My sincerest gratitude to New Verse News for publishing my duplex poem “Dear Judy” earlier this week. The events of September 10 were heartbreaking. Two people died that day. One person assassinated in the state where I lived most of my life and one in my new home state of Colorado. Two children were critically injured in the school shooting in Evergreen. I’ve been writing epistolary duplex poems to my mother, who passed unexpectedly in January 2024. Not all of the poems are related to current events but they have been a way for me to still talk to her, tell her things I need to, feel close to her. This is the first one published.

New Verse News publishes poems related to current events. They are quick to respond and generous in their promotion on social media. Their submission guidelines are below. You can also see my full list of where to submit current event poems.

Submission Guidelines

Send 1-3 unpublished poems in the body of an email (NO ATTACHMENTS) to nvneditor[at]gmail.com. No simultaneous submissions. Use “Verse News Submission” as the subject line. Send a brief bio. No payment. Authors retain all rights after 1st-time appearance here. Scroll down the right sidebar for the fine print.

• SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Always Open
• THEME(S): Current events
• FORMAT: Blogspot and Substack
• SUBMISSION FEE: None
• PAYMENT: None
• AVERAGE RESPONSE TIME: Very fast, within a week
• SUBMISSION METHOD: Email
• SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: No
• REPRINTS: No.
• FORMS: Poetry

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