ICE: Immigration and Murder
In immediate response, Moonstone is hosting a virtual reading on Sunday, January 25th at 2pm EST via Zoom for all to attend and read. You can register for the Zoom here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/FoHS3q61SQy1zuoz9aIJZA
We are also organizing a poetry anthology in response to ICE's violence, the murder of Renee Nicole Good, and many others who have been killed by ICE. We hope the reading on January 25th will serve as inspiration and a show of organizing strength.
Anthology Deadline: February 1st, 2026
Below we've included snippets of more information on the catalyst for this anthology through the murder of Renee Nicole Good. Many have been
Excerpt from ICE Agents Can Be Charged With Murder
by David Dayden, the executive editor of The American Prospect
On Wednesday afternoon, ICE agents carrying out an operation in south Minneapolis were briefly obstructed by a car blocking traffic. ICE agents approached the female driver, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, yelling, “Get out of the fucking car,” and one of them attempted to open the driver’s-side door. After the driver backed up to turn around and move, another agent drew his gun and unloaded three shots into the car. The car barreled into a light pole about 100 feet down the road, and the driver was quickly pronounced dead.
This is confirmed by eyewitness accounts and videos from multiple angles. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), while confirming the broad details, claims that the ICE agent acted in self-defense to avoid being run over by the vehicle.
Renee Nicole Good, murdered by ICE, was a prize-winning poet. Here’s that poem.
excerpt from Jonny Diamond, January 7, 2026
Renee Nicole Good, 37, mother to a six-year-old boy, was murdered earlier today by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, a few blocks from her home. According to the Minnesota Star Tribune:
[An ICE agent] shot and killed a woman in south Minneapolis during a morning confrontation between community members and federal officers […] Several residents of the area who witnessed the scene said agents were ordering the woman out of the vehicle. A video showed agents around the vehicle as the driver reversed and then pulled forward. One agent appeared to fire multiple rounds into the car.
The bio from a now-private Instagram account belonging to Good describes her as a “Poet and writer and wife and mom and shitty guitar strummer from Colorado; experiencing Minneapolis, MN.”
In 2020, when she went by Renée Nicole Macklin, she won the prestigious Academy of American Poets Prize for a poem called “On Learning to Dissect Fetal Pigs,” which begins:
i want back my rocking chairs, solipsist sunsets, & coastal jungle sounds that are tercets from cicadas and pentameter from the hairy legs of cockroaches.
i’ve donated bibles to thrift stores (mashed them in plastic trash bags with an acidic himalayan salt lamp— the post-baptism bibles, the ones plucked from street corners from the meaty hands of zealots, the dumbed-down, easy-to-read, parasitic kind):
remember more the slick rubber smell of high gloss biology textbook pictures; they burned the hairs inside my nostrils,
& salt & ink that rubbed off on my palms.
[READ THE FULL POEM HERE] - https://poets.org/2020-on-learning-to-dissect-fetal-pigs
This is murder in broad daylight by the Trump administration, obvious and brutal. And though each senseless act of violence committed by the state upon its citizens echoes the thousands that have gone before, we cannot become numb to the particular (and intensifying) depravities of this administration.
So if the violence of the deportations, and the crackdowns, and the cuts, and the raids, and the air strikes, haven’t been enough for you, let something so simple and evil as the daytime execution of a poet move you to action.
Remembering Marjorie Agosín
(June 15, 1955 – March 10, 2025)
Marjorie Agosín was a Chilean-American writer. She won notability for her outspokenness for women's rights in Chile. The United Nations honored her for her work on human rights. The Chilean government awarded her with the Gabriela Mistral Medal of Honor for Life Achievement in 2000. She has been a recipient of the Belpré Medal. In the United States, she received the Letras de Oro, the Latino Literary Prize, and the Peabody Award, together with the United Nations Leadership Award in Human Rights.
This will be a subsection in our upcoming anthology, Poesía sin Fronteras: Latinx Voices in Poetry.
Deadline: February 8th, 2026
Virtual Reading: March 8th, 2026
Submission Guidelines: Write a poem on Marjorie Agosin or inspired by her.
Keep this poem limited to 35 lines total. When determining the total line length for each poem, include spaces between stanza (ex: a poem of 5 couplets would equal 14 lines). Numbers or section breaks should also be included as lines when calculating the total line length. Count an epigraph as 3 extra lines. A line that has more than 60 characters (including spaces and punctuation) should be counted as two lines. If lines are staggered like a Ferlinghetti poem, estimate the width of the line.
The final book will be printed in 11 point Garamond font on pages that are 4.5 inches wide. Poems with lines longer than 4.5 inches may be changed or denied due to printing constraints.
For questions or inquiries, please email Larry Robin at larry@moonstoneartscenter.com
World Poetry Day 2026
World Poetry Day is celebrated on March 21st every year, and was declared by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 1999, "with the aim of supporting linguistic diversity through poetic expression and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard". Its purpose is to promote the reading, writing, publishing, and teaching of poetry throughout the world and, as the original UNESCO declaration says, to "give fresh recognition and impetus to national, regional, and international poetry movements".
Deadline: February 22, 2026
Virtual Reading: March 22, 2026
Submission Guidelines: Write one poem for our World Poetry Day anthology for 2026.
Keep this poem limited to 35 lines total. When determining the total line length for each poem, include spaces between stanza (ex: a poem of 5 couplets would equal 14 lines). Numbers or section breaks should also be included as lines when calculating the total line length. Count an epigraph as 3 extra lines. A line that has more than 60 characters (including spaces and punctuation) should be counted as two lines. If lines are staggered like a Ferlinghetti poem, estimate the width of the line.
The final book will be printed in 11 point Garamond font on pages that are 4.5 inches wide. Poems with lines longer than 4.5 inches may be changed or denied due to printing constraints.
For questions or inquiries, please email Larry Robin at larry@moonstoneartscenter.com
Poesía sin Fronteras
¿Escribes poesía en español y te gustaría publicar uno de tus poemas? ¡Este llamado es para ti! ¡Esperamos tu voz!
La convocatoria a la primera edición de Poesía sin Fronteras (2025-2026) busca nuevas voces para promover la paz, la concordia y la armonía a través de la poesía.
Da rienda suelta a tu imaginación y sé parte de esta celebración de la poesía y el espíritu creativo. ¡Anímate a participar y cuéntales a otros!
Requisitos
Pueden participar escritores de todas las edades.
Debes enviar un poema inédito de máximo 70 líneas de extensión, en español. Al determinar la longitud total de cada poema, incluye espacios entre las estrofas (por ejemplo, un poema de 5 pareados equivaldría a 14 líneas). Los números o saltos de sección también deben incluirse como líneas al calcular la longitud total de la línea. Cuenta un epígrafe como 3 líneas adicionales. Una línea que tenga más de 60 caracteres (incluidos los espacios y la puntuación) debe contarse como dos líneas. Si los versos están escalonados como un poema de Ferlinghetti, calcula el ancho del verso.
El libro final se imprimirá en fuente Garamond de 11 puntos en páginas de 4 pulgadas de ancho. Los poemas con líneas de más de 4.5 pulgadas pueden ser cambiados o rechazados debido a restricciones de impresión.
Fecha de Entrega
La convocatoria estará abierta hasta el domingo 12 de octubre, 2025.
Los poemas que cumplan los requisitos serán publicados en el libro Poesía sin Fronteras - Primera edición (2025-2026) que se presentará el 4 de octubre durante la Feria Latinoamericana del Libro 2025 en Filadelfia.
La lectura virtual se realizará el domingo 5 de octubre via Zoom.
Para preguntas o consultas, envíe un correo electrónico a feeppeemphilly@outlook.com
Presentado por:
XI Festival Internacional de Poesía en Filadelfia Una Voz por la Paz,
la Concordia y la Armonía
y
festival internacional de poesía en todas partes
Poetry Without Borders
Do you write poetry in Spanish and would like to publish one of your poems? This call is for you! We look forward to hear your voice!
The call for the first edition of Poetry without Borders (2025-2026) seeks new voices to promote peace, concord and harmony through poetry.
Unleash your imagination and be part of this celebration of poetry and the creative spirit. Go ahead, get involved and tell others!
Requirements
Writers of all ages are eligible.
You must send an unpublished poem of 70 lines maximum, written in Spanish.
Keep this poem limited to 70 lines total. When determining the total line length for each poem, include spaces between stanza (ex: a poem of 5 couplets would equal 14 lines). Numbers or section breaks should also be included as lines when calculating the total line length. Count an epigraph as 3 extra lines. A line that has more than 60 characters (including spaces and punctuation) should be counted as two lines. If lines are staggered like a Ferlinghetti poem, estimate the width of the line.
The final book will be printed in 11-point Garamond font on pages that are 4 inches wide. Poems with lines longer than 4.5 inches may be changed or denied due to printing constraints.
Deadline and Events
The submissions have been reopened for a combination anthology until Sunday, March 8th, 2025. There is a $5 reading cost to participate. Scholarships are available if you can't pay.
Poems that meet the requirements will be published in the book Poetry Without Borders - First Edition (2025-2026) that will be presented at the Latin American Book Fair in Philadelphia on October 4th, 2025. The virtual reading will be on Zoom on October 5th.
Presented by:
XI International Poetry Festival in Philadelphia, A Voice for Peace, Concord and Harmony, and
XIX International Poetry Festival Everywhere
For questions or inquiries, please email FipPeemPhilly@outlook.com
The International Poetry Festival Everywhere is a solidarity proposal that allows simultaneous readings in various parts of the world during the month of May. Today the "Word in the World" Festival is presented as a proposal of SUR International Cultural Project, Isla Negra Magazine and Havana International Poetry Festival and had more than 2500 events in 2025.
Remembering Ernesto Cardenal
Ernesto Cardenal’s poetry (20 January 1925 – 1 March 2020) is so deeply engaged with the historical, political, and spiritual landscape of his life that biography and bibliography seem almost arbitrary distinctions. Priest, social activist, and the former Minister of Culture in Sandinista Nicaragua, Cardenal is the most urgent and eloquent voice in a country of poets and revolutionaries, a cultural icon whose life and writings have altered history.
From his years of contemplation at Thomas Merton’s Trappist monastery in Kentucky, to his support for the overthrow of the corrupt Somoza regime in Nicaragua, to his foundation of the liberationist Christian commune Solentiname and the highly successful literacy workshops of the Sandinista years, Cardenal has tied his poetry to his life and brought poetry to the lives of many.
Over the length of his career, Cardenal has produced a kind of poetic history of his homeland, narrating the rise and destruction of successive waves of indigenous and colonial cultures in Latin America and recounting the events of the Sandinista revolution, including a fierce yet astonishingly generous critique of U.S. foreign policy. Allen Ginsberg has said of his epic poem The Cosmic Canticle, Cardenal “interweaves brilliant political-economic chronicle with panoramic spiritual information, updating post-Poundian verse for [a] late 20th century narration of the Americas’ last half-millennium.” Myth mixes with pop culture, an unceasing belief in the Divine with a profound concern for the material world to form a “textural collage” – in Neruda’s terms, “an impure poetry” that is as often unsettling as it is beautiful, and is made with the common materials of everyday experience. Poetry, politics and prayer join in Cardenal’s work; it speaks a truth that he himself embodies, rendering its voice and its message inseparable.
EXTENDED Deadline: February 8th, 2026
Virtual Reading: March 8th, 2026
Submission Guidelines: Write a poem on Ernesto Cardenal or inspired by him.
Keep this poem limited to 35 lines total. When determining the total line length for each poem, include spaces between stanza (ex: a poem of 5 couplets would equal 14 lines). Numbers or section breaks should also be included as lines when calculating the total line length. Count an epigraph as 3 extra lines. A line that has more than 60 characters (including spaces and punctuation) should be counted as two lines. If lines are staggered like a Ferlinghetti poem, estimate the width of the line.
The final book will be printed in 11 point Garamond font on pages that are 4.5 inches wide. Poems with lines longer than 4.5 inches may be changed or denied due to printing constraints.
For questions or inquiries, please email Larry Robin at larry@moonstoneartscenter.com
Remembering Hal Sirowitz
(March 6, 1949 to October 17, 2025)
Hal was an American poet, who first began to attract attention at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe where he was a frequent competitor in their Friday Night Poetry Slam. He eventually made the 1993 Nuyorican Poetry Slam team and competed in the 1993 National Poetry Slam along with his Nuyorican teammates Maggie Estep, Tracie Morris, and Regie Cabico.
He would later perform his poetry on stages across the country, and on television programs such as MTV's Spoken Word: Unplugged and PBS's The Unites States of Poetry. He wrote eleven books of poetry, including volumes Mother Said, My Therapist Said, and Father Said. He was the best-selling translated poet in Norway, where Mother Said has been adapted for the stage and turned into a series of animated cartoons.
Sirowitz was a 1994 recipient of an NEA Fellowship in Poetry and was the Poet Laureate of Queens. He worked as a special education teacher in the New York public school system for 23 years and was married to writer Mary Minter Krotzer.
On October 17th, 2025, Sirowitz died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was 76.
Send us a poem about Hal or inspired by him.
Deadline: March 29th, 2026
Virtual Reading Event: April 26th, 2026
Live Reading Event: May 3rd, 2026
Submission Guidelines: Write a poem on Hal Sirowitz or inspired by him.
Keep this poem limited to 35 lines total. When determining the total line length for each poem, include spaces between stanza (ex: a poem of 5 couplets would equal 14 lines). Numbers or section breaks should also be included as lines when calculating the total line length. Count an epigraph as 3 extra lines. A line that has more than 60 characters (including spaces and punctuation) should be counted as two lines. If lines are staggered like a Ferlinghetti poem, estimate the width of the line.
The final book will be printed in 11 point Garamond font on pages that are 4.5 inches wide. Poems with lines longer than 4.5 inches may be changed or denied due to printing constraints.
For questions or inquiries, please email Larry Robin at larry@moonstoneartscenter.com
Submission Requirements:
While Moonstone Arts Center and Moonstone Press started out as a Philadelphia based organization, the pandemic and zoom has made us international. We are open to submissions from everyone.
Please submit about thirty-five pages of material. Poems may have been previously published, but the work as a whole must be new.
Simultaneous submissions to other publishers are permitted, but you must promptly notify Moonstone Press if a manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
When determining total line length for each poem, include spaces between stanzas and number/section breaks. Divider pages or section titles should be included in the total page count.
The final, saddle-stitched chapbook will be printed in 11 point Garamond font on paper that is 4 ½ inches wide.
Include a separate cover letter with a biography statement and contact information (mailing address, email address, and phone numbers).
A $15.00, nonrefundable reading fee is required for us to accept and review your work.
All submissions must be sent through Submittable. Mailed, hard-copy manuscripts will no longer be accepted.
Moonstone is nonprofit organization largely run with the help of volunteers. The current review timeline for open submissions is about 6 months. This timeline is not reflective of your work; we are dedicated to giving each submission consideration with the resources we have.
If you have a problem or questions, contact Larry Robin @ 215-735-9600.
Submission Requirements:
While Moonstone Arts Center and Moonstone Press started out as a Philadelphia based organization, the pandemic and zoom has made us international. We are open to submissions from everyone.
Please ready-to-publish material for a full-length poetry book (at least 80 pages). Poems may have been previously published, but the work as a whole must be new. Simultaneous submissions to other publishers are permitted, but you must promptly notify Moonstone Press if a manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
When determining total line length for each poem, include spaces between stanzas and number/section breaks. Divider pages or section titles should be included in the total page count.
Include a separate cover letter with a biography statement and contact information (mailing address, email address, and phone numbers).
If your submission is under 50 pages, please submit to our Open Chapbook Submissions form: https://moonstoneartscenter.submittable.com/submit/91032/open-chapbook-submissions
A $15.00, nonrefundable reading fee is required for us to accept and review your work.
All submissions must be sent through Submittable. Mailed, hardcopy manuscripts will no longer be accepted.
If you have a problem contact Larry Robin @ larry@moonstoneartscenter.com or 215-735-9600