We’re currently in the middle of publishing our “Bridges” theme and we’ve finished accepting submissions for “Shops & Stores,” our November theme. Under the hood, we’re looking forward to our December theme, “The Darkest Night,” where we peer into the darkness to see what we find.
Images, poems and essays are all welcome, and there are more details below about how and where to submit, and what we’re looking for. Thank you for your consideration!
Editorial guidelines
Online submission form
The Darkest Night
Submission deadline: November 4
Publishing dates: December 5-23
The dark night of the soul, which mystic St. John of the Cross wrote about in the sixteenth century, is often employed as shorthand for a negative experience, yet John found a lot of illumination in the dark night. In every place, the ebb and flow of darkness lets us know where and when we are, situating us in time and space, whether literally in the case of lunar cycles or figuratively in our personal and collective lives. On what we’ve witnessed in the darkness—from our local ecosystems to our nations, from our own hearts to the spirits of our communities.
Questions
- Many of us live in places where increasing darkness marks the onset of the colder season. What do you relish about this shift? What do you fear?
- What is the darkest spot in the place where you live? Why do you go (or not go) there?
- What has the darkest night meant to you metaphorically? Where did you live at the time of your darkest night and how did that place shape your experience?
- What happens in the dark in your watershed–in the spring, summer, winter, or fall?
- Reflect on a time you felt especially afraid in the dark. What about a time you felt especially safe or at home in the dark?
- As our world becomes suffused by light, even at night, where do you go to savor darkness?
