Submit to Surreal Poetics
Submissions for Issue 04 are closed.
Issue 04 Theme
THE PENETRATING GAZE
For this issue, we are looking for poems that show us the world through the eyes of the surrealist.
We are interested in how and what the eye reveals to those who are endowed with supersensible vision—to see what is within and without, to see through and beyond—to see and experience with all of the senses that which is hidden from common perception.
Read the editor’s blog post about the theme before submitting.
We are interested in how and what the eye reveals to those who are endowed with supersensible vision—to see what is within and without, to see through and beyond—to see and experience with all of the senses that which is hidden from common perception.
Read the editor’s blog post about the theme before submitting.
Issue 04
WHAT TO SUBMIT
Only submit short poems (between 5 to 20 lines) that fall within the surrealist aesthetic.
- We prefer free verse poems, and we are turned off by anything trite (puerile rhyme, banal metaphor, quotidian language).
- We will not publish form poetry, and we currently do not publish prose poems, essays, or interviews.
- We will accept previously published poems if they were included in a print-only publication, if they are no longer accessible on the Internet, and if you have permission to reprint them. You must notify us if you are submitting a previously published poem, as well as include the previous publication's title, format, and date of original publication.
- Currently, we only publish online, and there is no compensation for contributors.
Our Take on Surrealism
Our understanding of Surrealism stems from André Breton's Manifestos of Surrealism and other writings, Sigmund Freud's studies on psychoanalysis and The Interpretation of Dreams, Carl G. Jung's Approaching the Unconscious, writings by Antonin Artaud, Paul Eluard, Philippe Soupault, David Gascoyne, and, of course, Les chants de Maldoror by the Comte de Lautréamont.
Give us CRISIS
In The Automatic Message, Breton writes of "the story of the crisis which . . . the Surrealist approach to the degree of reality accorded to the object is bound to inflict upon purely speculative thought. Poets, artists, theologians, psychologists, the mentally ill, and psychiatrists have, as it is, always been searching for a valid dividing line between imaginary objects and real objects, given that, as things stand, real objects can easily disappear from the realm of consciousness, and imaginary ones take their place, and that subjectively they are interchangeable."
Give us beauty as CONVULSIVE
At the end of Nadja, Breton writes, "Beauty will be CONVULSIVE or it will not be at all." He elaborates on this idea in Mad Love when he proclaims that "convulsive beauty will be veiled-erotic, fixed-explosive, magic-circumstantial, or it will not be."
Featured Poets on Surreal Poetics
Who can be a featured poet: Only a poet whose work has been published by Surreal Poetics can be considered for the Featured Poets page. A poet must submit the required information in part one to be considered. If a poet is selected to be featured, we will then ask the poet to provide us with the remaining information in part two.
PART ONE (for initial consideration): Your information/answers to the following topics/questions should be submitted through our FEATURED POETS FORM.
PART TWO: This information will only need to be provided if a poet is selected to be a Featured Poet.
PART ONE (for initial consideration): Your information/answers to the following topics/questions should be submitted through our FEATURED POETS FORM.
- Your Poem: Discuss your poem that we published (if we published more than one then you should only discuss one—your choice). For example, where did the words/thoughts come from? Was there a particular image that triggered automatic writing? Was there a desire to subvert a phrase or work of art? etc. You may discuss sounds and word choice, you may psychoanalyze your poem, you may discuss your use of metaphors (never explain what a metaphor means), you may focus on a single phrase or line, and so on.
- Your Encounter with Surrealism: When did you first encounter Surrealism? What were the circumstances? Did Surrealism spark any emotions in you? How do you practice Surrealism in your work? How do you live Surrealism? etc.
- Found Object: Describe a time when you became aware of a found object in the surrealist sense, as defined by André Breton in his essay, "The Crisis of the Object." You can also read about found object at the beginning of Breton's novel, Mad Love, or in this article: http://arthistoryunstuffed.com/the-surrealist-object/
PART TWO: This information will only need to be provided if a poet is selected to be a Featured Poet.
- Surreal Photograph: Submit a surreal photograph of yourself. This cannot be a beauty shot, professional headshot, or other 'traditional' type of photograph. It must contain your physical being (no inanimate objects, animals, and so on to 'represent' you). It must be interpreted in a surreal way, and it must specifically be created for Surreal Poetics. Your photo can be a single shot that is unaltered, or it may be created/altered using surrealist techniques like collage, photomontage, blurring, etc. The point is for the photograph to be a surreal extension/representation of yourself.
- Surreal Proverb: Create a surreal proverb to share with the world. The proverb can be in dialogue with your poem or photograph, but that is not necessary.