In a new series of 12 monthly essays, poet, journalist, and U.S. Army veteran Randy “Sherpa” Brown explores how military service members, family members, and citizens can develop a practice of poetry toward improved mindfulness, empathy across the “civil-military divide,” and even political or social action.
How to Be a War Poet — Part 5
“Scouting the Literary Terrain: How and Where to Find War Poems”
by Randy “Sherpa” Brown
A military mission-briefing usually starts with an overview of the current “situation,” in which the presenter overviews such factors as current weather, terrain, and enemy posture. Where are we? Who is located around us? Who is friendly and who isn’t? Where are the likely points of engagement?
Today, we have another “naming of parts”—this time, a kind of map-orientation to the literary landscape. Earlier in this series, we labelled some basic components found in individual poems. Enough vocabulary to start a conversation. This month, we’ll describe some of the avenues through which we produce, publish, and perform poetry. These channels can encompass events, places, and publications. Riffing on soldier-speak, this is the poetic domain—the war poet’s battle-space. Our earth and air and sky and space.
Writing workshops may be designed to inspire new writing, improve existing writing through critique, or provide new artistic skills and insights. And they may perform more than one of these functions. One session can be an hour or two in duration. They can be virtual (on-line), in-person, or “hybrid” (both on-line or in-person).
Writing workshops can be designed as singular, “one-off” events. They can also be designed as one-day affairs, or even whole weekends. They can be implemented as limited series—perhaps meeting weekly or monthly—or as come-whenever-you-can hang-outs. They can be free, or conducted for a fee. Fees charged usually compensate facilitators for their expertise and time, but can also help pay for venue rental and snacks. After all, while no one gets into poetry to make money, someone has to keep the metaphorical lights on.
Workshops can be generative, meaning they are focused on creating new work through prompts, discussions, and “in-class” writing time. Particularly if conducted in multiple sessions, however, workshops can also be focused on providing peer-critiques. In these types of events, participants provide mutual, constructive feedback to their fellow writers’ works-in-progress. Finally, workshops can center on honing craft: Learning new writing techniques, styles, and tools through through lecture and discussion.
Events can focus on not only on generating poems and adding to our respective poetry toolkits, but also offer opportunities to share our work through performance. Performance events can take place in coffee shops, libraries, book stores, churches, public parks—you name it. If you’ve got a physical or virtual space, there can be space for poetry.
Poetry readings can focus on the works of one or more visiting or featured poets, or be conducted as karaoke-like “open-microphone” events. In the latter, poets each volunteer for a few minutes of performance time.
Rules for participation in open-mic events can vary: Sometimes, signing-up to participate might be a matter of signing up on a legal pad right before the event. “First-come, first-served.” Other times, participants might register on-line, days before the event. Sometimes, “open-mic” time might precede a reading by a featured poet or performer, which can help draw larger audiences.
In any case, if you decide to participate, make sure to follow each event-organizers’ rules. Buy something to support either the host or performance space—a coffee, a featured book, a T-shirt. Be polite and supportive of all the performers. When it’s your turn, be brief. Sit down when your time is up. Remember the old infantry phrase for individual battlefield movements: “I’m up. They see me. I’m down.”
A poetry “slam” is a spoken-word event, often judged by a panel. In slam events, poets recite one or more previously written poems of their own creation. A typical time-limit per poet is 3 minutes. Judges consider factors such as performance, composition, and engagement. Poetry slams are full of energy and vocalized audience reactions—it’s not uncommon to hear snaps, claps, cheers, and shouts of approval, as might be heard at a sports competition. As in sports, there can be local, regional, and national slams. Some slams can be qualifiers for higher levels of compeition.
Venues for sharing poetry aren’t limited to “on the stage,” however. There are many venues for sharing poems “on the page” as well—whether those words are printed on paper or published on-line.
A literary journal is an on-line or print publication, focused on creative forms of writing. Creative writing can include poetry, short fiction, essays, creative non-fiction, and more. Depending on a journal’s mission statement—how editors there define what they publish and what they don’t—they can also be potential places to publish short plays, photography and visual art, comics and sequential stories, and other work.
Before submitting to any literary publication, always make sure to read and follow editor’s suggestions and guidelines. Look for a given publication’s “about” pages or mission statements, or open “calls for submission.” Follow instructions. Also, sample a few past issues, to make sure that your work seems similar in voice, tone, and content to editors’ past selections.
Remember, literary journals can be general-interest—seeking to publish only the very best of contributors’ submissions, regardless of theme or topic. Journals can also be very specific in focus, however. For example, the Taco Bell Quarterly features only work that somehow mentions the products, culture, and other elements of the popular fast-food chain. Editors there write: “Is this real? A joke? A literary psy-op? We don’t fully know. We just decided to write about Taco Bell.”
For war poets, there are literary journals that regularly explore the lived experiences and writing of military service members, veterans, and family members—or, more widely, what it means to witness or participate in uniformed service, war, and peace. Examples of such journals include, but are not limited to:
(On a more-personal note, I’ll also point to As You Were, the on-line literary journal of the national non-profit Military Experience & the Arts, and a publication with which I have proudly volunteered as a reader and editor for many years.)
Sometimes, particularly around Veterans Day (U.S.), Memorial Day (U.S.), and Remembrance Day commemorations, editors of general-interest literary publications will post calls-for-submission focused on military- or war-themes. These opportunities can be ideal platforms to reach beyond audiences who have lived or adjacent to military service, to engage and encourage conversations with “civilian” readers—those with no direct or immediate experience of military life. This is the way poets and editors can help bridge the “civil-military gap” we often hear about in social-media discourse—how we spark moments of conversation, discussion, and recognition. Ultimately, through our words, we hope to create opportunities for mutual understanding and empathy.
A poetry collection is a book of poetry by a single author. Definitions vary, but publishers often specify that a collection should contain more than 50 poems. Often, a number of these poems will have been previously published in literary journals, popular magazines, and other platforms. Some publishers specify that a collection should contain no more than 50 percent previously published material. The other half should be “new”—previously unpublished. Guidelines vary by publisher, however. When submitting to contests and publishers, make sure to follow each venue’s specific instructions.
(An additional terminological wrinkle: “best of” retrospective and special-themed collections by a single author can also be marketed as “selected poems by.” One great example of this type of book is Mary Oliver’s “Dog Songs.”)
As works by single authors, collections often address multiple and even interconnected themes. We war-poets “contain multitudes,” after all. In curating a collection, poets and publishers play with adjacencies—locating certain poems to be read alongside (or perhaps opposite) each other. As an editor of other poets’ manuscripts, as well as my own, I can say there is a particular and additional magic to be discovered in creatively sequencing poems, and sections of poems. Navigating a poetry collection is very often a different reader-experience than encountering a given poet’s work (even your own) one or two poems at a time. Your own poems can surprise you.
A poetry chapbook is something like pamphlet—a ”smaller than a book” assemblage of poems by one or more authors, usually focused on a singular theme. Again, definitions vary, but chapbooks can comprise between a handful of poems, up to a few dozen.
Back in the ancient, pre-Internet times, we used to photocopy or otherwise reproduce such small publications, folding and stapling them by hand, in effect “publishing” one chapbook at a time. In this way, we’d manufacture enough product to share with our friends, or distribute (usually for free) in coffee shops and campus hang-outs. They weren’t always meant to be something that would last—they were considered “ephemeral,” akin to a pamphlet or a brochure. In the 1980s and 1990s, however, the rise of desktop publishing and color laser-printers made it very easy to achieve a slick “professional” look and feel—and higher production quantities. And today’s Print-on-Demand (POD) vendors make it even easier to design, print, and distribute “chapbooks,” if that’s the desired aesthetic.
You don’t have to use a computer, however. Even today, some poets are more-motivated by the “old” ways. They create hand-crafted or artisanal products.
Remember: It’s all art, regardless of the means of production. The only rule of chapbooking is to make the process your own.
A poetry anthology is a collection of works by multiple writers, curated by editors around a theme or other organizational idea. The books “Giant Robot Poems: On Mecha-Human Science, Culture & War” and “Things We Carry Still: Poems & Micro-Stories about Military Gear” would each be examples of the form. One centers solely on poetry, the other is mix of poetry and prose.
Poetry associations, societies, circles, and other literary organizations often host poetry events, including author readings, and open-mic and slam events. They also publish their own journals and anthologies, and conduct contests. Start your search for state-level poetry associations or societies, perhaps via the National Federation of State Poetry Societies.
Veterans, service members, and military-family members might find poetry and writing opportunities via non-profit organizations such as Warrior Writers and Community-Based Art Works (CBAW). Both groups also regularly offer virtual and sometimes in-person workshops. For writers just starting their publishing efforts, the editors at the previously mentioned non-profit Military Experience & the Arts also uniquely sometimes offer to “workshop” material submitted to its literary journal.
You might also find community-based writing centers in your area. In New York City, The Poets House is a poetry-centered library and education center. In Minneapolis, the Loft Literary Center includes poetry offerings, including year-long poetry-apprenticeship programs.
Sometimes, regional literary organizations are centered on famous local poets. In Franconia, New Hampshire, for example, there is The Frost Place—a house museum non-profit education center dedicated to the memory of Robert Frost (1874-1963). The Hugo House in Seattle, Washington is a non-profit writing centered named after the Seattle-born poet (and World War II military veteran) Richard Hugo (1923-1982).
Finally, many cities and states have designated poets laureate. (Note the fancy plural—similar to “sergeants major.”) Often unpaid volunteers appointed by mayors, arts councils, and state governors, these poets serve limited terms as public arts advocates and educators. Depending on their own artistic interests, they may conduct seminars and workshops, host poetry readings and other events, and even write “official” poems commemorating or celebrating particular events. Think of them as poetry influencers—potential beacons and deacons of any local poetry “scene.” Find where they hang out, and you’ll soon be on your way yourself.
So, there you have it: A situational brief for your own bardic mission. A once-around-the-world primer on the people, places, and publications of the poetry domain. Now that you know how to describe what you’re looking at, you can begin to strategize and plan where to go next. Where will you share your poetry? Where will your poetry journey take you?
Next: Touching the Face of God: War Poems in the Air.
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Randy “Sherpa” Brown is a 20-year retired veteran of the Iowa Army National Guard, and the author and named editor of more than six military-themed poetry collections, anthologies, and chapbooks of poetry and non-fiction. One recent such project is “Things We Carry Still: Poems & Micro-Stories about Military Gear,” which he co-edited with fellow war poet and military spouse Lisa Stice (“Letters in Conflict: Poems,” 2024). Since 2015, he has served as the poetry editor of As You Were, the literary journal of the non-profit organization Military Experience and the Arts. He also regularly shares tips and techniques regarding military-themed writing at The Aiming Circle, a patron-supported community of writing practice. More info: linktr.ee/randysherpabrown
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