The Madrid Review

04/07/2025

Find out about Palestine's National Poet today on the blog.

Mahmoud Darwish (1941–2008) was a Palestinian poet whose work came to symbolize the experience of exile, resistance, and national identity for millions of Palestinians. Though virtually unknown in many parts of the Engl...

04/07/2025

Today on the Blog: 'Who was Mahmoud Darwish?'

Mahmoud Darwish (1941–2008) was the most celebrated Palestinian poet - a voice of exile, identity, and resistance. Born in a village destroyed during the 1948 Nakba, he turned personal loss into powerful poetry that spoke for millions.
Read about his life and works today on the blog at our website.




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03/07/2025

Gwendolyn Brooks was a poetic force who turned everyday life into lyrical, lasting art. From her breakout 'A Street in Bronzeville' to the Pulitzer-winning 'Annie Allen', Brooks combined realism, rhythm and radical tenderness. There is raw power in her lyrics which sing and dance in pain and joy on the page.
With iconic works like 'We Real Cool' and 'In the Mecca', she captured both swagger and sorrow, always challenging injustice with grace and grit. As Illinois’s poet laureate and a national icon, Brooks believed poetry was citizenship - a way to speak truth and build community. “Poetry is life distilled," she said.
Read more about this amazing poet on the blog today, complete with links to all her poems and work.
We Love Her.

03/07/2025

Gwendolyn Brooks was a poetic force who turned everyday life into lyrical, lasting art. From her breakout A Street in Bronzeville to the Pulitzer-winning Annie Allen, Brooks combined realism, rhythm and radical tenderness. There is raw power in her lyrics which sing and dance in pain and joy on the page.
With iconic works like We Real Cool and In the Mecca, she captured both swagger and sorrow, always challenging injustice with grace and grit. As Illinois’s poet laureate and a national icon, Brooks believed poetry was citizenship - a way to speak truth and build community. “Poetry is life distilled," she said.
Read more about this amazing poet on the blog today, complete with links to all her poems and work.
We Love Her.

Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000) was as a defining voice in American poetry, tracing ordinary lives with exceptional empathy and craft.

02/07/2025

HOY, 2 DE JULIO, A LAS 19:30

No te pierdas esta única actuación en Madrid del premiado dúo artístico:

Omar Musa, poeta, rapero y artista visual borneano-australiano, ganador de múltiples premios, y reconocido por su fusión de poesía, música y arte visual desde Borneo hasta Brooklyn.

Mariel Roberts Musa, virtuosa violonchelista estadounidense descrita como “exploradora sin miedo” en la música contemporánea (Chicago Reader), con una trayectoria destacada con Wet Ink Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble y en festivales como Lucerne y Wien Modern, entre otros.

Entradas: 12 € (bebidas y snacks incluidos). 5 plazas subvencionadas — escribe a [email protected] si necesitas una.

Apúntate aquí: https://ghostbird.eventbrite.com

Organizado por

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TODAY, JULY 2nd, at 7:30pm

Don’t miss this one-time performance in Madrid by the award-winning artistic duo:

Omar Musa, Bornean-Australian poet, rapper, and visual artist, winner of multiple awards and known for blending poetry, music, and visual art — from Borneo to Brooklyn.

Mariel Roberts Musa, virtuoso American cellist described as a “fearless explorer” in contemporary music (Chicago Reader), with a distinguished trajectory performing with Wet Ink Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble, and at festivals such as Lucerne and Wien Modern, among others.

Tickets: €12 (includes drinks and snacks). 5 subsidized spots available — write to [email protected] Write Salonyou need one.

Sign up here: https://ghostbird.eventbrite.com

Organized by

02/07/2025

Do poets today have it in them to speak up? Or is it all backslapping and book launches?
themadridreview.com/f/we-poets-hat…

02/07/2025

In 1968, Pablo Neruda gave a speech at the University of Concepción in Chile. Here's an extract which strikes to the heart of what we need from poets today - or is everyone more interested in back slapping and point scoring?
"Perhaps the duties of the poet have been the same throughout history. Poetry was honored to go out into the streets, to take part in combat after combat.
When they called him 'rebel', the poet was not daunted.
Poetry IS rebellion.
The poet is not offended if he is called 'subversive.' Life is more important than social structures and there are new regulations for the soul.
Seeds spring up everywhere, all ideas are exotic, every day we await momentous changes, we are experiencing the excitement of a mutation in the human order; spring incites rebellion.
We poets hate hatred and make war on war.
Only a few weeks ago, in the heart of New York, I began a reading with some verses from Walt Whitman. Only that morning I had bought yet another copy of Leaves of Grass.
When I opened it in my hotel room on Fifth Avenue, the first thing I read were these lines, which I had never particularly noticed before:

Away with themes of war ! away with war itself !
Hence from my shuddering sight to never more return that show of blacken’d, mutilated corpses
That hell unpent and raid of blood, fit for wild tigers or lop-tongued wolves, not reasoning man.

These lines brought an instantaneous response.
The public that overflowed the auditorium stood and applauded wildly. Unknowingly, through the words of the bard Walt Whitman, I had touched the anguished heart of the North American people.
Would that my poems were so lasting, the poetry already written, and the poetry still to come…"

01/07/2025

Even if you've never written a poem in your life - do it. Try. Write what you feel. Send it.

The Madrid Review invites poets from around the world to submit one poem only, in Word format, as an email attachment between July 1 and July 13, 2025, for Issue 5 of the magazine which goes to print in August 2025. Poem...

01/07/2025

"Your work is to change the world..."

01/07/2025

أرس لنا قصائدك من أجل فلسطينل!
تدعو مجلة مدريد ريفيو الشعراء من جميع أنحاء العالم إلى تقديم قصيدة واحدة، بصيغة وورد، كمرفق بريد إلكتروني بين 1 و13 يوليو 2025، للعدد الخامس من المجلة، الذي سيصدر في أغسطس 2025.
نحن نبحث عن قصائد موجهة إلى شعب فلسطين وغزة، ولكننا نرحب أيضًا بالأعمال التي تتحدث عن المعاناة الإنسانية والحرب في أوكرانيا وإيران وروسيا واليمن وميانمار وإسرائيل والولايات المتحدة. هذا نداء إنساني ومناشدة للشعراء أن يكونوا شهوداً وأن يقولوا الحقيقة للسلطة وأن يعبّروا عن الألم والأمل.
ستشارك هايا محمد، وهي شاعرة تبلغ من العمر 22 عامًا وتعيش في قطاع غزة بفلسطين، في تحرير قسم الشعر في هذه النافذة. وقد صدر حديثًا عن دار آوت سبوكين برس كتيب هايا الأول القوي بعنوان ”عصر أشجار الزيتون“.
نحن نطلب قصائد مؤثرة وصادقة وواقعية - ولكن غير مبالغ فيها - قصائد تعكس المعاناة من حولنا، ولكنها تحمل أيضًا القدرة على الصمود.
أرسل قصيدتك في ملف Word (.doc أو .docx) إلى [email protected]، قبل 13 يوليو.
قصيدة واحدة لكل شخص. في Word. مرفقة بالبريد الإلكتروني. لا ملفات PDF. لا قصائد في رسائل البريد الإلكتروني.
#الشعر
#السلام
#فلسطين

30/06/2025

The Madrid Review invites poets from around the world to submit one poem only, in Word format, as an email attachment between July 1 and July 13, 2025, for Issue 5 of the magazine which goes to print in August 2025. Poems may be written in English, Spanish or Arabic.
We seek poetry addressed to the people of Palestine and Gaza, but we also welcome works speaking to humanitarian suffering and war in Ukraine, Iran, Russia, Yemen, Myanmar, Israel, and the United States. This is a humanitarian call - a plea for poets to bear witness, to speak truth to power, and to give voice to sorrow and hope.
Haia Mohammed, a 22-year-old poet living in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, will be co-editing the poetry section this window. Haia’s striking debut pamphlet, The Age of Olive Trees, has just been published by Out‑Spoken Press. Today, despite her and her family having no food or water, she said she was looking forward to reading your poems.
Her collection captures both the devastation and indomitable spirit of her people, weaving together grief, defiance, and unexpected moments of joy. As Haia writes, “I carry on my shoulders the pain of a nation … and on my lips, the voice of defiance,” refusing pity and instead offering powerful testimony rooted in lived experience.
Acclaimed writers including Max Porter and Zeina Hashem Beck praise her work as “miracles of language and spirit” that “defy death” and serve as a vital record of resistance and humanity. All proceeds from the pamphlet go directly to Haia and her family, supporting them amid ongoing hardship.
Since October 7, 2023, Gaza’s Ministry of Health (MoH) reports at least 50,500–50,810 deaths and over 115,000 injured as of early April–late May 2025. A Lancet analysis suggests this official count likely underestimates reality: some 64,260 traumatic deaths occurred by June 30, 2024, and true overall fatalities may exceed 70,000 or more.
During the current blockade (March–June 2025), 440+ deaths and thousands of injuries have been reported specifically at aid distribution points - 35 killed on June 14 alone, 51 killed while queuing for aid in Khan Younis last week, and roughly 400 casualties across multiple aid incidents since May.
UN humanitarian updates also highlight the devastating toll on health and infrastructure - even newborn hypothermia claimed eight infants in January 2025, and widespread hunger has pushed around half a million people into extreme food insecurity
We ask you to be witnesses - observe and speak without fear. As Carolyn Forché wrote, this is “poetry of witness… testimonial rather than polemical”. Shelley reminded us that “poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world”. Neruda taught that “Poetry is an act of peace” and called on us to halt the “wars with gas, wars with fire… victories with no survivors”.
We ask for poems that are emotive, heartfelt, real - but not overwrought - poems that hold up a mirror to the suffering around us yet also carry resilience.

Send your poem in Word (.doc or .docx) to [email protected], by July 13.

One poem per person. Word. Attached to an email. No PDFS. No poems in emails. 12 point normal font.

Let your words stand witness, offer solace, insist on humanity.

If you wish to submit on any other subject, or prose or flash or long fiction, use the Creative Writing Club page.

Please share this if you think it's important.



https://themadridreview.com/f/subs-open-july-1st-13th-1-poem-per-poet---poems-for-palestine

30/06/2025

The Madrid Review invites poets from around the world to submit one poem only, in Word format, as an email attachment between tomorrow, July 1, and July 13, 2025, for Issue 5 of the magazine which goes to print in August 2025. Poems may be written in English, Spanish or Arabic.
We seek poetry addressed to the people of Palestine and Gaza, but we also welcome works speaking to humanitarian suffering and war in Ukraine, Iran, Russia, Yemen, Myanmar, Israel, and the United States. This is a humanitarian call - a plea for poets to bear witness, to speak truth to power, and to give voice to sorrow and hope.
Haia Mohammed, a 22-year-old poet living in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, will be co-editing the poetry section this window. Haia’s striking debut pamphlet, The Age of Olive Trees, has just been published by Out‑Spoken Press. “I carry on my shoulders the pain of a nation … and on my lips, the voice of defiance,” she has written. Displaced many times, her university bombed, with no water or food at all yesterday, Haia wants to read your poems. She wants to hear you.
We ask you to be witnesses - to observe and speak without fear. As Carolyn Forché wrote, this is “poetry of witness… testimonial rather than polemical”. Shelley reminded us that “poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world”. Neruda taught that “Poetry is an act of peace” and called on us to halt the “wars with gas, wars with fire… victories with no survivors”. You know what's going on - you can SEE what's going on, so WRITE.
Send your poem in Word (.doc or .docx) to [email protected], by July 13.
Share this post or our blogpost if you think it's important.
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