Dear friends,

It is my great pleasure to introduce you once again to Anya Johnson, who was our winner for the inaugural Bob Hicok fellowship! Having Anya as our first ever fellow has been delightful. Her poems continue to remain mysterious & interesting. To celebrate her fellowship, she’s our featured poet this week! As part of her tenure, she also edited last week’s feature of Richie Hofmann. In the beginning of this year, we ran this very cool essay by her, and then later this brilliant poem, in case you missed it. And of course, we’re excited for you to read her new poems as well as the interview, both linked below.

That we’ve been able to support Anya in some small way through the year is something we’re very grateful for. We’re lucky we’re able to uplift poets & spread poetry in the world day in & day out because of your kind readership & support.

We’re now open for the fellowship, and are looking forward to finding our next fellow, chosen by none other than Bob Hicok himself, whose own poems continue to astound me. Have you read his new book Breathe yet?

Anyhow, the fellow receives $1000, a full year of complimentary workshops (valued at ~ $1000), a one-on-one meeting with Bob Hicok that could turn into a sustained mentorship (as it has in Anya’s case), a chance to edit a Poet of the Week feature (soliciting & interviewing a favorite poet), and regularly contribute to the ONLY POEMS blog.

You can send in your best poems (even if they’re published) as long as one of the poems in the batch is unpublished at the time of submission. Head to our website for the submission guidelines & other information.

Yours,

​Karan​

POET OF THE WEEK Anya Johnson

Anya Johnson is a Brooklyn-based writer whose work has been published in or is forthcoming in Poetry, The Drift, Afternoon Visitor, Pembroke Magazine, Hobart, Scaffold, and on Poets.org, among others. She is a freelance editor, actor, and visual artist.

from Girl Like Me

I wanted to be in on the joke,
the back-slapping, to be immune.

Then I remembered
my life.

Collapsing Distance & Time

"Growing up in a female body, in America, sex was more commodity than pleasure, and female desire rarely entered the equation. When it did, it was filtered through a masculine, capitalist lens and was something to be mapped out or repaired."

2 DAYS LEFT TO SUBMIT

Poem of the Month ✷ Persona Poem

OFFICIALLY OPEN!

$2000 Bob Hicok Fellowship for All Poets, Everywhere