World Poetry Day 2025
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) founded this day in 1999. Poetry uses rhythms and imagery to elicit emotion and the imagination of the reader. Poetry can rhyme, using what are called meters of long and short syllables. Some poetry, written in what’s called ‘free verse,’ doesn’t employ rhyme or meters. Poems are broken into stanzas, which are like paragraphs, and can be up to 12 lines long. We believe the first known poem appeared 4,000 years ago in Babylon. Today, countless types of poems are available to enjoy, including haikus, limericks, sonnets, and ballads.
Deadline: February 23
Virtual Event: March 21
Submission Guidelines: Please submit one poem for our 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
Chaos, Crises, Conflict
In a time, fraught with political strife and armed conflict, how can we reframe, heal, and continue to live in the midst of destruction, chaos, and loss? There is conflict everywhere, on every continent. We seem to have forgotten that we are all human beings. Where is our empathy? How do we reconcile? How do we survive?
Words are the basis of my world and I think that poetry can express our deepest feelings. We cannot hide but must face reality both physically and emotionally, we must reconcile our differences and learn to live together again. We have to talk and write and free ourselves by expressing ourselves. I am reminded of William Butler Yeats’ poem The Second Coming written in 1919 and appropriate today.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Words lead to action; action leads to change.
We can make this world a better place for our children.
Deadline: March 9, 2025
Live Interactive Workshop: March 30th, 2025 (learn more here)
Virtual Reading Event: March 31st, 2025
Submission Guidelines: Please submit one poem for our Conflict 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
Every year, Moonstone honors International Haiku Day on April 17th. While this is the international recognition of Haiku, every day is Haiku day for us. Richard Wright wrote over 1000 haiku and Sonia Sanchez starts each day writing a Haiku. Send us yours for our annual celebration.
Deadline: March 16, 2025
Reading: April 20, 2025
Haiku Anthology Submission Guidelines: Submit up to 5 haiku. A haibun is also encouraged.
Keep the submission limited to 35 lines total. Though we are open to experimentation with the traditional form of haiku, please note that our printing space is limited. 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
Biography Submission Guidelines: Please include a biography between 50 to 100 words that focuses on your writing career and poetry itself.
29th Annual Poetry Ink
We want you all: published poets, unpublished poets, academic poets, street poets, poets who write Sonnet, Villanelle, Haiku, Ekphrastic Poems, Concrete Poems, Epitaph, Elegy, Epigram, Limerick, Ballad, Ode, Free Verse. Join us for our 29th year of presenting 100 poets reading in alphabetical order.
Submit to our 29th Poetry Ink anthology and to read.
Deadline: Sunday, April 13th, end of the day
LIVE Event: Sunday, May 18th at The Rotunda (4014 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19104)
Virtual Reading: Monday, May 19th via Zoom
Anthology Submissions: Please submit one poem for our 29th Annual Poetry Ink Anthology.
Please limit your submission to one poem.
Keep this poem limited to 35 lines total. When determining the total line length for each poem, include spaces between stanzas (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 of your total line count. 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 1/2 inches wide. Poems with lines longer than 4 1/2 inches may be rejected due to printing constraints
Biography Submission Guidelines:
Please include a biography between 50 to 100 words that focuses on your writing career and poetry itself.
For questions or inquiries, please email Larry Robin at larry@moonstoneartscenter.com
New Voices Anthology - Spring 2025
A series for emerging poets between the ages of 10 and 25. A monthly reading series and a bi-annual publication which strives to bring together younger poets from various communities.
We tend to gather in our own communities. There is nothing wrong with that except we begin to sound alike, look alike, think alike. New Voices is our attempt to expand everyone’s experience, to introduce other ways of everything and to give a platform to the young writers of this generation.
Deadline: April 13th, 2025
Live Reading Event: May 15th, 2025
Anthology Submissions: Please submit one poem for our Spring 2025 New Voices Anthology. This anthology is open to poets between the ages of 10 to 25.
Please limit your submission to one poem.
Keep this poem limited to 35 lines total. When determining the total line length for each poem, include spaces between stanzas (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 of your total line count. 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 1/2 inches wide. Poems with lines longer than 4 1/2 inches may be rejected or changed due to printing constraints.
For any questions, please reach out to us at larry@moonstoneartscenter.com.