Day Eight is pleased to invite poets to submit their work for a special section of the Mid-Atlantic Review celebrating the diverse experiences and perspectives of disabled individuals.
The editors of this special section — Christopher Heuer, Marlena Chertock, and Gregory Luce — seek submissions from disabled poets of all ages, backgrounds, and experience levels, including poets writing from a place of lived experience with disability, and poets who identify as disabled and/or neurodivergent.
The editors will not judge any individual’s experience of disability or police any poet’s identification with the experience of disability.
Themes may include, but are not limited to:
- Disability as identity: Exploring the lived experience of disability, embracing disability pride, and challenging societal perceptions.
- Accessibility and inclusion: Poems that address the barriers faced by disabled individuals and envision a more accessible and inclusive world.
- Resilience and strength: Reflecting the strength, resilience, and creativity of the disabled community.
- Body image and self-love: Poems that challenge ableist beauty standards and that speak to the beauty and diversity of disabled bodies.
- Chronic illness and pain: Expressing the realities of living with chronic illness and pain, and finding voice in shared experiences.
- Mental health and neurodiversity: Exploring the spectrum of mental health experiences and expressing neurodiversity.
- Disability and intersectionality: Poems that examine the intersection of disability with other identities, such as race, gender, sexuality, and class.
- Joy, love, and connection: Celebrating the joy, love, and connection found within the disabled community and beyond.
- Advocacy and activism: Poems that advocate for disability rights and challenge ableism in all its forms.
Submission Guidelines:
- Submit up to three poems.
- Poems can be in any style or form.
- Please include a brief bio (under 200 words) with your submission, highlighting your connection to the disability community if you wish.
- Submissions are only accepted via the Mid-Atlantic Review’s Submittable platform here. When making the submission, please note that it is a submission for consideration in the Disabled Voices special section
Submission and Publication Timeline:
The submission period is open from Feb 15 – March 30, 2025. Selected works will publish April, 2025 in the Mid-Atlantic Review. Submission is only to be made via the Submittable platform here: https://dayeight.submittable.com/submit/316853/the-mid-atlantic-review-2025-call-for-submissions
The Editors:
Christopher Heuer, Marlena Chertock, and Gregory Luce will be the editors selecting work for this special section.
- Christopher Jon Heuer, an advisory editor of the Mid-Atlantic Review and professor of English at Gallaudet University, is the author of Bug: Deaf Identity and Internal Revolution and All Your Parts Intact: Poems.
- Marlena Chertock’s experiences growing up and living with spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, a rare bone disorder, are documented in her poetry books, Crumb-sized: Poems and On that one-way trip to Mars, along with themes of intersectionality, queerness, chronic pain, accessibility, science fiction, and how climate change impacts disabled people.
- Gregory Luce, editorial board chair of the Mid-Atlantic Review, is the author of six books of poetry, including the recently-published Smells Like Rain, and is currently writing a memoir examining his experience with neuro-divergence and mental illness.
We are committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive space for disabled voices. We particularly encourage submissions from poets whose voices are often marginalized or underrepresented. We look forward to reading your work!
