November 2026 is the season's big book-prize month for poets. Yale, BOA, Georgia, Nightboat, Fordham's Poetic Justice prizes and Beloit's Chad Walsh chapbook all close, plus a handful of single-poem contests, broadsides and paying journal calls. Below is a curated roundup of poetry contests November 2026 and related calls we verified on official contest or publisher pages. … [Read more...] about Poetry Submission Deadlines November 2026
Bound in Presence, By: Andrew Cyr
I swear I was there, and God—so were you: there. Here: together—bound. … [Read more...] about Bound in Presence, By: Andrew Cyr
What Is Song of the Open Road About?
What is Song of the Open Road about? Walt Whitman's long poem opens with a man setting out on foot: "Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road, / Healthy, free, the world before me." Over fifteen numbered sections the road becomes much more than a path. It stands for freedom, for openness to every kind of person, and for a life that keeps moving instead of settling. Read … [Read more...] about What Is Song of the Open Road About?
One Need Not Be a Chamber to Be Haunted Summary and Analysis
This One Need Not Be a Chamber to Be Haunted summary turns a ghost story inward. On Poetry Catalog the poem appears under the title Ghosts. Emily Dickinson argues that the mind can be more frightening than any haunted house, abbey chase or armed assassin. Read the full text of Ghosts (One Need Not Be a Chamber to Be Haunted) on Poetry Catalog. One Need Not Be a Chamber to Be … [Read more...] about One Need Not Be a Chamber to Be Haunted Summary and Analysis
An Awful Tempest Mashed the Air Summary and Analysis
This An Awful Tempest Mashed the Air summary watches a storm turn into something almost alive, then fade. On Poetry Catalog the poem appears under the shorter title A Tempest. Emily Dickinson’s speaker describes a black sky, roof-top creatures that act like monsters, and a morning that restores peace. Read the full text of A Tempest (An Awful Tempest Mashed the Air) on Poetry … [Read more...] about An Awful Tempest Mashed the Air Summary and Analysis
The Three Graves, By: Samuel Taylor Coleridge
[Part I--From Ms.] Beneath this thorn when I was young,This thorn that blooms so sweet,We loved to stretch our lazy limbsIn summer's noon-tide heat. And hither too the old man came,The maiden and her feer,'Then tell me, Sexton, tell me whyThe toad has harbour here. 'The Thorn is neither dry nor dead,But still it blossoms sweet;Then tell me why all round its rootsThe … [Read more...] about The Three Graves, By: Samuel Taylor Coleridge