Here they are: the sixteen longlisted poems from our 2020 Poetry Contest!
Poetry
Lorna Goodison: Four Poems
Whale Dreams I Wet basalt back of whale passing one hundred feet from the deck, makes me call you to run come from front gate to the sea side to watch this great token made manifest in the glassy March sea. I kneel down on these rocks astonished at the sight of...
Galaxies
Galaxies After Plath’s “Lady Lazarus” Ladies and gentlemen, please. Thank you, thank you—yes, the magic tonight was real. The trick, this time, is mine. No magician can saw me in half—without bunny or top hat or spell cast, I have simply vanished. Call me the first...
The Fatigue (Issue 43.2 Sneak Peek Content)
To celebrate the publication of issue 43.2 Devour, Room would like to share a poem from one of our issue contributors, Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch. You can read "The Fatigue" in print, as well as two more of Eli's brilliant poems, by ordering the issue online. The...
Dead spider frozen in ice are you dead.
“Dead spider frozen in ice are you dead.” is the honourable mention for Room’s Poetry Contest 2019 as selected by judge Pamela Mordecai. Dead spider frozen in ice are you dead. If I melt you will you wake up again and give us all polio. Is polio even that bad. You are...
the seven sacred ways of healing
/let it out/ they tear through my rawing throat, saliva & blood bubbling out /let it out/ they tear through my rawing throat, saliva & blood bubbling out wild prairie fire cacophony. /don’t ask why/ /let it out/ her hand presses deep into my chest, pinpointed...
74
In memoriam Tennyson said Nine years of things about his friend Who’d died. He brought him back by slow Degrees, from sunsets, wind in the trees, In memoriam Tennyson said Nine years of things about his friend Who’d died. He brought him back by slow Degrees, from...
We met at a birthday party.
We met at a birthday party. You were the only rum drinker in the room. On the couch, Al Purdy was going on about the stunted trees in the Arctic. We met at a birthday party. You were the only rum drinker in the room. On the couch, Al Purdy was going on about the...
Verso 40.6
M sent me a photograph by Daguerre. It is of the first human being to be photographed. M sent me a photograph by Daguerre. It is of the first human being to be photographed. Someone is cleaning the shoes of someone. All descriptions of the photograph claim that the...
Troll
He's a mean one, Mr. Troll I wonder what soured his soul enough to tell me I was not attractive enough to worry about being raped? He’s had a hard day at work gets off the elevator at his floor, rattles the key to his apartment door. Once inside, his briefcase slams...
Pre-order Our Next Issue
ROOM 47.3 BODIES
Join Room in a deep dive on the body: touch and isolation, trans and queer embodiment, fat liberation, chronic illness and disability, brutality, sensuality, and other meditations on the bones and muscles you inhabit every day.
Currently on Newsstands
ROOM 47.2 Seedpod
“Maple keys are built by nature like helicopter blades, which allows them to propel as far as possible from the mother maple… In these pages, we see the brave, touching, true ways we, too, must embrace the fear and the excitement that comes with leaving where we are rooted.”
Join us on Patreon
Seeking members who love literature, events, merchandise, and supporting marginalized creators.
ADVERTISEMENT
Visit our Store
-
Bodies | 47.3
$10.00 – $20.00
-
Seedpod | 47.2
$12.00 – $25.00
-
Utopia | 47.1
$12.00 – $25.00
-
Sponsor a Contributor
$250.00
-
Sponsor a Writer
$100.00
-
Sponsor a Poet
$50.00
-
Fever Dream | 46.4
$12.00 – $25.00
-
Fever Dream Tote Bag — Limited Edition
-
Ghosts | 46.3
$12.00 – $25.00
-
Ley Line | 46.2
$12.00 – $25.00
