My name is Jon, and I’m honored to be the poetry editor at Liberty Island.

Let me start by saying a bit about myself:  I’m a working poet, with poems in a variety of outlets, including Liberty Island. I’ve also published a book. (And I’m working on a second and a third book, the latter of which will probably be a chapbook.) I’ve been writing poetry for a long time, but I didn’t begin taking it seriously until graduate school, when a poetry workshop I took really opened it up for me. I made a conscious decision a few years ago to focus mostly on poetry, because I’m starting to believe it’s what I’m meant to do.

But enough about me. What are we looking for here? In short, anything — formal, free verse. You can either be just starting out or established. And I’d like to encourage poets from everywhere in the world to submit.

Here’s what I’d like to emphasize, though: please be sure you’ve read contemporary poets. There is so much great work being done today, and there are a lot of poets who are doing really new and innovative and exciting things. Too many people, I think, assume that, to be a poet, you have to sound like Shakespeare or Frost. You don’t. And I don’t say this to be harsh. I say this to free you.

I’m looking forward to reading your work!

Click here to submit.

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Photo by A_Different_Perspective (Pixabay)