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OUR SUMMER ISSUE IS ALMOST HERE! PRE-ORDER HERE: SHŌ NO. 9

POETRY submissions are OPEn!

congratulations to erica dawson on winning a pushcart prize!
listen to her poem here.

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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Past Looking by Nara Allsop

CURRENT ISSUE

Shō No. 9

SUMMER 2026

This issue features 69 poems by 45 poets: Conal Abatangelo • Jessica Ballen • Anne Barngrover • Madeleine Bazil • Finnegan Bly • Jackson Burgess • Isha Camara • Piera Chen • Shelbi Church • Jordan Cobb • David Eileen • Liv Evans • Allison Field Bell • Emily Harman • Rebecca Hawkes • Kiyanna Hill • Xinyue Huang • Lucas Jorgensen • Sophie Kaiser Rojas • Sheema Kalbasi • Eli Karren • Elina Katrin • Collin Kim • Victoria Kornick • Carolene Kurien • Ethan Kwak • Alice Liang • Jenny Molberg • Ruby Hansen Murray • Adeniyi Odukoya • Rebecca Hart Olander • Misha Ponnuraju • Jenny Sadre-Orafai • Brooke Sahni • Sloane Scott • Alia Shaukat • Jacob Herrera Spears • Nora Sullivan • Aspen Taylor • Gordon Taylor • Preeti Vangani • Jeff Whitney • Andrew Chi Keong Yim • Hananah Zaheer • Joshua Zeitler

Cover art: Past Looking by Nara Allsop

Pre-Order now
"Hopi Leia" relief print by Hopi artist Sikuyva Dawavendewa

PREVIOUS ISSUE

Shō No. 8

winter 2025/2026

This issue features 72 poems by 48 poets: Sean Cho A. • Hiwot Adilow • Elisa Luna Ady • courtney alyce • Seth Amos • Jack B. Bedell • Shlagha Borah • Apollo Chastain • Lyn Li Che • Chen Chen • Stephanie Choi • Lindsay D’Andrea • Loisa Fenichell • Cheyenne C. Fletcher • Reuben Gelley Newman • Carlos Andrés Gómez • Iain Grinbergs • Shira Leah Haus • Sarah Jordan • Joan Naviyuk Kane • Aiman Tahir Khan • Sophie Klahr • Whitney Koo • Giljoon Lee • Elizabeth Loudon • Betsy Mitchell Martinez • Rebecca Morton • Lisa Mottolo • James O’Leary • Mollie O’Leary • william o’neal ii • Konstantinos Patrinos • Ngoc Pham • Jessica Nirvana Ram • Jemma Leigh Roe • Adrie Rose • Rukan Saif • SM Stubbs • Virgil Suárez • Will Summay • Tiezst “Tie” Taylor • Tianyi • Reed Turchi • Margaret Wack • Joey Wańczyk • Gwenyth Wheat • Ross White • Yan Zhang

Cover art: “Hopi Leia” by Sikuyva Dawavendewa.

Order now

Online Features

  • Jun 23, 2026

    Contributors’ Notes, Shō No. 9

  • Jun 5, 2026

    A Conversation with Mckendy Fils-Aimé

  • May 30, 2026

    Pride Month Playlist | 2026

  • Apr 29, 2026

    Mental Health Awareness Month Playlist

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Past Issues

Shō No. 7

Winter 2025/2026

Shō No. 7 features 67 poems by 48 poets.

Cover art: “Interim” by Tanya Rastogi

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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 Poetry Journal on Instagram

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“Paroxysmal Supraventricular Tachycardia” by Brett “Paroxysmal Supraventricular Tachycardia” by Brett Hanley appears in “I Was Your Bird”—forthcoming from JackLeg Press, July 2026. Pre-order it at tinyurl.com/iwasyourbird

About this Poem: I used to get episodes of PSVT a few years go, and my heart would skyrocket to around 250 beats per minute. I would have to go to the ER for a shot of adenosine that would stop and start my heart to help it get its normal rhythm back. PSVT caused me a lot of anxiety because it could strike at any moment. The occasion for this poem was a PSVT episode that fortunately resolved quickly without medical intervention but not before the emergency professionals arrived. It was during a somewhat lonely era of mine during the pandemic, and it felt like the interaction with the paramedics was my first human contact in a while, which I thought was sort of funny and interesting so I wrote about it.

This poem gave me some trouble, which I love about it. It took me four years to figure out its ending, and it had a lot of endings along the way that just didn’t land the way I wanted them to, tonally. They were too funny or too sad. I needed something just the right amount of wistful, and I finally arrived at the paramedics driving off into their big, gorgeous, unshackled lives without the speaker, which felt like the right note. I’m grateful to this poem and all the poems I sit with for seasons, revising until I get them right. I used to lament that it took me so long to figure out some poems, but the figuring out, the discovery, the living my way to the right image or line, even if it takes years, is one of the really meaningful parts of writing for me. 

Brett Hanley holds an MFA from McNeese State University and a PhD from Florida State University. She has worked as Poetry Editor at both Southeast Review and The McNeese Review. Their poems appear in West Branch, Gulf Coast, Ninth Letter, The Journal, Poetry Northwest, Colorado Review, and elsewhere. She was a semi-finalist for the 92Y Discovery Contest, a finalist for the Jake Adam York Prize, and a Bread Loaf-Rona Jaffe Foundation Scholar. They are the author of "I Was Your Bird" (Jackleg Press, July 2026).
Cover reveal: Shō No. 9 | Summer 2026 Cover art: “ Cover reveal: Shō No. 9 | Summer 2026
Cover art: “Past Looking” by Nara Allsop

Our summer issue features 69 poems by 45 poets, whose names are listed below.

Preorder Shō No. 9 at: tinyurl.com/shono9
Issues will ship in July.

We’ll be announcing the winners and runners-up of the editors’ prizes this week!

Shō No. 9 Contributors:
Conal Abatangelo (@cabatangelo)
Jessica Ballen (@jeez_ballen)
Anne Barngrover (@annebarngrover)
Madeleine Bazil (@mads_baz)
Finnegan Bly (@specialtvmicrowavecomputer)
Jackson Burgess (@_jacksonburgess)
Isha Camara (@ishatheartistt
Piera Chen (@pierachen)
Shelbi Church (@shelbichurch)
Jordan Cobb (@on_the_cobb)
David Eileen (@thevibeguardian)
Liv Evans (@onionstackr)
Allison Field Bell (@afb1987)
Emily Harman (@emilyaharman)
Rebecca Hawkes (@gorse_bloom)
Kiyanna Hill (@kiyawnna)
Xinyue Huang (@lucie.xinyue.huang)
Lucas Jorgensen (@lucasljorgensen)
Sophie Kaiser Rojas (@sophiemkaiser)
Sheema Kalbasi (@kalbasisheema)
Eli Karren (@eli.james.karren)
Elina Katrin (@elinatkatrin)
Collin Kim (@ck9im)
Victoria Kornick (@victoriakornick)
Carolene Kurien (@carolenekurien)
Ethan Kwak (@stucco_cloud)
Alice Liang (@aliceyliang)
Jenny Molberg (@_jennysue_)
Ruby Hansen Murray (@ruby_hansen_murray)
Adeniyi Odukoya (@adeniyi_odukoya)
Rebecca Hart Olander(@rholanderpoet)
Misha Ponnuraju (@anothermishap)
Jenny Sadre-Orafai (@jennysadreorafai)
Brooke Sahni (@brookesahni)
Sloane Scott
Alia Shaukat (@alia.shaukat)
Jacob Herrera Spears (@sundowner.xyz)
Nora Sullivan (@nora.sull)
Aspen Taylor (@aspen.leaves)
Gordon Taylor (@cuddlyshark)
Preeti Vangani (@preetivangani)
Jeff Whitney (@jwhitney5)
Andrew Chi Keong Yim (@bootcutkhakis)
Hananah Zaheer (@hananahzaheer)
Joshua Zeitler (@the_jayest_of_zees)

#printmag #litmag #poetrycommunity
Shō No. 7 features two poems by Sara Hovda. Here s Shō No. 7 features two poems by Sara Hovda. Here she is reading “One Goal” for our Pride Month Playlist.

About this Poem: I often write poems to one person in particular. In this case, I went to the Festival of Lights in Riverside, CA, with a friend who also happens to be a transgender woman. Afterwards, I got to thinking about our lives, our pasts and futures, what led to this individual moment, this individual nexus of experience, and how, of course, what matters in a life and universe where we don’t know what happens when we die and nothing is guaranteed, is that we have these moments.

Sara Hovda is a transgender woman from rural Minnesota. She currently attends the MFA program at UC-Riverside while also working as a streamer on Twitch. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in magazines such as Passages North, South Dakota Review, and Shō Poetry Journal, among others. She can be found online at SaraHovda.com.
Before we reveal our cover art for our forthcoming Before we reveal our cover art for our forthcoming issue, we want to look back at the cover art for our previous issue. Here’s a home printer mockup for Shō No. 8. Swipe to read Sikuyva Dawavendewa’s artist statement on “Hopi Leia” and a short bio!

Hopi Leia is a tie with the Star Wars character Leia Organa. Showcasing the resiliency, power, and leadership of women. Similar to the story of the Warrior Maiden in Hopi. 

Star Wars has been a big influence on my artist career. The iconography is not the only symbolism to Hopi. Behind her is a village but in the style of Tatooine’s Mos Eisley town, with the two suns as well. The border is also symbolism to rain clouds with rain falling on the side.

Sikuyva Dawavendewa is a contemporary Hopi artist focusing his work in 2D mediums such as drawing, printmaking, and paintings. His work revolves around Hopi symbolism and iconography and various ties with Popular Culture media. Follow Sikuyva on Instagram: @art_by_sikuyva
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Publishing Stats

Since our revival issue was published in Summer 2023:

375

Poems Published

269

Total Poets Published

170

Audio Features Published

61

Prize Nominations

6

Poems chosen for inclusion in anthologies

Shō Poetry Journal


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