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Shō Poetry Journal

Established in 2002, revived in 2023

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Shō Poetry Journal

Poet Dare Williams

Audio Feature: Dare Williams (Shō No. 3)

May 29, 2024 · Shō Poetry Journal

I’m not good at holding / anything real // the glass the weight these night- / blooming jasmine

Poet Cass Garison

Audio Feature: Cass Garison (Shō No. 3)

Mar 25, 2024 · Shō Poetry Journal

I share an arm rest / with a stranger who has desires // too.

Audio Feature: Kailee Pedersen (Shō No. 3)

Mar 8, 2024 · Shō Poetry Journal

There is still good meat / on these bones.

A brown-skinned Cambodian man wearing a bright pink short-sleeve shirt sits in a park, smiling at the camera. A large tree fills the background.

Audio Feature: Bunkong Tuon (Shō No. 3)

Feb 22, 2024 · Shō Poetry Journal

I can tell you about strength. / How the sun warms our skins. / How the moon turns tides.

Audio Feature: Sean Thomas Dougherty (Shō No. 3)

Feb 5, 2024 · Shō Poetry Journal

I think I'm tired of auditioning. / I'm not dancing for bread anymore. / I'm not paying your fee.

Recent & Forthcoming Books from Shō No. 3 Poets

Dec 31, 2023 · Shō Poetry Journal

Congratulations to these Shō No. 3: Revival Issue (Summer/Fall 2023) contributors, whose books were recently published or are forthcoming! Their books are linked below. You can also read the bios of all Shō No. 3 contributors here. Debut Poetry Collections Ally Ang: Let the Moon Wobble, forthcoming (Alice James Books, 2025) Kathryn Bratt-Pfotenhauer: Bad Animal …

Audio Feature: Cassandra Whitaker (Shō No. 3)

Dec 31, 2023 · Shō Poetry Journal

I split into two and the wolf split into four and we kept dividing
our greatness until I matched the air and the wolf matched the earth

Audio feature: Alfonso Zapata (Shō No. 3)

Dec 24, 2023 · Shō Poetry Journal

I sling myself up those stairs / with all the other tired men because //
who am I to refuse the slap / of hunched playing cards

Audio feature: Ellen June Wright (Shō No. 3)

Dec 20, 2023 · Shō Poetry Journal

Sometimes I forget I came from the Earth / from the rocks, from the spongy moss // was a home for all the squirming, crawling / slippery life that lived under me.

Contributors’ Notes, Shō No. 4

Dec 14, 2023 · Shō Poetry Journal

Erica Abbott (she/her) is a Philadelphia-based poet and writer whose work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Stone Circle Review, Pirene’s Fountain, Philadelphia Stories, Midway Journal, and other journals. She is the author of Self-Portrait as a Sinking Ship, is a Best of the Net nominee, and is a poetry editor for Variant Literature. …

Editors’ Note, Shō No. 3

Dec 14, 2023 · Shō Poetry Journal

Like the bleary-eyed bear on the cover of this issue, we are waking up from hibernation—a twenty-year hibernation, to be exact. Shō’s revival was set in motion by our return to the United States two years ago. After spending ten-odd years in Southeast Asia, where we met, we moved to North-Central Arizona, which we now …

Notes on Poems, Shō No. 3

Dec 14, 2023 · Shō Poetry Journal

Sage Ravenwood on “Leonard Peltier’s Plea for Clemency,” pp. 10: Leonard Peltier is a Native American man of Lakota and Dakota descent, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa tribe. To many despite tribe affiliations he is a hero; to the FBI he’s a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) convicted of two …

Contributors’ Notes: Shō No. 3

Dec 14, 2023 · Shō Poetry Journal

(SUMMER/FALL 2023) / Purchase Shō No. 3 Ally Ang is a gaysian poet and editor based in Seattle. Their work is published in Columbia Journal, ANMLY, Bellingham Review, The Journal, and elsewhere. Ally is the recipient of fellowships and support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Artist Trust, and the Jack Straw Writers Program. …

News & Updates

Aug 25, 2023 · Shō Poetry Journal

2024 Tuesday July 23: Shō No. 5 is here! Monday July 1: Submissions are now open! See our guidelines for more info. We now read for the Sita Martin Prize and Shō Poetry Prize. Saturday April 13: Shō Poetry Journal will be attending the 2024 Northern Arizona Book Festival (NOAZBF) in Flagstaff. Look for our …

The End of June

Dec 13, 2022 · Shō Poetry Journal

by Robert L. Penick The old man at the corner bus stop –there without fail each morning at eight – disappeared either two weeks or six months ago.I’m not sure which.Was 1987 the year I dated the girlwith the long auburn hair?Perhaps it was 1986.I was at the university, I know.I remember the mole on her …

Hiroshima

Dec 11, 2022 · Shō Poetry Journal

by Lyn Lifshin patterns of kimonosburned on some women on the 12th daywounds began to open wider. Womensaw their hair fall out. Someone without eyes calling for a sister. Purplesores. Some couldn’t be touched, their skinfell off in glove-like pieces. By the 20th day,vegetation began to grow wildly, lush green weeds,huge wild flowers. As people …

Cleaning

Dec 11, 2022 · Shō Poetry Journal

by Robert L. Penick I’m dropping empty cat food cansinto the recycling bin.There have been a dozen of themsitting on the kitchen counterfor weeks. The house stinks of them.I take the garbage outside,remove your clothes from the dryer,fold them up and put them onthe dresser. When I wash the dishesI handle each piece gingerly,trying not …

Shō Number Two

Oct 13, 2022 · Shō Poetry Journal

Shō Number Two Shō Number Two appeared in Spring 2003 and featured poetry by Amy Uyematsu, Jim Simmerman, Ann Menebroker, William Packard, Todd Moore, Gerald Locklin, Joan Jobe Smith, Fred Voss, Lyn Lifshin, Robert L. Penick, and others. In this Issue PAUL AGOSTINO The Girls of Summer ART BECK The similarities are striking: / Nicotine ANSELM …

Shō Premiere Issue

Feb 22, 2022 · Shō Poetry Journal

Poems for Shō’s Premiere Issue were solicited and selected by founding editor, Sita Martin. Shortly thereafter she succumbed to a battle with cancer and Johnny Cordova stepped in to oversee production and cover design. Shō’s Premiere Issue was released in Spring 2002 and consisted of sixty-eight poems by nine poets, as well as a small …

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Publishing Stats

Since our revival issue was published in Summer 2023:

327

Poems Published

224

Total Poets Published

76

Audio Features Published

28

Poems Nominated for Prizes

1

Poem chosen for inclusion in Best Spiritual Literature

Shō Poetry Journal


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