A Call for Poems: Amplifying Disabled Voices

submitted by

Day Eight


Call For Submissions

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!


Submission Period
March 14, 2025 - March 30, 2025

Contact Name
Robert Bettmann
Contact Title
Managing Editor
Contact Email Address
Contact Website

Poetry Print & Online Magazine