Working on Kurnai country, in the West Gippsland region of south-eastern Victoria, the Baw Baw Arts Alliance is proud to encourage poets from right across Australia to contribute to Catchment – Poetry of Place once more.
Our next submission window will remain open between September 21 – November 21, towards a third issue, due for release online on December 21.
Again, poems offered will need to show a strong sense of location – perhaps they could evoke picturesque qualities; potentially they might convey an impression of atmosphere or mood; they may even provoke a level of reflection about feelings, ideas or issues attached to a place.
Contributors should look at Submission Guidelines for further details. In short, however, poets from this country can offer: longer poems, as Western free verse; or tanka, following approaches taken internationally with this Japanese-based verse form; or work in both styles.
Localities focussed upon throughout Catchment’s first two editions have been spread across all Australian states and territories, with some poems also looking at places found overseas.
Unfortunately we cannot accept contributions from international poets, all the same, simply because the team responsible for producing Catchment – Poetry of Place is only small.
This fact has likewise prompted us to put three or four additional guidelines in place here, linked to our digital portal for making submissions towards this next issue.
Reflecting on processes adopted in editing text & loading data (in a more digitalised second edition), we appreciate we need to be more precise about a few matters this time, to make things clearer for poets in terms of approach; and more sustainable for us regarding workload.
Delighted by support shown by contributors & readers – with both of our previous issues – we hope to continue to offer a broad, generous range of poetry, high in quality, across contrasting styles, with our new edition again featuring striking responses to place from Australian poets!
Rodney Williams
Editor
Catchment – Poetry of Place
Baw Baw Arts Alliance