This long, strange year is starting to wind down. There's still time left to make it even weirder, though--possibly with the help of some of the specpo prompts set by paying publishers for this coming October, November, and December.
If you're an SFF poet--or you think you might like to be--browsing the following list of current or upcoming poetry sub calls from editors of fantasy, sci-fi, and/or horror verse publications might give you the inspiration you need to come up with some wonderfully weird verse before the year's out.
Here are a few of the opportunities available in the final quarter of 2021 to contribute themed genre poetry to paying anthologies and journals, listed in order of nearness of submission deadline:
Enchanted Conversation ("Healers" Issue) Theme: Healers, Midwives and Cunning Folk Deadlines: 3 Oct. 2021 (submissions open 1 Oct.) 3 Nov. 2021 (submissions open 1 Nov.) What they want: Poems "inspired by fairy tales" that revolve around the theme of "old fashioned herbal healers who served villages way back in the day," traditional midwives, and/or cunning folk "who used folk magic as well as potions, salves and poultices, etc." Poems should incorporate fantasy elements as well as characters identifiable as "regular herbalists, hedge witches, kitchen witches" or the like. NB: There are two remaining windows for submitting works on this theme: 1-3 Oct. and 1-3 Nov. After the November window closes, a new theme will be announced.
Dead Stars and Stone Arches: A Collection of Utah Horror Theme: Cosmic Horror Deadline: 31 Oct. 2021 (submissions open now!) What they want: Previously unpublished horror poems that "have a Utah connection, either on the part of the author or the [work] itself." The editors are looking for writing along the lines of work by "Lucy A. Snyder, Laird Barron, Algernon Blackwood," etc. NB: Either the submitter or the contents of submitted poems must have some connection to the state of Utah.
TFF Noir (anthology) Theme: Noir fiction and cinema Deadline: 1 Nov. 2021 (submissions open now!) What they want: Genre poems which incorporate Noir elements and are in some sense "progressive, feminist, queer, postcolonial, inclusive, accessible, ecological [and/or] international." NB: The editors state, "Submissions need not include science-fictional or fantastic settings, but we are mostly likely to be interested in those that play with genre and Noir aesthetic in some way, including cyberpunk." A list of unwanted tropes, e.g. "Women who die just to make the male protagonist sad," is included in the guidelines.
Apparition Lit (Issue #17) Theme: Charm Deadline: 30 Nov. 2021 (submissions open 15 Nov.) What they want: Poetry with "obvious fantasy or sci-fi elements" that addresses the theme of charm. NB: The window for "BIPOC-only submissions" runs a week longer than the general window. Deadline "for BIPOC creators only" is Dec. 7.
The Fuckening (anthology) Theme: The Fuckening Deadline: 30 Nov. 2021 (submissions open now!) What they want: Poems that are "science fiction, fantasy, horror, or a combination of the three" and center on the universal experience of "when your day is going too well and you don’t trust it and some shit finally goes down," i.e. "the Fuckening." Editors are especially seeking work which is "witty, goofy, dark, [or] sarcastic," and which contains a direct reference to the titular concept.
Eye to the Telescope (Issue #43) Theme: Light Deadline: 15 Dec. 2021 (submissions open now!) What they want: Previously unpublished poems of any form classifiable as sci-fi, fantasy, or supernatural horror and centering on the idea of light (in the photonic sense) or narrating stories in which light is a prominent feature.
Felis Futura: An Anthology of Future Cats Theme: Cats in Future Worlds Deadline: 31 Dec. 2021 (submissions open now!) What they want: Poems set in "a world that is noticeably in the future" and which "prominently feature at least one cat." NB: The editor states that the cat or cats featured in poems submitted do not necessarily have to be members "of the genus Felis"; they can be any animal in the cat family or even "non-biological cats, metaphorical cats, robots with the acronym K.A.A.T., and so on."
Happy writing, everyone!