PUBLISHING NEW WOMEN POETS SINCE 1997

* 2024 Perugia Press Prize Opens TOMORROW *

Publication of the winning manuscript comes with
$2,000*, author copies, and other support from the press.


We're pleased to continue a fee structure for our contest that 
gives poets options on how they submit their work and makes 
the contest more accessible to all. Read more on our blog.
 
* Note that our honorarium has increased beginning with 
this submission cycle, due to the generous support 
of a grant from the Mass Cultural Council.


We look forward to reading your work!
 

Emerging BIWOC Poet Spotlight

July 2023 Poet: Destiny Hemphill

 
ghazal for the motherworld
 
 
stitched at the edges of our mouths be songs of loss, psalms of care.
rub comfrey salve in the faint seams of our soles, balm of care.

the planet growls with its own grammar of secrets,
rumbles with its own mother wit, rage, song & care.

mabel swaying at the threshold between dirt & aether as her baby
she could not keep on earth visits her: “why, look at your palms, baby care.”

mourning-sickness ruptures bodies into portals, powerful as waters
maternal. may transformation leave us aglow with calm & care.

before we left, we brewed tinctures so our tongues didn’t rust
here, we build our homes with spit, ash, halm & care.

water gleaming like bone—will you tell us again the destiny
of the future’s remains, embalmed with care?
 

From motherworld: a devotional for the alter-life (Action Books, 2023)

To read more about this poet and her work, check out our blog.

* Perugia Poet Phosphorescence *

If you missed the virtual reading on July 20 that Perugia poets
Carolina Hotchandani, Rebecca Pelky, and Lisbeth White
gave for the Emily Dickinson Museum, never fear!
 

* The Book Eaters: Available for Pre-sale *
 

* Perugia Poet News *
 
Perugia poet Carolina Hotchandani did an Instagram takeover
for Sustainable Arts Foundation, where she was a finalist
for their awards to artists and writers with families.
 
*
 
Perugia poet Gail Thomas is teaching a workshop
"Short & Sweet & Maybe Sour: The Art of Short Poems"
for the Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop this fall.
Find details at PVWW. Also, Thomas's book
Leaving Paradise was featured on Autumn Sky Poetry Daily.
 
*
 
Perugia poet Lynne Thompson conducted an interview
with California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick for Poetry.LA.

 
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