Call for Submissions: Southwestern Aubades and Nocturnes
Editors Scott Wiggerman and David Meischen of Dos Gatos Press (www.dosgatospress.org) are accepting submissions for the sixth book in our series, Poetry of the Southwestern United States.
Submit up to three poems between June 1, 2025 and July 12, 2025.
Note: Submissions will close automatically at midnight, Mountain Daylight Time on July 12—no exceptions.
We expect meticulous attention to image and metaphor, to rhythmic phrasing, to compression, to the language of poetry. We respond well to a strong voice. We encourage risks with language and attention to unusual, perfectly defining details. We are open to experimentation, but not at the cost of quality. All poems must demonstrate a connection to persons, places, and/or cultures of the Southwestern United States.
The Aubade
Dating as far back as the twelfth century, the aubade is a poem of morning, often celebrating the joy of lovers who have spent the night together. According to poets.org, “The typical aubade flows from the darkness just before dawn to the brightness directly afterward. It moves from silence to speech, from the ecstasy of intimacy to the burden of solitude.” We want to widen the parameters of the aubade. We welcome poems about solitary moments at morning, about sadness or grief at morning.
These aubades are recommended reading: “truth” by Gwendolyn Brooks, “Aubade to Langston” by Rachel Eliza Griffiths, “Buffalograss” by Jake Skeets, “Aubade” by Phillip Larkin, “Aubade” by Camile Rankine.
The Nocturne
A nocturne is simply a poem set at evening or night. It can be elegiac, prayerful, contemplative. It can be dark in both the literal and the metaphorical sense. Think film noir, think black magic.
These nocturnes are recommended reading: “Clarity” by Vievee Francis, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost, “Night Mirror” by Li-Young Lee, “Sleepless City (Brooklyn Bridge Nocturne)” by Federico Garcia Lorca, “Nocturne” by Lola Ridge.
Guidelines:
Please read and follow our guidelines carefully. Poems that don’t follow the guidelines will not be considered for publication.
1. We accept submissions only through Submittable.
2. Submit 1-3 original, unpublished poems. Limit yourself to a single submission for all the poems you wish to submit. You may submit exclusively aubades or exclusively nocturnes or a mix of the two.
3. All poems must be titled. Readers will know these poems are aubades or nocturnes. Do NOT include “Aubade” or “Nocturne” in your title.
4. We encourage forms: sonnet, pantoum, villanelle, haibun, etc. We encourage the prose poem.
5. Poems in lines will be a minimum of 14 lines, maximum of 55 lines—including title and spaces between stanzas. Limit a prose poem to a maximum of 350 words. Think brevity, concision, compression.
6. Do NOT put your name or any other identifying information on the document that holds the pieces you submit. Do NOT include your name in the file name for your submission. We follow a blind reading system: our editors read all submissions without knowing who wrote the poems.
7. Use Times New Roman 12 pt. for the text of your submission. Single space lined poems and prose poems. For prose poems, double space between paragraphs, also between a paragraph and a haiku.
8. Place all poems in a single document—.doc or .docx or .rtf. For poems that employ unsuual spacing, you may submit a PDF. Start each poem on a new page.
9. Include a bio of up to 75 words—no more—written in third person, focused on your writing life. Note: We don’t object to elements of whimsy in your bio; we do expect your bio to provide a glimpse of you as a writer. Without fail, observe the 75-word limit; we don’t have time to edit longer bios.
10. We welcome the expression of diverse voices, diverse cultures—including pieces partly or entirely in Spanish or other languages spoken in the Southwestern U.S. Please include an English translation for poems written in a language other than English. Beneath a piece that includes words/phrases/sentences in a language other than English, please provide translations.
11. NO previously published poem—print or online—including pieces posted on personal websites or social network websites. If it can be found in a browser search, we consider it published.
12. No simultaneous submissions. We read and respond quickly after the final submissions deadline.
13. Our broad definition of Southwest includes the following states or portions of states: Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Oklahoma. The poems need not be set by name in any of these states. Rather, they will be evocative of the people, the landscapes, the culture of the Southwest, broadly speaking.
14. Note: You need not live in the region specified here to submit. We welcome entries from poets worldwide.
15. Acceptance for publication conveys First North American Serial Rights, first-print publication rights, and the right to post work accepted for publication on the Dos Gatos Press website. Rights revert to the author upon publication.
16. Dos Gatos Press is a nonprofit with a limited operating budget. Given the cost of printing and steep increases in postage / shipping, each published poet will receive a PDF of the anthology. We will offer our authors a substantial discount on pre-orders of the printed book.
Call for Submissions: Southwestern Aubades and Nocturnes
Editors Scott Wiggerman and David Meischen of Dos Gatos Press (www.dosgatospress.org) are accepting submissions for the sixth book in our series, Poetry of the Southwestern United States.
Submit up to three poems between June 1, 2025 and July 12, 2025.
Note: Submissions will close automatically at midnight, Mountain Daylight Time on July 12—no exceptions.
We expect meticulous attention to image and metaphor, to rhythmic phrasing, to compression, to the language of poetry. We respond well to a strong voice. We encourage risks with language and attention to unusual, perfectly defining details. We are open to experimentation, but not at the cost of quality. All poems must demonstrate a connection to persons, places, and/or cultures of the Southwestern United States.
The Aubade
Dating as far back as the twelfth century, the aubade is a poem of morning, often celebrating the joy of lovers who have spent the night together. According to poets.org, “The typical aubade flows from the darkness just before dawn to the brightness directly afterward. It moves from silence to speech, from the ecstasy of intimacy to the burden of solitude.” We want to widen the parameters of the aubade. We welcome poems about solitary moments at morning, about sadness or grief at morning.
These aubades are recommended reading: “truth” by Gwendolyn Brooks, “Aubade to Langston” by Rachel Eliza Griffiths, “Buffalograss” by Jake Skeets, “Aubade” by Phillip Larkin, “Aubade” by Camile Rankine.
The Nocturne
A nocturne is simply a poem set at evening or night. It can be elegiac, prayerful, contemplative. It can be dark in both the literal and the metaphorical sense. Think film noir, think black magic.
These nocturnes are recommended reading: “Clarity” by Vievee Francis, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost, “Night Mirror” by Li-Young Lee, “Sleepless City (Brooklyn Bridge Nocturne)” by Federico Garcia Lorca, “Nocturne” by Lola Ridge.
Guidelines:
Please read and follow our guidelines carefully. Poems that don’t follow the guidelines will not be considered for publication.
1. We accept submissions only through Submittable.
2. Submit 1-3 original, unpublished poems. Limit yourself to a single submission for all the poems you wish to submit. You may submit exclusively aubades or exclusively nocturnes or a mix of the two.
3. All poems must be titled. Readers will know these poems are aubades or nocturnes. Do NOT include “Aubade” or “Nocturne” in your title.
4. We encourage forms: sonnet, pantoum, villanelle, haibun, etc. We encourage the prose poem.
5. Poems in lines will be a minimum of 14 lines, maximum of 55 lines—including title and spaces between stanzas. Limit a prose poem to a maximum of 350 words. Think brevity, concision, compression.
6. Do NOT put your name or any other identifying information on the document that holds the pieces you submit. Do NOT include your name in the file name for your submission. We follow a blind reading system: our editors read all submissions without knowing who wrote the poems.
7. Use Times New Roman 12 pt. for the text of your submission. Single space lined poems and prose poems. For prose poems, double space between paragraphs, also between a paragraph and a haiku.
8. Place all poems in a single document—.doc or .docx or .rtf. For poems that employ unsuual spacing, you may submit a PDF. Start each poem on a new page.
9. Include a bio of up to 75 words—no more—written in third person, focused on your writing life. Note: We don’t object to elements of whimsy in your bio; we do expect your bio to provide a glimpse of you as a writer. Without fail, observe the 75-word limit; we don’t have time to edit longer bios.
10. We welcome the expression of diverse voices, diverse cultures—including pieces partly or entirely in Spanish or other languages spoken in the Southwestern U.S. Please include an English translation for poems written in a language other than English. Beneath a piece that includes words/phrases/sentences in a language other than English, please provide translations.
11. NO previously published poem—print or online—including pieces posted on personal websites or social network websites. If it can be found in a browser search, we consider it published.
12. No simultaneous submissions. We read and respond quickly after the final submissions deadline.
13. Our broad definition of Southwest includes the following states or portions of states: Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Oklahoma. The poems need not be set by name in any of these states. Rather, they will be evocative of the people, the landscapes, the culture of the Southwest, broadly speaking.
14. Note: You need not live in the region specified here to submit. We welcome entries from poets worldwide.
15. Acceptance for publication conveys First North American Serial Rights, first-print publication rights, and the right to post work accepted for publication on the Dos Gatos Press website. Rights revert to the author upon publication.
16. Dos Gatos Press is a nonprofit with a limited operating budget. Given the cost of printing and steep increases in postage / shipping, each published poet will receive a PDF of the anthology. We will offer our authors a substantial discount on pre-orders of the printed book.