Lumen focuses on the work of writers who identify as women. They have rolling submissions and “aim to honor each other’s unique experiences and aesthetics by publishing work that recognizes the full range of important artistic and intellectual production by women.”

They are looking for blog submissions as well as prose, poetry, and interviews for their general submissions. Details for each submission type can be found on the Lumen Submittable page.

Their first issue includes a variety of poetry, memoir, fiction, artwork and an essay. A stunning poem “Ripe Red Fig” by Vinita Agrawal particularly caught my eye. She begins, “The wounds took me there . . .” and ends with a riveting stanza:

But of course I can’t pack away a garden.
Like I can’t pack away a beginning that didn’t really begin
Like I can’t pack away the sight of a ripe fig
gaping open like…