We publish occasional poetry books and chapbooks, as well as San Pedro River Review, a biannual print journal of poetry and art founded in 2008. SPRR is included in the University of Wisconsin Special Collections Little Magazine Unit, the University of Arizona Poetry Center, and the University at Buffalo, New York. We are a member of The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses [CLMP].

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                                                   ISSN 1944-5

 

Blue Horse Press poetry book and chapbook publications are found here:

             http://www.bluehorsepress.com/blue-horse-press-books-chapbooks

 

                      We are not currently considering unsolicited book or chapbook manuscripts.

 

 For SPRR, we only consider submissions during two 31-day periods: January and July Submission windows close precisely at midnight, Eastern Standard Time. Typically, spring issues are themed (see below).

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 Our representative poets include Naomi Shihab Nye, Ellen Bass, Gary Soto, Afaa Michael Weaver, Joseph Millar, Marge Piercy, Jack Bedell, Alex Lemon, Cynthia Cruz, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Joe Wilkins, Nathalie Handal, Tyree Daye, Rose McLarney, Jack Ridl, and Sean Thomas Dougherty.

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Here is our current issue.  Previous issues may be viewed toward the bottom of the page:

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GENERAL GUIDELINES

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*  CONTACT US IF YOU DO NOT HEAR WITHIN 10 DAYS OF YOUR SUBMISSION, especially if you have not heard by the morning of the day immediately after our submission window closes.

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*  Email your submission to: [email address to be displayed when the window opens]

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*  ONLY ONE SUBMISSION PER SUBMISSION PERIOD. The exception would be when poems are submitted in one email, and art in another. However, except by invitation, we do not consider poems paired with art, if accepting the poem must include the art it is paired with.

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*  Simultaneous submissions are fine.

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*  Please keep cover letters simple. Bloated, overly informational cover letters are a real turnoff. Please keep your bio to no more than 75 words, and inscribe it in the body of the email. Include your address. 

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*  No previously published work. But we're okay with prior publication on blogs or social media.

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*  We rarely, if ever, comment on work we decline.

 

    POETRY

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*  We consider all forms of poetry, including prose poems. Prose poems may not extend in length beyond half a single page on a standard 8x11 sheet of paper. What we look for in prose poems is what poet Yusef Komunyakaa said of his favorite novel, Moby Dick: "Robust poetry doing its work inside the prose." We seek an economy of language with a keen focus on voice and image, lines subdued in diction and rhythm, a sense of restraint, no matter the length of the poem. A touch of Lorca's duende that loves ledges and wounds, Kant's "crooked timber of humanity"; James Agee’s "cruel radiance of what is."

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*  Send up to 3 poems in a SINGLE Word document -- do not inscribe them in the body of your email. NO pdf. or .dat files. Nor do we use Google docs.

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*  We will not consider poetry that has been created by AI.

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*  Do not explain your poems.

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*  No gratuitous sexual or violent scenes meant to shock or be clever.

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*   We have ZERO interest in work centered on the world political scene.

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*   Spare us the philosophical or polemical verse.

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*   No need for word or line count.

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All work must be in English, excluding, of course, the case where a non-English word or term is intrinsic to the poem. Non-English poems may be submitted if accompanied by their English translations.

 

ART

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*  We will not consider work that has been created by AI. However, post-processed art/photography is fine, if post-processing removes blemishes, clarifies, or corrects lighting in the original work.

 

*  For now, only black & white photography. Approximately 1 - 8 pieces. Submit as separate jpegs in a single email. We like Realism: urban or rural decay, obsolescence, wayworn scenes, solitary individuals with a sense of isolation, and night scenes. We also like collages and double-exposures, a touch of the abstract or surreal.

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*   Please do not give your art trite, cliched, cute, or overly descriptive titles. Don't lead the witness. Let the imagination of the viewer compose the piece's narrative. Even single words for titles would be fine.

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By submitting to us you grant us permission, if we select your work, to publish it. No separate author's consent form or proof will be sent out.

 

All work must be that of the submitter. Plagiarism will be reported.

 

Payment is one contributor copy. Under certain circumstances, contributors outside the US may need to purchase their own copies due to customs fees, taxation, etc. 

 

San Pedro River Review acquires first serial rights to accepted pieces. Copyright reverts to the author after publication.

 

Contributors may purchase additional copies at reduced rates. Discounts are only available through us, not the regular Amazon site. Otherwise, copies for non-contributors are available on Amazon at the regular retail price. 

 

You do not need a Facebook account to access our public Facebook page. This is where we often broadcast updates, such as publication timing and when contributor copies are mailed out. Our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/san.review

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THE EDITORS

 

JC Alfier is a poet and collage artist-photographer. He was a finalist for the Missouri Laureate Prize in 2021. He is 2018 winner of the Angela Consolo Manckiewick Poetry Prize, from Lummox Press. In 2014 he won the Kithara Book Prize, judged by Dennis Maloney. Publication credits include Arkansas Review, Atlanta Review, Blue Mesa Review, The Carolina Quarterly, Copper Nickel, Emerson Review, Faultline, Iron Horse Literary Review, Kestrel, Hotel Amerika, Los Angeles Review, The Midwest Quarterly, New Delta Review, New York Quarterly, Notre Dame Review, Penn Review, Poetry Ireland Review, South Carolina Review, and Southern Poetry Review. His latest collection of poems is The Shadow Field (Louisiana Literature Journal & Press, 2020). 

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Tobi Alfier writes poetry, flash-fiction, and the odd blog. Publication credits include Anti-Heroin Chic, Arkansas Review, Atlanta Review, Chiron Review, Hawai’i Pacific Review, Fourth River, Gargoyle, KGB Bar Lit Mag, Los Angeles Review (chosen by the late Wanda Coleman), Nerve Cowboy, Permafrost, Southwestern American Literature, Spoon River Poetry Review, Suisun Valley Review, The American Journal of Poetry, The Chaffin Journal, War, Literature & the Arts, Washington Square, and other print and online journals in the US and overseas. Her latest full-length collection is Symmetry: earth and sky (Main Street Rag, 2020), and her latest chapbook is Grit & Grace (The Orchard Street Press, 2021). Slices of Alice & Other Character Studies (Cholla Needles Arts & Literary Library) will always remain one of her favorite books. If you want to know why, ask her. She’ll send you a copy.

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Truly imaginative writing can bring us back to the living presence of the grass, to the fields that feed us, to the cities we live in and the nature of the men and women among whom we live.

 

       — Phillip Levine

 

 

                                                                                         BACK ISSUES  of SPRR