Fatal Force: Poetic Justice

Elegies for Victims of Police Violence

As of December 4, 2023, 1085 people have been killed by police in the United States (mappingpoliceviolence.org).

Police officer, Mark Dial shot and killed Eddie Irizarry on August 14, 2023, just after Eddie had peaceably parked at the side of the road. Later that same day, Philadelphia police told the media that the incident began when officers pulled over a car that was "driving erratically" and that "officers approached" the car, that Irizarry "stepped out" of the car "with a knife" and that the "officers gave multiple commands for him to drop the knife, and that  Irizarry "lunged at the officers", prompting the shooting. On August 15th, Philadelphia police changed their story, stating that Irizarry was actually in the car when he was shot six times. Retracting the cover up, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw stated that officers' body-worn camera footage "made it very clear that what we initially reported was not actually what happened."

Martín Espada recently wrote a poem entitled, “Officer Mark Dial, Who Shot Eddie Irizarry, Will Be Fired for Insubordination” to elegize the innocent young man whose murder this past August is an outrage.

An anthology, Fatal Force : Poetic Justice featuring Martín Espada’s poem will be printed, and an online forum for contributors publicly to read their work will happen on February 17thto honor poet/activist, Julia de Burgos’ birthday. On the anniversary of Eddie Irizarry’s death, a live event will celebrate the book’s publication.
 

Submit by February 11th to be included in our reading honoring Julia de Burgos. To be included in the anthology publication, submit by July 14th for the reading event on August 15th.
 

Anthology Deadline: July 14th, 2024
 

Submission Guidelines: Please submit one poem for our Fatal Force anthology.

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.org