As I mentioned earlier, I was thrilled to find out that THREE of my poems had been accepted for publishing by Writing for Peace. Their journal, DoveTales had put out a submission request for their upcoming themed issue: Resistance. This was a perfect call for me, as I’d been writing a lot in response to the protests and civil unrest due to the recent murder of George Floyd (and Ahmaud Abery and Breonna Taylor and, sadly, so many more). As a brown woman in America, racism has impacted my life negatively in more ways than I can recount and I had strong feelings about the issues. Due to the pandemic, my own illness, and the fact that I live with someone else who is immuno-compromised, public protests weren’t an option for me. So I’d been pouring a lot of my thoughts and feelings into my writing.
Still, I was amazed when not one, not two, but all THREE of the poems I’d submitted to Writing for Peace were accepted. It’s always exciting having your writing accepted for publishing, but there’s something different about being published on paper. Turning a tangible page to see your writing (on paper that you didn’t print out!) is pretty cool. I’d had my first poem published in that little pocket poetry book, but I was really looking forward to having THREE poems in this journal.
First, the online publication of the journal was released. DoveTales, an International Journal of the Arts: Resistance, published by Writing for Peace looked great online. I was so happy to see my poetry published and the rest of the issue looked so cool. I was impressed to see some beautiful artwork and I began enjoying some of the writing in the issue.
There was a delay with the printer so it took a bit of time for the journal release. I’ll be honest. I’d expected a magazine. I know, I’d looked at the online issue, but I hadn’t looked at the page count, I don’t think and even if I had it certainly hadn’t translated in my head. When the journal arrived, I was shocked and impressed. I am so pleased and honored to be included in this book. It’s gorgeous. It’s 380 pages long and includes some beautiful art and photography that document some of the BLM protests that occurred over the seminal summer of 2020. The stories, poems, and essays in the book are thought-provoking and interesting. The guest editor, Brad Wetzel (also a Coloradoan!), wrote a really lovely editor’s note at the beginning of the book as well.
my poems can be found here the issue is here
purchase here