Tag Archives: Susquehanna Review

My Sister’s Baby Blanket by Alejandro Lucero

At a Christmas party, my sister left behind her baby blanket.
We turned around and drove back through the snowy roads.
My parents kept reminding her they would never forget.

A small square stained with spit and mashed peas; it was no trinket,
and my grandma, the party’s host, already tossed it in the garbage load.
At a Christmas party, my sister left behind her baby blanket.

If she were older perhaps she would have felt no regret.
Perhaps she would have found another to save herself from the cold.
My parents kept reminding her they would never forget

the gift from our aunt who’s now alone in a pinewood casket
and wrapped in her own blanket of roots, worms, and mold.
She missed that Christmas party my sister left behind her baby blanket.

On her last days, we brought my aunt flowers and unripened fruit in a basket.
We said we loved her and all the other things she needed to be told.
My parents kept reminding her they would never forget.

I write these refrains, and think how my aunt and sister never met,
about how their hands will never get the chance to hold
at a Christmas party, how my poor sister left behind her baby blanket,
and how my parents kept reminding her they would never forget.


Alejandro Lucero is a writer from Sapello, New Mexico by way of Denver. He serves as an intern and poetry reader for Copper Nickel. Pushcart Prize nominee, his most recent poetry and nonfiction can be found in Progenitor Art & Literary Journal and is forthcoming in The Susquehanna Review and Thin Air Magazine.

11 Literary Journals Seeking Work from Undergraduate Students

30 North Literary Review: 30 North is one of the few nationwide undergraduate literary journals in the country. We are dedicated to publishing the finest in undergraduate poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and artwork in our annual print journal. We also publish author interviews and reviews of contemporary literature conducted and written by our staff on our website.

ANGLES is a magazine that publishes brief prose and poetry that reveals distinct and important perspectives on ourselves and our world. We seek fresh, urgent writing that cares about language and pays close attention to it, that uses form and structure purposefully, and that isn’t afraid to take risks. We value traditions but are keen on challenging them. As a publication edited by undergraduates, we value and prioritize college-aged voices with distinct perspectives, and take pride in being among a writer’s first publications.

The Chimes accepts submissions from students, faculty, and alumni of Shorter University, as well as from undergraduate students enrolled at any college or university. All submissions must be original; plagiarism, whether accidental or purposeful, is unacceptable. The Chimes, having been part of Shorter University’s history for over 130 years, holds to the values upheld by the University. We withhold the right to reject any pieces submitted for publication that do not fit with the University’s mission (“Transforming Lives Through Christ”);

The Merrimack Review: We only accept submissions from current undergraduate (associate/bachelor’s) or graduate (master’s/PhD) students. Submissions should display a strong understanding of craft and cause readers to react, both emotionally and intellectually. They should be previously unpublished, meaning work that has not already appeared in another magazine, on another website, in a book, etc. Work that appeared on your personal blog is fine by us, but we have a preference for stuff the public hasn’t seen before.

Miscellany: The College of Charleston’s student-produced literary and art journal. Students are invited to submit their original artwork, poetry, photography and prose to be considered for publication. A student committee consisting of individuals selected by the editor-in-chief will meet during the beginning of each spring semester to select works for publication in Miscellany. The finished product is distributed to the campus community in April.

The Mochila Review: is an annual international undergraduate journal published with support from the English and Modern Languages department at Missouri Western State University. Our goal is to publish the best short stories, poems, and essays from the next generation of important authors: student writers. Our staff, comprised primarily of undergraduate students, understands the publishing challenges that emerging writers face and is committed to helping talented students gain wider audiences in the pages of The Mochila Review and on our website.

The Red Mud Review: The Red Mud Review is a student-organized literary magazine published by Austin Peay State University. The journal accepts poetry, fiction, essays, drama, and visual art by students currently enrolled in any university around the nation. Alumni of Austin Peay State University and other community members are also encouraged to submit.   Please, view our submission guidelines and browse through past issues to learn more about our journal.

Sagebrush Review: All college students may submit works of Poetry, Prose, Art, and Photography for consideration of publication in the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Literary and Arts Journal, Sagebrush Review Volume 12. Students may choose to submit for free, or may choose to pay a small nominal fee of $3 per submission to be considered for the “Editor’s Choice” award in the categories of visual arts (art and photography) and writing (poetry and prose). The winner of the visual arts category will have his or her artwork featured as the volume’s cover; the winner of the writing category will be on the first page, with acknowledgement.

Sink Hollow Literary Magazine: The site of a meteorological anomaly imparts its name to this journal. The sinkholes within the Wasatch-Cache National Forest in Logan Canyon produce the coldest temperatures in Utah – and often in the entire contiguous United States. The bottom of the sinks never goes more than four days without a freeze, even in midsummer. These pools of trapped nocturnal air can vary from the temperatures surrounding the sinks by as much as 70 degrees. It is so cold, trees do not grow there. We send our salutation from a desert climate valley at -69 degrees. Welcome to Sink Hollow.

Susquehanna Review: We’re interested in undergraduate writing with fresh language, complexity, strong character development, emotional resonance, and momentum. We want to read something we haven’t read before. We want your language to linger in us long after we’ve finished the piece. Please read past issues for examples of what we’re looking for. We accept fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, literary translations, and art.

Zingara Poetry Review is accepting submissions in December 2019 and January 2020 from poets who have no more than three individual publications to their name. Current undergraduate and graduate students are encouraged to submit as are self-taught, new writers.  Poems will be published on Zingara Poetry Review during the month of January, 2020.