The Raw Art Review: A Journal of Storm and Urge

GUIDELINES (NOT RULES): NOTE – Follow us on our website to stay current on all journal submissions and contests. See follow button at the top of the sidebar on our homepage.

1. RAR is looking for short stories, poems and artwork (all media) that use content and form to express powerful emotions, aesthetics, ideas and/or revelations. We do not discriminate against any particular genre.
2. The RAR FALL 2020 Journal will appear In Print and as an Online Publication. Artwork and Writing also may be posted to the RAR’s home page as a Featured Work of Art. The In-Print version of the journal is a high quality, perfect-bound, full color cover and interior production. Author BIOs, which may include web and social media channel addresses, also appear in both versions of the book.
3. Submissions may also result in the artist/writer being selected as a Featured Artist in a dedicated gallery or library accessible from the RAR home page. (See Featured Artist Page)
4. FRONT COVER ART will be selected from Artwork Submissions to the Journal. FRONT COVER ARTISTS will receive a featured artist webpage.
5. There are no rules of form and content. The sole criteria for acceptance is the power of the emotional/psychological/spiritual/physiological impact on editors reading the poem. A piece of writing or artwork can be tightly wrought and beautifully organized or wild, unruly and improvisational.
6. There are no particular trade-craft requirements. Single or double space, left-center-right justification, long lines/short lines, standard use of punctuation or use of line breaks to set a poem’s rhythm, etc. NOTE: we attempt to maintain as much of your formatting as we can in the book production.
7. TYPOS – we understand it is difficult to catch all typos and other “errors”. NOTE: we will presume a typo or error is volitional, so for the purpose of maintaining your intent for the writing or artwork it is in your best interest to review carefully, get help from others, etc. NOTE: We do NOT do copy editing. Copy editing is the responsibility of the submitter.
8. Review of writing and artwork is blind. Please do not put your name or any other identifying information on your manuscript pages.
9. BIO is not required at this time. You can include a BIO if you want or you can use the cover letter space provided on the submission form to tell us about your artwork. Feel free to skip the cover letter entirely by putting something like “No BIO” in the field. NOTE: We do read and enjoy cover letters, but always and only after selections have been made.
10. Editors are prohibited from rejecting writing or artwork on first review. All writing and artwork gets at least 2 reviews before a decision is made.
11. Editors assume you are smarter than we are. We will strive to understand your intention ; stay open-minded and try to avoid imposing our presumptions on your work.
12. We will never use irresponsible, misguided and self-aggrandizing slurs to describe your work like “purple writing” or “that technique is a gimmick”.
13. We may use writing and artwork that has been accepted on a revolving basis during the submission period as blog posts on The Raw Art Review’s home page.
14. There is a $15 Fee for submission to help cover the cost of printing the journal. We are also offering a $5 expedite fee. Expedited work is reviewed and a response given within two weeks.
15. We value the slush pile. (Not a derogatory term among our editors). Writing or Artwork is not rejected as much as it is “completed” and saved, with your permission, in the slush pile for future consideration. We will of course seek your permission before anything in the slush pile is published and lay no claim to saved works.
16. 3 poems, 1 short story, 5 photos of artwork per entry. You may enter as many times as you like but the $15.00 fee applies to each entry. NOTE: We generally can not publish stories that are more than 5000 words. This is not a strict limit but is a guideline. If the story is too long for the journal but we like it, we may ask for you to submit an alternative and, occasionally, will publish a story longer than 5000 words.
17. Simultaneous submission is fine.
18. Previously published writing or artwork is fine as long as you own re-publication rights. We are happy to credit the original publisher upon your request.
19. Deadline for submission is SUNDAY, DECEMBER 06, 2020.
20. You must use Submittable for submissions. Submittable accounts are free to submitters, and the tool is great for organizing and tracking submissions. If this presents a hardship, please email us at editor@therawartreview.com.
21. We recognize that the fee may be a deterrent for some submitters who are challenged by financial hardship. We consider a limited number of requests for financial aid in covering the fee. Please send an email to editor@therawartreview.com to make a request for financial aid. PLEASE NOTE: RAR has its own financial challenges, so please do not request financial aid unless it is absolutely necessary. Thank you.
22. RAR has implemented a “3 Strikes and WE are out” rule. If you have been declined for publication in 3 OR MORE SUBMISSIONS, please notify us at our email address – editor@therawartreview.com. Your next submission to any RAR Journal Issue or Contest will be free, and all of our editors will be notified to pay particular attention to your submission. You will get a personal and detailed response to our decision – if you want one. NOTE – This is 3 separate submissions – not 3 works submitted as part of a single submission.

These 9 books were selected winners of the contest and will be published in the 2020 or 2021 publication year.  Congratulations to the Winners!  Please keep an eye out for the announcement of the publication of these fine collections of poems

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Black Ice and Fire by James Kelly

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Ragpicking Ezekiel’s Bones by Pamela Sumners

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It’s Becoming A Lot More Difficult To Feel Unchanged by Adam Edelman

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Love in Another Tongue by Virginia Sutton

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Mellifluous by K. P. Anderson

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Much by Joel Peckham, Jr.

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old state road by Jason Gerrish

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Sewn from Water by Deborah Rosch Eifert

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The UnInvented Ear by Leon Fedolfi

UnCollected Press is excited to offer you the satisfaction of reading a really good book of short stories. Will Clattenburg’s “The Art of The Fugue” offers insight into the intimate nuances of his character’s lives, relationships and experiences. The voice is spare and gentle and exacting in its trade-craft. No words are wasted; the trajectories of the characters’ lives are revealed to us with a subtlety and elegance that packs a wallop. Enjoy!

Wow ! We really love this book here at UnCollected Press (and The Raw Art Review). Pete Donohue is one of our favorite poets writing on the planet today. “swallowing paregoric babies “  finds and reveals relevance and moving experiences in the flow of life all around the poet and (presumably) the reader. The insights and revelations are novel and intriguing; the language is unique and inspiring. You really should read this finely wrought book of poems by Pete Donohue.

Why Mira Can’t Come Back to Her Old House

The colors of the Dark One have penetrated Mira’s body; all the other colors washed out.

Making love with the Dark One and eating little, those are my pearls and my carnelians.

Meditation beads and the forehead streak, those are my scarves and my rings.

That’s enough feminine wiles for me. My teacher taught me this.

Approve me or disapprove me: I praise the Mountain Energy night and day.

I take the path that ecstatic human beings have taken for centuries.

I don’t steal money, I don’t hit anyone. What will you charge me with?

I have felt the swaying of the elephant’s shoulders; and now you want me to climb on a jackass?

Try to be serious

“The continued influence of Meera, in part, has been her message of freedom, her resolve and right to pursue her devotion to deity Krishna and her spiritual beliefs as she felt drawn to despite her persecution. Her appeal and influence in Indian culture, writes Edwin Bryant, is from her emerging, through her legends and poems, as a person “who stands up for what is right and suffers bitterly for holding fast to her convictions, as other men and women have”, yet she does so with a language of love, with words painting the “full range of emotions that mark love, whether between human beings or between human and divine”

Edwin Bryant (2007), Krishna: A Sourcebook, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0195148923, page 245 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meera

GUIDELINES (NOT RULES)

1. The winning poem will receive a $200 award and will be announced on the home page of the RAR website.
2. 5 additional poems will receive $25 runner-up awards and will be announced on the home page of the RAR website.
3. Honorable mention poems will be announced on the home page of the RAR Website.
4. The Contest Winner will be presented on the RAR home page as a Featured Writer and will be given a featured artist page that will include up to 25 poems. https://therawartreview.com/featured-artist-pages-all-art-forms/ .
5. There are no rules of form and content. The sole criteria for selecting a winner is the power of the emotional/psychological/spiritual impact on editors reading the poem.
6. There are no particular trade-craft requirements. Single or double space, left-center-right justification, long lines/short lines, standard use of punctuation or not, etc.
7. TYPOS – we understand it is difficult to catch all typos. NOTE: we will presume an “error” is volitional, so for the purpose of maintaining your intent for the poem it is in your best interest to review carefully, get help from other readers, etc.
8. Review of poems is blind. Please do not put your name or any other identifying information on your pages.
9. No BIO needed at this time. You can use the cover letter space provided on the submission form to discuss your poem or skip the cover letter entirely. What you write as a cover letter will have no bearing on selection for the prize. The cover letter will only be read after selections are made. We love reading your cover letters though – please feel free to expound.
10. Editors are prohibited from rejecting a poem on first read. All poems get at least 2 reads before a decision is made.
11. Editors assume you are smarter than we are. We will strive to understand your intention ; stay open-minded and try to avoid imposing our presumptions on your work.
12. We will never use irresponsible and self-aggrandizing language to describe your work like “purple writing” or “cliche”, or “your center justification is a gimmick”.
13. We will accept poems on a revolving basis during the submission period as blog posts on The Raw Art Review’s front page and for inclusion in The Raw Art Review’s next journal volume. This first “acceptance” will include the writer’s work on the short-list for the contest winner.
14. We value the slush pile. (Not a derogatory term among our editors). With your permission, a poem that is declined may be returned to the slush pile for future consideration.
15. 3 poems per entry. Multiple submission entries are fine but the fee applies to each additional submission of up to 3 poems.
16. We accept Word and PDF formats. We prefer Word Format.
17. Simultaneous submission is fine.
18. Previously published poems are eligible provided the submitter owns the rights to re-publish. We are happy to recognize the original publisher upon your request.
19. Submission Deadline is NOVEMBER 15, 2020.
20. Submission fee is $15. We are offering an expedite add-on fee of $5 with selection to the shortlist for the prize and acceptance for publication in The Raw Art Review completed in 2 weeks or less.
21. You must use Submittable for submissions

UnCollected Press is delighted to announce the publication of a truly beautiful, lyrical and passionate  immersion in the intimate poetry of person and place.  In “Throatbone”, Simon Maddrell is our guide into and among the organic elements of a very special location – The Isle of Man.  This is not the superficial, tourist introduction to The Isle of Man.  “Throatbone” is as much about the person who has known The Isle of Man like the closest of family members and, with love and tenderness,  extends to us the privilege of his inner understanding.  These are poems to settle in with and get to know – to become acquainted with in the fullness of time, place and person.

 

 

UnCollected Press is delighted to announce the publication of a consummate collection of  insightful, funny, intriguing and moving poems by George Douglas Anderson.  We highly recommend this collection for your library.

 

 

The Raw Art Review Winter 2020 (click here to read and download)