Red Wolf Journal Issue 3 (Fall 2014).
Our theme: “Celebration and Ritual”
Cover artwork: Roses and Urn © Carin Ingalsbe
Celebration and Ritual:
The two words are a call for a gathering of poems to be included in Red Wolf Journal, Issue 3. The two words are an intention for reflection, nothing more.
Ceremonies and rituals have always been the milestones of human experience. Baptisms, weddings, funerals, anniversaries, the changing of the seasons have long mapped the course of our collective experience.
The universe of nature provides the setting for mankind’s need for ceremony and ritual. The order of solstices, the oceans, the sun, moon and stars are the altar of the marriage between man and nature.
And there are the more intimate personal rituals and ceremonies — the dining table, Sunday mornings, ways of greeting, a cup of tea – the signs and symbols that are the measure of one’s daily life.
And then there is the universe of human consciousness – the life of the mind – where exist the most subtle forms of order and design. Language, and in particular the language of poetry, is in some way a celebration and a ritual.
The poet carefully selects words and constructs a poem as a message of meaning, emerging from the images in a moment, a scene, a lifetime. The very act of turning language into a poem is a ceremony of the poet’s vision, a ritual as it transfers meaning in the vessel of its imagery.
Any poem, modern or ancient, rhythmic or free form, celebrates or mourns the minute and the limitless: a table set with a small meal, a night sky mapped by stars.
Each time a writer engages with language it is a ritual: using words to describe in a unique voice an aspect of our shared humanity. Poetry can express our deep need for words to express emotions, ideas, a sense of place, a belief or fear.
Poems can capture the celebrations/rituals that are flamboyant, colorful: the rhythm of dance and music in a wild street parade; or they can convey the sense of solitude in an individual ritual — an unexpected moment of reflection, thanks, sorrow in the way a tree is framed in a familiar field.
Poetry is generous with its meanings, and our hope is that many poems submitted to Red Wolf Journal will reflect upon and speak of these major themes.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS 25 September, 2014. SUBMISSIONS CLOSED.
Please review the submission guidelines and then send us your poems via email to: redwolfjournal AT gmail DOT com.
Poems will be published in ongoing posts on this site. Each posting will be announced on the Red Wolf Journal page on Facebook. Your poem may be published at any time from June to September 2014 so please check back here. If you do not see your poem(s) appear, you may deem it as not accepted for publication. We will not be sending out any acceptance or rejection letters.
The entire collection will be released in PDF format in October 2014. An announcement will be made at that point.
SUBMISSIONS CLOSED.
Regards,
Peter Roundy and Grace Harriman
Fall 2014 Editors
Red Wolf Journal is a periodic publication of Red Wolf Poems (formerly known as We Write Poems).
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