My lyric essay "The Black Paragraphs" published by Hairstreak Butterfly Review.
I'm thrilled to announce my essay "The Black Paragraphs" was just published in Hairstreak Butterfly Review's Issue 4 for 2021. Hairstreak Butterly Review is the literary journal Colorado College. This issue is so stunning and I am so pleased with the exquisite artwork of Cameron Readius that was paired with my work.
https://www.hairstreakbutterflyreview.com/post/the-black-paragraphs
Entries From the Pandemic Diaries...
While the world is full of COVID 19-based literature and still sadly far too much of the virus itself, the Pine Hills Review recently published my lyric essay-esque "Entries from The Pandemic Diaries" as part of their F__k 2020 Special Feature. I think you'll find it to be a relatable snapshot of quarantine life during the 2020 Coronapocalypse.
Advice on Submitting Your Poems
Photo by Frame Harirak on Unsplash
For those who are looking for a little bit of guidance in finding a home for their poems, I have dusted off and reposted an awesome resource. Check out “How To Submit Poems To Literary Journals And Magazines” at Writer’s Relief. Follow these seven steps and you’ll find your work in the limelight in quick fashion.
Finding Places to Submit Your Work
So let’s say you’ve been diligent in writing every day. Now you have a huge pile of poems, stories, and essays that you’re ready to show the world. But how do you take your creative works from your hard drive and get them onto the pages of a literary journal?
One place to start is by reading Nausheen Eusuf’s “Where to Submit Your Work” on the Submittable blog. It provides an awesome list of places where you can find journals to submit all your brilliant stuff. Good luck in finding homes for your literary darlings!
https://blog.submittable.com/2018/04/where-to-submit-your-work/
Triggerfish Critical Review.
Triggerfish is an online literary journal dedicated to the “why” of poetry, seeking to understand and illuminate this process, to say that it is possible to make qualitative judgments and distinctions about the substance of poetry.
I’m excited to announce that Issue 19 of Triggerfish includes two of my poems (with audio!) – “Tell Them a Story” and “I Am Hip Hop.” You can check these poems out at the links below. I appreciate the chance to contribute to Triggerfish! It is wonderful to be included amongst the talented writers and artists in this issue.
http://triggerfishcriticalreview.com/adrian-s-potter-tell-them-a-story/
http://triggerfishcriticalreview.com/adrian-s-potter-i-am-hip-hop/
Bacopa Literary Review.
Big thanks to the folks at the Bacopa Literary Review for including three of my poems in their 2017 issue, including “This Is Not a Protest Poem,” which won Honorable Mention in their annual contest. I appreciate the chance to contribute!
Here's the Amazon.com link to Bacopa Literary Review 2017 if you are interested in checking it out.
Awesome Online Literary Magazines.
Are you a writer seeking a new audience or simply searching for a new venue to submit your work? Or a reader who would like to find an online magazine that publishes high quality work? If so, I have a great resource for you.
From Bookfox: “30 Small But Awesome Online Literary Magazines.” This article by Maia Russell has some of the best online literary magazines listed below are currently taking submissions, will compensate their writers and have ongoing writing contests.
Personally, I plan on bookmarking this page and reviewing all of these journals to assess whether my writing might be a good fit.
Twenty Good Reasons.
Over on The Millions, Nick Ripatrazone provides us with “20 Reasons Why You Should Read Literary Magazines.”
http://www.themillions.com/2016/10/20-reasons-read-literary-magazines.html
100.
Another awesome piece from Lit Hub: Kim Liao’s “Why You Should Aim for 100 Rejections a Year” explains how the path to writing success is paved with rejection notices. This one changed my perspective on submitting work to journals.
http://lithub.com/why-you-should-aim-for-100-rejections-a-year/
13 Questions.
As a practicing writer, one of the more critical decisions you will face is deciding where to submit your work.
Check out this new piece by Erika Dreifus on Literary Hub called “13 Questions to Ask Before Submitting to a Literary Journal.” It provides some sound advice on what you should look for as you’re searching for potential “homes” for your writing.
http://lithub.com/13-questions-to-ask-before-submitting-to-a-literary-journal/
Inclusive.
Don't miss this excellent piece by Zinzi Clemmons on Literary Hub today: "What It Means To Be an Inclusive Literary Journal."
http://lithub.com/what-it-means-to-be-an-inclusive-literar…/
The Tishman Review.
Volume 2, Issue 2 of the literary journal The Tishman Review is available for purchase. Among the works included in this issue is my poem “Postlude.”
I appreciate the opportunity to contribute to The TIshman Review and I am looking forward to reading this edition from cover to cover.
An Update About Me.
I have been so focused on posting resources lately that I haven’t talked very much about my writing. But there are good things happening behind the curtain and many more coming down the pipeline.
I do have a desk drawer and gmail inbox filled with rejection notices. Despite that fact, I have work forthcoming in The Talking Stick, Alchemy, Switched-on-Gutenberg, Opossum, and Birch Gang Review.
2016 has been pretty enjoyable so far from a writing standpoint and I am hoping to make it even better as it progresses on. Be good.
Obsidian.
I just received my copy of Obsidian 41.1 & 41.2 and it looks like it will be a great read.
Obsidian is a premier peer reviewed journal of African and African Diasporic arts and letters published at the Illinois State University Publications Unit.
Thanks to Obsidian Magazine for including my poem “For the Tattooed Woman at Lefty’s Tap” in this issue. Appreciate the support and chance to contribute.
Portage Magazine.
I’m happy to announce that I have two poems included in the Issue #2 of Portage Magazine, an online literary journal run and edited by undergraduate students of Carroll University.
Portage publishes literary writing, art, music, film, and cultural commentary from the upper Midwest. Thanks to the editorial staff for the chance to contribute.
If you get a chance, check out “Is This Heaven?” and “Cabin Fever” at: https://portagemagazine.org/adrian-potter/
Suggested Reading.
From Off the Beaten Shelf – Check out this list of 6 lit mags you should be reading. If you are an avid reader, this is worth checking out.
Guest Blogging at NAR’s Blog
I took a little time off to retool and refine things on this website. Hope you like the upgrades.
But I didn’t completely stop blogging. Head over to the North American Review’s blog to see my guest post there. You’ll get a chance to check out my poem “How to Keep It Real When Everything Has Gone Wrong” that appeared in Issue 301.1 of NAR, as well as read notes on the development of that poem and about my creative process in general.
Lit Mags for Your Reading Pleasure.
BuzzFeed has compiled a list of 29 amazing literary magazines we should all be reading.
And since my work has only appeared in one of these journals, this list can also double as a list of places I need to submit my work to. It’s good to have goals.
North American Review, Winter 2016.
The Winter 2016 issue of the North American Review is now out.
North American Review (NAR) is the oldest and one of the most culturally significant literary magazines in the United States. Past contributors include important nineteenth-century American writers and thinkers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, Edith Wharton, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman; and twentieth-century writers like William Carlos Williams, John Steinbeck, Thomas Wolfe, William Saroyan, and Flannery O’Connor.
And now add to the list…little old insignificant me. My poem “How to Keep It Real When Everything Has Gone Wrong” appears in the Winter 2016 issue. This issue features a host of excellent poets and writers such as Patricia Spears Jones, Traci Brimhall, Zakia Henderson Brown, and many others. The visual art in the issue is impressive as well.
I can’t deny it – it feels cool to have work in the first American literary magazine. A big thanks goes to guest editor Metta Sáma who deemed my poem worthy of being in NAR. Much appreciated.
Hartskill Review.
Volume 2, Issue 3 of the literary journal Hartskill Review is available for purchase. Hartskill Review is dedicated to publishing contemporary poetry crafted with thoughtfulness and care. It also contains reviews of poetry collections and chapbooks.
Among the works included in this issue are my poems “Craigslist” and “Entry from an Insomniac’s Dream Book.” I really appreciate the chance to contribute. Thanks to editor Joshua Hjalmer Lind for deeming my work worthy of publication.