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POETRY submissions REopen DECEMBER 15

Shō Poetry Journal

Established in 2002, revived in 2023

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Shō Poetry Journal is a nonprofit print journal emerging from a 20-year hibernation. We publish an eclectic range of poetry twice a year and publish audio features on a rolling basis. We strive to champion voices that have been historically underrepresented or overlooked. Browse a list of our contributors and follow us on Instagram for updates.

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A girl in a long white dress and a bird head mask sits on a bough under a full moon in a night forest landscape. Her hands are folded in her lap and her feet can't be seen. Text says: Shō Poetry Journal No. 7 Summer 2025.

CURRENT ISSUE

Shō No. 7

SUMMER 2025

This issue features 67 poems by 48 poets, including:

– Christian J. Collier (Winner, Shō Poetry Prize)
– Aldo Amparán (Shō Poetry Prize Runner-Up)
– Ohia, Ernest Chigaemezu (Winner, Sita Martin Prize)
– Nina C. Peláez (Sita Martin Prize Runner-Up)

Cover art: “Interim” by Tanya Rastogi.

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Online Features

  • Dec 1, 2025

    Elizabeth Loudon: Renunciation

  • Nov 1, 2025

    Native American Heritage Month 2025

  • Oct 30, 2025

    Shō Poetry Journal Family

  • Oct 30, 2025

    Audio Feature: Saddiq Dzukogi

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Past Issues

Shō No. 6

Winter 2024/2025

Shō No. 6 features 57 poems by 40 poets.

Cover art: “In Gilded Walls” by Tanya Rastogi.

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Shō No. 5

Summer 2024

Shō No. 5 features 68 poems by 47 poets.

Cover art: “Lucy” by Harim Choi.

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Shō No. 4

Winter 2023/2024

Illustration of girl wearing a large deer head mask with antlers. She is clothed in a dark blue tshirt and pants and stands in a high desert landscape, holding plastic flowers. A ghostly girl’s head is placed beside her in the grass.

Shō No. 4 features 73 poems by 47 poets.

Cover art: “Girl with Deer Mask” by Harim Choi.

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Shō No. 3

Summer/Fall 2023

Shō No. 3 features 62 poems by 42 poets.

Cover art: “Grandfather Autumn” by Juanita Violini.

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Shō Poetry Journal on Instagram

shopoetryjournal

The Nina Riggs Poetry Award seeks to honor poets l The Nina Riggs Poetry Award seeks to honor poets like the late Nina Riggs, whose writing illuminates the beauty of everyday life experiences. The award is crowdfunded by Cave Wall via The Nina Riggs Poetry Foundation and awards at least one poet for the finest writing that examines relationships, family, or domestic life.

Shō Poetry Journal’s nominations for the Nina Riggs Poetry Award are:
• Dorsey Craft (@dorsey.craft): “Rejected Persona, Yoga Mom”
• Maja Lukic (@_majalukic): “Your Mother Knew Many Words for Beauty and Used All of Them to Call You”
• Nina C. Peláez (@ninacpelaez): “Doubt”
• Jessica Nirvana Ram (@rewritingdestiny): “Carving Rivers”
• Jeddie Sophronius (@nakedcentaur): “Listening to Ezio Bosso on Flight EY 474 to Jakarta”
• Donna Vorreyer (@djv50): “The Sound of Just Before”

Listen to these poems on our website!

Read more or donate to this cause here: https://fundrazr.com/NinaRiggsPoetryFoundation

#ninariggspoetryaward
Announcing Shō Poetry Journal’s nominees for the i Announcing Shō Poetry Journal’s nominees for the inaugural Monarch Queer Literary Awards (@monarch.qla)!

• William Ward Butler (@williamwardbutler): “Reciprocity”
• Ranudi Gunawardena (@girl_gone_wilde) : “Girl Cousins, Pixelated”
• Mickie Kennedy (@mickiepoet): “American Porn, 1985”
• Jackson D. Moorman (@jacksondmoorman): “At Lake Merritt I'm wearing a hoodie with nothing under it”
• Ciaran Pierce (@ciaranpierce): “Grindr Etiquette”

Check out their work on our website or get yourself a copy of Shō No. 6!

Cover Art: from “In Gilded Walls” by Tanya Rastogi
Announcing Shō Poetry Journal’s nominations for th Announcing Shō Poetry Journal’s nominations for the Pushcart Prize! Please help us congratulate our nominees.

• Jo Bear (@jobearwriting): “After the Gulls” (Shō No. 6)
• Christian J. Collier (@ichristian3030): “Nocturne” (Shō No. 7)
• Erica Dawson (@ericadawsonpoet): “Portrait of the artist as sonnet for Dickinson’s line A wounded deer—leaps highest—” (Shō No. 6)
• Chris Hoshnic (@chrishoshnic): “Event / Response” (Shō No. 6)
• Maja Lukic (@_majalukic): “Wings of Desire” (Shō No. 6)
• Meg Reynolds (@megreynolds_poetry): “Milkstone” (Shō No. 6)

#poetrycommunity #pushcartprize
Get your packets ready! Submissions for Shō No. 9 Get your packets ready! Submissions for Shō No. 9 open on December 15.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗰𝘀
1. 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘂𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁
• Submit up to 5 unpublished poems in a single PDF or Word doc/docx
• Include your name and page numbers on every page
• Name your file ‘FirstName_LastName’ e.g. Virgil_Suarez.pdf (shoutout to @doctorcranky, published in Shō No. 2, whose poems will appear in our pages 22 years later, in Shō No. 8!)

2. 𝗖𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗟𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 (𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲)
• Include your poem titles
• Include a short third-person author bio
• Simultaneous submission? Let us know

𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀 & 𝗥𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀
• We do not accept work that has been generated by or aided by AI
• Please do not submit poems that have been posted online/published in any form
• To withdraw individual poems, use the ‘Messages’ feature in Submittable (do not notify us via email or our contact form)

𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄
• We charge a $3 submission fee for a response of 30 days or less
• Submissions are always free for U.S. Indigenous poets
• We offer at least one free BIPOC pop-up window per reading period
• All contributors receive a print copy of the issue. U.S.-based authors receive a discount on extra copies
• Editors’ Prizes of $150 each are awarded to two U.S.-based poets in each issue. The winners and two runners-up each receive a one-year subscription to Shō Poetry Journal

#submissioncall #poetrycommunity
Follow Shō on Instagram

Publishing Stats

Since our revival issue was published in Summer 2023:

327

Poems Published

224

Total Poets Published

98

Audio Features Published

42

Poems Nominated for Prizes

2

Poems chosen for inclusion in Best Spiritual Literature

Shō Poetry Journal


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