Don't Just Sit There

 

(Editor's Note:  Thanks to everyone who submitted poetry for this edition, originally scheduled for Fall 2013.  We hope to have this edition ready for publication in the near future.  For those whose work was accepted for publication elsewhere during the interim, thank you for letting us know.)     

 

GENRE:  LIGHT VERSE 

 

There once was a poetry journal

Whose editors sought the eternal.

They set some conditions

And invited submissions -- 

Now their lives have become quite nocturnal.

 

 Despite their exalted pedigree, spanning the ages from Chaucer and Shakespeare to the entire madrigal and Anacreontic traditions, to Ogden Nash, Dorothy Parker, Wendy Cope and X. J. Kennedy, the genres of light verse still retain more than a whiff of frivolous connotation in contemporary American poetry. And yet, as critics and poets have been pointing out since Aristotle, comedy may be more difficult to write than tragedy, as everyone cries over the same things, but laughs at different ones. To make a verse appear light is no easier than what a dancer does by appearing to defy gravity. Comedy is serious business. In our next issue, we at Don't Just Sit There therefore aim to do our part to encourage such levity. We invite submissions of poems humorous, satirical, witty and all things light. We also welcome brief essays on the same, along with book reviews of volumes of or about poetry (of any kind) authored by anyone affiliated with Lighthouse Writers Workshop.  Please send us great work that makes us stay up all night laughing and contemplating the difficult choices of what to publish.

 

Guidelines 

Please read all of the following instructions and guidelines carefully. Submissions are accepted only through this electronic submission form.  The editors encourage you to take a moment to review past issues of the journal prior to submitting your work.   

• Please submit no more than three unpublished poems and a single essay or review.  

• Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please let us know as soon as possible if your piece is accepted for publication elsewhere.  

• DJST requests first North American Serial rights for print publication and electronic serial rights for online publications.  All other rights remain with or revert to the author upon publication. 

• DJST does not provide compensation for published work.   

• We encourage you to review past issues prior to submitting your work.  

• See below for more details.  

Poetry

Please submit no more than three poems per issue.  Don't Just Sit There encourages the proliferation of poetry forms, though free verse, when consistent with the content requirements of a given issue, is also welcome.  

 

Essays and Reviews 

Please submit only one essay or review per issue. Submissions should be double-spaced in 12 point Times New Roman font.  Reviews should not exceed 1500 words. Essays should not exceed 2500 words.