Daily Archives: March 14, 2018

National Poetry Month Call for Submissions

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Zingara Poetry Review is celebrating National Poetry Month this April by publishing a poem every day of the month and wants YOUR submissions.

  • Send 1-3 previously unpublished poems 40 lines of fewer in the body of an email, any style, any subject, to ZingaraPoet@gmail.com with National Poetry Month as the subject of your email.
  • Include a cover letter and brief professional biography of 50 words or fewer, also in the body of your email.
  • Submissions will be accepted through April 30th, unless otherwise announced.
  • Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let me know immediately if submitted work is accepted elsewhere.
  • Published poets receive bragging rights and the chance to share their work with a diverse and ever-growing audience.
  • Submissions which do not follow these guidelines will be disregarded.
  • If accepted work is later published elsewhere, please acknowledge that the piece first appeared in Zingara Poetry Review.
  • There are no fees to submit. All submitters will be subscribed to the Zingara Poetry Review monthly newsletter and digest.
  • Check Zingara Poetry Review every day in April to read great poems and celebrate National Poetry Month.
  • Send me your twitter handle and follow Zingara Poetry Review @ZingaraPoet and I will tag you the day your poem is published.

I look forward to reading your submissions. Happy National Poetry Month!

“Meeting My Old Boyfriend after Thirty Years” by Dianne Silvestri

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He phoned asking to meet for lunch,
after long silence since I shoved
his frat pin back the year after
we left for college. He’d looked me up.

In high school already he knew what he wanted
and made me do it, those years before
I knew I could refuse. Now I preempted
his predictable persuasive monologue.

I wore a confident shirt and make-up,
took along photos of my husband and children
to show and tell my escape.
He was easy to spy, but the smart team captain’s

eyes now seemed crocodile green,
his smile toothy, Roman nose too thin.
His build was fuller, self-assurance unchanged.
I gave a firm handshake, ordered chicken salad.

After comparing updates on family
and careers—he married, no children—
talk brought his news of others from our class,
one dead already.

I politely gathered up the end,
accepted his card and spotted the note
penned on the corner, “if there’s any interest,”
dropped it into my bag.

—

Dianne Silvestri, author of the chapbook Necessary Sentiments, has had poems appear in The Main Street Rag, Earth’s Daughters, The Comstock Review, Evening Street Review, The Worcester Review, Pulse, The Healing Muse, and elsewhere. A Pushcart nominee, she is Copy-Editor of the journal Dermatitis and leads the Morse Poetry Group.