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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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"Hopi Leia" relief print by Hopi artist Sikuyva Dawavendewa

CURRENT 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.

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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.

PREVIOUS ISSUE

Shō No. 7

SUMMER 2025

This issue features 67 poems by 48 poets: Amber Adams • Emily Adams-Aucoin • Hannah Keziah Agustin • Ai Khanoum • Aldo Amparán • sterling-elizabeth arcadia • Michael Bazzett • Jared Beloff • Aaron Caycedo-Kimura • M. Cynthia Cheung • Christian J. Collier • Will Cordeiro • Crystal Cox • Sean Thomas Dougherty • Bobby Elliott • Danielle Shandiin Emerson • Clare Flanagan • Matthew Gellman • Kelly Gray • Saúl Hernández • Sara Hovda • Amorak Huey • Olivia Jacobson • Vasvi Kejriwal • Daniel Lurie • Jenna Martínez • Malia Maxwell • Rishona Michael • Tim Moder • Asheley Nova Navarro • Ohia, Ernest Chigaemezu • Kunjana Parashar • Paige Passantino • Nina C. Peláez • Sofia Rasic • Remi Recchia • Mallory Rodenberg • Brooke Sahni • Joan Jobe Smith • February Spikener • Jessica Q. Stark • Claire Taylor • J.K. Tsosie • Matthew Tuckner • Han VanderHart • Fred Voss • Nicholas Yingling • Aleks Zywicki

Cover art: “Interim” by Tanya Rastogi.

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Online Features

  • May 30, 2026

    Pride Month Playlist | 2026

  • Apr 29, 2026

    Mental Health Awareness Month Playlist

  • Apr 29, 2026

    Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month Playlist 2026

  • Apr 29, 2026

    Jewish American Heritage Month Playlist 2026

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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

Next up on our Pride Month Playlist is “Abecedaria Next up on our Pride Month Playlist is “Abecedarian for My Undocumented Amá’s Tongue in TX” by Saúl Hernández (Shō No. 7). You can also read this poem on @poetrydaily365.

Saúl Hernández is a queer writer from San Antonio, TX who was raised by former undocumented parents. Saúl has an MFA in Creative Writing from The University of Texas at El Paso. Saúl’s debut poetry collection, How to Kill a Goat & Other Monsters, is a Lambda Literary winner, a Writers’ League of Texas Discovery Winner, and longlisted for a PEN Open Book Award.
We’re kicking off Pride Month with Jessica Nirvana We’re kicking off Pride Month with Jessica Nirvana Ram reading “Good Luck, Babe” (Shō No. 8): “I wrote this poem the night after I read Faylita Hicks' newest collection 'A Map of My Want.' A few months prior I'd finished writing a manuscript grappling with feeling as though I needed permission to fully live in my queer identity because of who I inherited my love languages from, and to whom I owed happiness. Hicks' poems gave me some of that permission to imagine outloud, to exist in the muddled complexities, in the multitudes. I guess I'd been thinking a lot about the biphobia in the queer community and wanted to write into that as well.”

Jessica Nirvana Ram (she/they) is a poet and educator. They are the author of Earthly Gods (Game Over Books 2024) and in the aftermath (Fifth Wheel Press 2025). Her work has appeared in Poet Lore, Prairie Schooner, Cream City Review, amongst others. They have received support from Sundress Academy of the Arts and The Stadler Center for Poetry and Literary Arts. She lives, writes, and teaches in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Read more on her website: https://jessicanirvanaram.wixsite.com/writer
It’s officially Pride Month and we’ve punched out It’s officially Pride Month and we’ve punched out the tab on our cassette tape—won’t you give it a listen? Featuring poems from Shō No. 6, 7, and 8:

*Shō Poetry Journal Pride Playlist | 2026*

Aldo Ampáran (@skygoneout)
Chen Chen (@chenchenwrites)
Reuben Gelley-Newman (@joustingsnail)
Iain Grinbergs (@iainiain_iain)
Brett Hanley (@bretthandle)
Saúl Hernández (@el_saulhernandez)
Sara Hovda (@sarahovda)
Rebecca Morton (@r_morton13)
Ernest Ohia (@e_for_ernie)
James O’Leary
william o’neal ii (@willthesecond_)
Jessica Nirvana Ram (@rewritingdestiny)
Remi Recchia (@remi_dreamer)
Will Summay (@will.summ)
Joey Wańczyk (@jjooeeyyyyyyy)
We are open for submissions! We are reading for ou We are open for submissions! We are reading for our winter issue and respond to all submissions in 30 days or less.

*FAQ*
*Can international poets submit?*
Yes! Our forthcoming issue features work from three international poets. Our previous issue featured four.

*Do you pay?*
At this time, we are unable to pay contributors. However, all contributors (including international poets) receive one print copy of the issue.

For each issue, we also award Editors’ Prizes of $150 each to two U.S.-based poets. The winners and two runners-up each receive a one-year subscription to Shō Poetry Journal.

*Do you nominate work for prizes?*
Yes! We’ve most recently nominated work for The Pushcart Prize, Best New Poets, Best Spiritual Literature, Best of the Net, the Nina Riggs Poetry Award, and the Monarch Queer Literary Awards.
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Publishing Stats

Since our revival issue was published in Summer 2023:

375

Poems Published

269

Total Poets Published

158

Audio Features Published

61

Prize Nominations

6

Poems chosen for inclusion in anthologies

Shō Poetry Journal


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