"I want to take our breath away
like this eagle diving for a shrew
I want to go where all the wings are"

                                         -from "Meditation for Gloria Anzaldúa" by Chrystos


"Place is not just a thing in the world, but a way of understanding the world."

                                         -from Place:  A Short Introduction by Tim Creswell



West Trade Review seeks poems that somehow engage with the intersection of social identity and place/environment/nature. Specifically, we'd like to read poems that explore the relationship between place/environment/nature and gender, sexual identity, race, ethnicity, disability, and/or social class.  

Poets are encouraged to "go into yourself. Search for the reason that bids you write," as Rilke urged.  Simply creatively explore these ideas and intersectional spaces to find what emerges.

We are excited for you to reveal to us what you find there.  Send us your best poems.



Potential themes are (but not limited to):

  • ​nature/environment as source of transformation and change
  • nature as refuge/place of safety or healing, love, wholeness, joy, or hope
  • the body (human corporeality) as map/geography/landscape
  • pride, shame, otherness, nature/environment, and marginalized bodies
  • nature/environment and body-mind-language
  • nature/environment and interconnection/belonging/boundaries
  • nature/environment as a space of "becoming" and possibility
  • ​the heteropatriarchal insistence of the duality of nature and society (social, political, and religious systems)
  • the intersection of sex, sexual identity, the erotic, and nature
  • nature/environment and gender performativity








Guidelines:


- Only previously unpublished poems will be considered.

- Submit up to 5 poems Please submit multiple poems as one submission in a single Microsoft Word file (and list the title of each poem for the title of your group submission).

  -Include a clear title for each poem.

  -Please single space poems.  

  -Include a cover letter and a short 3rd person biography of no more than 150 words. In your cover letter, explain how your poem(s) engage with the intersection of social identity (gender, race, ethnicity, sexual identity, disability, and/or social class) and nature/environment/place

  -Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but please let us know immediately if the work is published elsewhere. 

  -Writers may not submit more than once per reading period


Entries should be submitted to the appropriate genre category at the following link:

https://westtradereview.submittable.com/submit



Entries that do no meet guidelines or eligibility requirements will not be considered.

Selected work will be included in a poetry anthology published by Iron Oak Press.





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