2025 Wisconsin Poets’ Calendar
Theme: Shine
The theme for the 2025 Wisconsin Poets’ Calendar is “shine.” Your poem may shine a light on something, shine into a dark corner, capture the brilliance of an experience, relationship, place, or anything. A brass doorknob. Your vinyl LP. The epiphany you had the first time you did something hard. A crow’s view. The afterglow of a mopped floor. The way you love.
You get the idea. Send us a poem that shines!
Our strongest pieces of advice: avoid using the word “shine” in your poem(s) and follow the submission rules below.
The theme for this year’s calendar is “Shine.” Your poem may shine a light on something, shine into a dark corner, capture the brilliance of an experience, relationship, place, or anything.
A brass doorknob. Your vinyl LP. The epiphany you had the first time you did something hard. A crow’s view. The afterglow of a mopped floor. The way you love.
GUIDELINES
Submission Period: December 1, 2023-February 9, 2024
Editors: Jeanie Tomasko, Linda Voit, and Beth Ann Workmaster
The Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets will begin accepting poems for the 2025 Wisconsin Poets’ Calendar beginning December 1, 2023. Poets must be at least 18, a resident of Wisconsin or have a close connection to Wisconsin. Submissions received prior to December 1 will be returned. Deadline is February 9, 2024.
Please adhere to the guidelines below:
1. Submit one or two poems, single-spaced, not centered. Shorter poems preferred. Poems longer than 34 lines, counting stanza breaks, may not be accepted. Prepare your poems in a single Word document using the file name “[last name] [first name]”.
2. Previously published work accepted. Include the name of the publication where it first appeared.
3. In your Word document, please include along with your poems: your name, street address, phone, email, and a short bio written in third person (30 word maximum). Please include ALL information requested, as lack of it may disqualify your submission. (We have limited time, and we’d rather spend it reading great poems than tracking down email addresses or phone numbers.)
4. Prepare your submission by attaching your one Word document — do not put them or the additional information in the body of the email.
5. Email your submissions to 2025calendarsubmission@gmail.com. Put [last name] [first name] in the subject line.
6. If you don’t have an email address, send your typewritten poems to:
Jeanie Tomasko
6725 Century Ave
Middleton, WI 53562
No hand-written poems accepted.
7. We will confirm receipt by email, unless you send a postal submission. Then, include two stamped postcards: one for notification that your poems have been received and one for notification that your poem will or will not be included in the Calendar.
8. Deadline for submissions: 11:59 p.m. on February 9, 2024. Poems arriving after that time will not be considered. Mailed submissions must be postmarked no later than February 9, 2023.
9. We want to read your best/shiniest poems!
Jeanie Tomasko, Linda Voit, and Beth Ann Workmaster
2025 Wisconsin Poets’ Calendar Editors