Tag: poetry
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Revelations, Renovations, and Cold Hard Cash
Hello, Dear Chum, As you may have noticed, we’ve had a submissions makeover. Eyes up here, please. Yes, we’ve been changing some things. For one thing, we’re now accepting submissions through Submittable. For another, we’re now a paying market. Actually, 2025 marks our third year awarding the Dead Herring Prize to writing that slays real…
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Announcing Our Nominations for The Pushcart Prize
Hello, Dear Chum, Thanks for stopping by! It’s good to see you. It’s been a busy year—but the year isn’t over yet! We’re roughly a month away from the release of Issue 4, a whopping triple-issue print anthology featuring the best of the year, the winner of our annual Dead Herring Prize, and a whole…
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That Which
Dear Writer, Today I am reminded why we write and that the how of it is irrelevant when it comes to doing the deed. Sure, there are a great many qualities effective works do and do not possess (most of which we all tend to agree on), but it’s worth remembering first and foremost that…
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“Lofgeornost” by Eric Fisher Stone
Beowulf’s last word means most eager for glory,though the gulf coast toad seeks anonymityand crickets juicy as mangos. Wartedlike some goblin dumpling, your soft stone sits in moss-slick ditches, your eyelidshelming black mirrors to marsh grasswhere Grendel might burble upfrom salted Texas jetties. Teach us your humility, jumping plum, rubbingbetween streams without seeking powerbeyond the…
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#amwriting #reachingintothevoid
I’m going to let you in on a little secret: Most of the time, good writing is a total accident. Don’t get me wrong, if you show up and put in the work, no matter what you’re working toward, good things are going to happen. And, yes, as George Saunders suggests, the more we write…
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“Generation Facilitator” by Cristine Emerson
Sterile, she rides the airheavy with ingredientsfor new generationsof cotton and serviceberry,stamens and pistilsunable to touchwithout caresses ofa third party,and drunk, finds warmpillows inside purple petals. CJ Emerson is an writer and artist who enjoys all the magic and weirdness the natural world and human experience has to offer.
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“Generational wealth” – Sarah B. Cahalan
Someone’s doing archaeology in the sand againdigging up old saltworks, a meeting house,taverns with motels on top.With little brushes, they reveal the bonesof stranded pilot whales:The stench must have hung for months,the things-that-feast-on-whales rejoicing,raccoons and gulls and clouds of flies,stockpiling fat for later. The swarms of people who’ve made claimto lands that wash awayare biomass…
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Announcing the Winner of The Dead Herring Prize
In the land of the Lotus Eaters, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s important to us because we spend so much of our lives in support of responsibilities which, let’s be honest, are nothing more than means to an end: money. In pursuit of the almighty Dollar, we become impatient, irritable, anxious, despondent, and…
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Announcing Our Pushcart Prize Nominations
Ope here, Get in here! Come on in, you’ll catch a cold! Close the door behind you. Have a sit! Take a seat. Gosh, it’s been a while, huh? We have a lot of catchin’ up to do, you and me. A lot’s been happenin’ at Skipjack camp. Have you seen Issue 1? Darn purdy,…
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“Ode on a Trilobite” – Paulette Guerin
Antennae curving like scythes,they once moved like excited pupswaiting for their owner to arrive.This Cambrian creaturepatrolled the darkest seas,growing up to six feet long.But this one fits in my hand.Mid-curl, forever in chase,its eyeless carbon ghost lives on.Oh, ancestor of today’s cockroach,once the height of the food chain,teach me about impermanence! Paulette Guerin lives in…
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#amwriting #exorcisms
It occurred to me during a recent bout of creative drought that I’m most involved and even prolific when I’m writing about things that are difficult to talk about or for which I lack the right audience. Morbid as it may be, the more whatever I’m working on seems capable of making somebody else squirm…
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#amwriting
When you don’t know what to write, write. Right? Well—that’s kind of like somebody saying, “Cheer up,” when you’re down in the dumps. Down there, usually we’re not asking for help. Writing can be like that. We understand intellectually that we should just cheer up (or just write), it’s what we want, in fact. Or…
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Spotlight on “Ghost Town” by Paulette Guerin
Ghost Town Published in “Cave Region Review” “Another tie chipped into the river, hitting sky. The boys stripped their shirts, hooking them on iron spikes in the rotten wood of the train bridge. the scent of rain clung to the underside of every leaf; silkworms pillowed poison sumacs along the bank. The boy I liked…
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Five Journals to Submit Nature Writing
Reckoning This stellar publisher has an other-worldly love of the natural world, showcasing both literary and genre work. Like Skipjack Review, Reckoning does not limit themselves to literary phenomenon and seeks to publish “cli-fi” and other sorts of slippery, slipstream writing in addition to traditional narrative styles. https://reckoning.press/ Split Rock Review SRR is creating quite…
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The Pouting Trout Life Jacket
Good morning and good day, you pretty, shiny fishes and creatures. This is the Pouting Trout. Feel the sun’s healing and know it is a new and better day. I just wanted to let you know I am out here. I am listening. I know what you’re going through, and I know it isn’t easy,…
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5 Places Writing Comes to Life in Springfield, Missouri
You don’t necessarily have to travel anywhere to write, but sometimes a change of scenery can break up the mental monotony. Even a desk with a view can lose its artistic edge after a while; getting some fresh air makes a big difference too. So, if you’re like us and enjoy a little adventure or…
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Five Journals to Submit Speculative Fiction
Three-Lobed Burning Eye What a name. They say to name is to know—whoever they are, whatever they know. One thing’s for sure: the folks at 3LBE know what they’re doing. If you’ve written a gripping, writhing head-scratcher of a speculative story, you should send that puppy to 3LBE! Even if you haven’t, you should swim…
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Spotlight on “Mattress” by Dave Malone
When I was in my late twenties, I had a tumultuous romantic relationship. If your readers know of John Alan Lee’s love styles, then this affair would be categorized as erotic and manic.
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No Joke: We’re Ope’n!
Ope here, The day has finally come: April Fool’s day and the first day of Skipjack Review’s inaugural reading period. Pardon my pun, but the editors and I await your submissions with baited breath. Finish up your final polishing and send us your work! We here at Skipjack Review love reading, as writers and…
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#amwriting #endings #beginnings
I keep a running list titled Things I Want to Write About, which is an insanity in itself because the list gets longer and longer and my free time less and less, and the more I think about it, the crazier I get. So, I don’t think about it. In fact, it helps not to…
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Writing Practices and Prewriting Rituals
It’s fair to wonder how much our writing practices and prewriting rituals are bullshit—just like it’s safe practice to chickety check ourselves before we keep making the same bad choices into habits in life. I recently attended a writing workshop where a lecture was given on a writer’s life outside of writing—a topic I had…
the water and the gills 