original post here.

We’ve already received some amazing poems from poets who really got what we were going for — but more than a few from people who didn’t seem to catch the theme. So we will clarify: The poem has to be about you (the author) and what you are waiting for. I’m not looking for how winter waits for spring, or how elephants wait for the rain to stop. I want to know what you are waiting for. I thought it was clear in the original prompt (see below), but I guess not. I hate to sent out rejections — so I’m hoping all the remaining submissions will follow the theme. Also, please don’t title your poem “I Am Waiting” — if you insist on this title, give it a different spin (Waiting I Am, I’m Also Waiting, Larry & Me Are Waiting, etc.). The word “waiting” should appear somewhere in the poem or title. Poems should be written in the first person — remember, it’s “I” Am Waiting. Make it personal! 

Prompt: The trigger for poems in this series is “waiting.” What are you waiting for? Christmas? A new job? New home? New baby? Happiness? A trip? Godot? Whatever you’re waiting for, memorialize it in your “I Am Waiting” poem.

For details on how to submit, see this link.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: I Am Waiting Poetry Series

Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti‘s 96th birthday rolls around on March 24, 2015. Let’s get a head start on celebrating this iconic author’s nativity by paying homage to his classic poem “I Am Waiting,” which first appeared in A Coney Island of the Mind — Ferlinghetti’s 1958 collection that, with over a million copies in print, is one of the most popular books of poetry ever published.

PROMPT: The trigger for poems in this series is “waiting.” What are you waiting for? Christmas? A new job? New home? New baby? Happiness? A trip? Godot? Whatever you’re waiting for, memorialize it in your “I Am Waiting” poem. If we get enough submissions, we’ll create a book of the poems as a big, beautiful birthday card for Mr. Ferlinghetti.

WHAT: Submissions can be original poems or erasure/found poems based on “I Am Waiting” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Find the poem here. (Your poem should feature the word “waiting” somewhere — or lots of places.) Previously published poems are accepted. IMPORTANT NOTE: Poems should be written in the first person (ergo the “I” in “I Am Waiting” — second-person poems okay if you are speaking to yourself). Avoid third-person poems. In reviewing the submissions to date, I feel the theme will only develop into a series if the poems are written in the first person. Make it personal! 

WHEN: We’ll feature poems in the I Am Waiting Poetry Series on the Silver Birch Press blog starting in December 2014 and continuing into 2015 as we approach March 24, 2015 (the 96th anniversary of Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s birth).

HOW TO SUBMIT: Email up to three poems (give each a title) to silver@silverbirchpress.com as an MSWord attachment, along with your name, contact info, one-paragraph author’s bio (written in third person), and any notes about your creative process or thoughts about your poem (or Lawrence Ferlinghetti). If an erasure poem, provide a jpg of the erasure and a typed version in a MSWord.doc file. PLEASE — put all of this information in one MSWord document and title the file with your last name (and only your last name). Write”Waiting” in subject line of email. Thanks!

DEADLINE: Wednesday, December 31, 2014

IMPORTANT NOTE: We’ve already received some amazing poems from poets who really got what we were going for — but more than a few from people who didn’t seem to catch the theme. So we will clarify: The poem has to be about you (the author) and what you are waiting for. I’m not looking for how winter waits for spring, or how elephants wait for the rain to stop. I want to know what you are waiting for. I thought it was clear in the prompt (see above), but I guess not. I hate to sent out rejections — so I’m hoping all the remaining submissions will follow the theme. Also, please don’t title your poem “I Am Waiting” — if you insist on this title, give it a different spin (Waiting I Am, I’m Also Waiting, Larry & Me Are Waiting, etc.). The word “waiting” should appear somewhere in the poem or title.

IMAGE: “Waiting” by Edgar Degas (1882).

Call for Submissions: Alice in Wonderland Anthology

November 26, 2015 will mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll — one of the most influential books ever written (for children or adults). To celebrate the occasion, we’re planning ahead — and getting started with the Silver Birch Press Alice in Wonderland Anthology, a collection of poetry, prose, art, collage, photography, and other work that celebrates this deep and delightful book.

WHAT: Poetry, prose, paintings, drawings, photographs, and other work inspired by Alice in Wonderland.

TYPES OF WRITTEN MATERIAL:

• Poems (up to three — either original work or found/erasure poetry based on Alice in Wonderland)
• Short stories (up to 2,000 words)
• Essays (up to 1,500 words)
• Creative nonfiction (up to 2,000 words)
• Short plays or screenplays (approximately 5 typed pages)
• Other literary forms (up to 2,000 words)

TYPES OF VISUAL MATERIAL (send jpg files of approximately 1MB):

• Photographs
• Collage
• Paintings
• 
Drawings

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: December 31, 2014

RELEASE DATE: Fall 2015 (150th anniversary of  Alice’s 1865 publication)

HOW TO SUBMIT: Please email written entries as MSWord attachments (title the file with your last name, e.g., Smith.docx or Jones.doc) and visual entries as jpg attachments to silver@silverbirchpress.com along with your name, mailing address, email address, and one-paragraph bio. (If submitting an erasure poem, provide the edition and publication date. If erasure is taken from one page, please also provide scan of original erasure.) Write “Alice Submission” in email subject line.

PAYMENT: All contributors will receive a copy of the Silver Birch Press Alice in Wonderland Anthology.

Call for Submissions: Celebrity Free Verse Poems

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Found poems based on lines from celebrity interviews. This could be a celebrity you admire or one you’d like to poke fun at in a lighthearted way.

WHAT: Find a celebrity interview on-line and grab phrases from it to create a “found” poem, or create an erasure poem from a page of text. For erasure poems, also send jpg of original erasure. (Note: The poem may only include statements/quotes from the celebrity — not commentary by interviewer or author.)

WHEN: We’ll feature the poems on the Silver Birch Press blog during the Celebrity Free Verse Poetry Series from September 1-30, 2014.

HOW TO SUBMIT: Email the poem (give it a title) to silver@silverbirchpress.com as an MSWord attachment, along with your name, contact info, author’s bio, and any notes about your creative process or thoughts about the celebrity you chose. Provide a reference for the original text (publication, date, and link to website where you found it). PLEASE — put all of this information in one MSWord document and title the file with your last name. Thanks!

DEADLINE: Friday, September 26, 2014