Betrayed - Violence Against Women
Ends on
Betrayed - Violence Against Women
Inspired by Not If I Can Help It by Meg Groff
In a rare starred review, Kirkus Reviews states:
"The cases she recounts range from harrowing to infuriating: The police shrugged away potential murders as suicides, children were left unsupervised with dangerous fathers with devastating results, doctors assumed that struggling young mothers must be alcoholics. Each episode carries a tremendous punch, as well as a searing lesson about the failings of society to help those in need. Groff deftly narrates her personal experiences to set engrossing scenes, like a last-minute courtroom speech to keep a baby out of protective services or the immense relief from a colleague’s simple affirmation, while never losing sight of the bigger picture. “Abusers do not think of themselves as criminals,” she writes in one of the many examples of the smart, big-picture analysis she offers. Despite such heavy details and subject matter, Groff balances her book with warmth and humor."
Write us a poem about your experience.
Deadline: June 15, 2025
Live reading: July 15th, Central Free Library Philadelphia
Virtual Reading Event: July 20, 2025
Submission Guidelines: Please submit one poem for our Betrayed: Violence Against Women 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.com