Circadian Poems

Welcome to the new home of Circadian Poems. I hope that you will visit often, both as a reader and a writer.

Submitted poems can be up to 40 lines. Essays and articles should run 800-1000 words. Please do not send links as submissions, but send the actual piece you wish to submit. Please put the word “submission” in your title and also whether it is a poem, essay, or article. This site gets an enormous amount of spam, and the submission may be filtered if not properly indicated. Please submit a short bio with every submission and indicate whether or not you’d like your links to be included in the permanent links list or just in the bio for that submission.

Circadian Poems treats all material as one-time anthology permission. We are happy to present something that has been published elsewhere, with permission and the appropriate credits; and any work that debuts with Circadian, we hope will have a long and happy life beyond the site. There is no pay at this time.

I do the best I can with formatting, but often the site will not honor unique formatting. My apologies in advance for any format changes.

We only publish the submitter’s original work (i.e., as much as we love poets such as Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, et al, we can’t/don’t publish their work on this site). So please do not submit any other poet’s work, and especially don’t submit it under your own name. If you are enamored of a particular poet, I encourage you to write an essay about it and submit it for consideration for the Tuesday series. You may quote the poet’s work, but all quotes must be footnoted in standard fashion at the bottom of the article.

Photographs and drawings are welcome to accompany poems/articles. Please submit as .jpgs (attachments) not larger than 3 in. by 4 in. and please include the proper photo credits and/or permissions for each photo.

We enjoy publishing short holiday poems (up to 12 lines) for days including New Year’s, Imbolc, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Ostara, Easter, May Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, 4th of July, Mabon, Halloween/Samhain, Thanksgiving, and the Yuletide season. Holiday poems should be submitted at least one month in advance of the holiday to which it is geared.

If you are published elsewhere, have a book coming out, or are making a personal appearance, please send me information about it so I can include it in the Thursday “news” feature. In the title of the email, please write “Submission: News”, so it doesn’t wind up in the spam folder. A lead time of two weeks is necessary.

Generally, the site does not publish during the summer, or when I am away, traveling. I try not to schedule poems when I travel, since I often have no internet access, and this summer, the site will be on vacation from:

July 5 – September 5
November 17 – 25
December 16 – January 6, 2008

You should receive a response to your submission in 2-4 weeks.

Submissions should go to circadian at devonellingtonwork.com

Many thanks for your continued support! And, again, my apologies for the difficulties encountered over the past few months.

With deepest appreciation,

Devon Ellington

Rainy Morn
By Joan Spoon

Gray, rainy morn
a Chickadee shivers
on his perch.
Raindrops stopped
dancing
after midnight
worn out
by their endeavors.
Now they trudge
down the air
to rest on the ground.

Joan Spoon loves her garden, her pets, and her students. She writes, paints, and plays piano whenever she can.

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The Judgment Within
By Sophia Simpson

Outside pressures:
Ridicule
Sabotage
Harassment

Inside pressures:
Despair
Doubt
Worthlessness

Weight from
Both sides
Of the skin
Pressing together

Making it
Impossible
To Breathe,
To Live

Separate the
Emotional boulders
Pressing in.
Dismantle them

Outside factors
Can destroy.
But nothing is tougher
Than the judgment within.

Sophia Simpson is starting over.

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I’ve reposted the first two poems and essays for the year below. Tomorrow’s poem and the subsequent poems will be posted on this URL.

I will investigate moving the archives; until then, they will remain at Blogger.

Next week, I will repost Guidelines, the address for submission, etc., in Thursday’s Poetry News.

Please, if you have poems appearing on other sites or publications, send me a press release here so that I can include it in the weekly poetry news.

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Image
By Violetta Ashe

Wisp
Fragment
Scrap
Gossamer

A movement
In the
Peripheral
Vision

Ethereal?
Corporeal?
Illusion?
Reality?

Passing the
Mirror
In the darkened
Hallway

Catching
A flash of
Movement
Within

A friend
I hope
No foe
To fear

Who is in
The mirror
And why reveal
To me?

(Note:  this was originally posted on the Circadian Site on Blogger on January 10, 2007)

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What It Feels Like to Write a Poem
By Brenda Braene

When I’m asked what it feels like to write a poem, I always pause and think. Not because I don’t know the answer, but because I’m not quite sure how to articulate it to someone who hasn’t experienced it.

For writing a poem is more experiential for me than it is intellectual. Anything can spark it – an image, a word, a sensation, an emotion, a scrap of conversation. The spark turns into a series of images, tied to feelings. Then words start to form, like clouds before a rain storm. And I have to pick out the words to best express the images and the emotions.

I want my reader to see and feel what I see and feel. A poem, to me, is a moment of intimacy in experience. It’s frightening to be so open, and, at the same time, it’s wonderful.

But finding the right words with the right shade of meaning is a challenge. It takes draft after draft, talking the poem as well as writing it. It means putting it away and trying to approach it days later, with fresh eyes.

A good poem will make me see the world differently, somehow, to present a new experience to me. Hopefully it’s an experience with which I can either connect or understand. And it’s something I can revisit, year after year, both to re-experience the familiar and to learn something new.

Brenda Braene is a frequent contributor to Circadian Poems. Her blog is Poet Meets Muse, and she shares a website with her sisters, The Three Braenes.

(Note: This essay was originally posted on the Blogger version of Circadian Poems on January 9, 2007)

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New Year
By Bliss Monaghan

A new year
A clean slate
An unsullied cloth
A fresh page
On which to write
The latest installment
Of the novel of my life.

Bliss Monaghan lives each day as it comes. And the days are better when they are filled with poetry.

(Note: This poem was originally posted to the Blogger version of Circadian Poems on January 8, 2007)

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As you can see, we’re in the process of moving this blog here toWord Press.  I’m not sure how or when I can move the archives.  But I think, ultimately, we will be happier here.

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Not much to report just yet in the New Year.

If you’ve submitted and not heard back — my apologies. I’m getting 1200 pieces of Spam per day into the account — and that’s what’s getting through the Spam filter, which is set as high as it can go. I’m not even looking at what’s in the Spam folder.

I’m working my way through everything else as best I can.

Please make sure you put “submission” into your poems or essays.

Please make sure you include a bio with every submission — and contact information, so I can email you back.

I’m thinking of moving this site over to Word Press — I’ve moved several other sites over in the past few weeks. I have to investigate a bit more and see if we can move the arachives as well.

Thanks for your patience, and may you have a poetic New Year!