Shō Poetry Journal

Shō Poetry Journal Arizona-based independent nonprofit print journal coming out of a 20-year hibernation. Submissions open. Before going to press she passed on from this world.

Shō Poetry Journal was started in 2002 by Chia Martin when she was battling cancer. She wanted to create a platform to promote the work of poets she knew and admired. Sponsored by Hohm Press, she solicited work from nine poets, collected a total of sixty-eight poems, and arranged them in her preferred order. This present incarnation of Shō is edited by Johnny Cordova and Dominique Ahkong, a husban

d and wife team. Our tastes are divergent but there is a lot of overlap. We share a similar aesthetic and usually agree on what constitutes good – or compelling – poetry. Shō aims to carry on the small-press tradition of giving voice to outsiders and non-establishment poets. We believe that some of the most interesting poetry is written by the working class, by poets from the streets, by those steeped in life experience. We believe that reading poetry should be a visceral experience. We shy away from the abstract and obtuse.

To celebrate Juneteenth, we are offering free submissions to Black Poets this Friday June 19. The portal will open at mi...
06/15/2026

To celebrate Juneteenth, we are offering free submissions to Black Poets this Friday June 19. The portal will open at midnight PT and will close at 11:59pm; no caps.

Open and reading for Shō No. 10🔅
06/14/2026

Open and reading for Shō No. 10🔅

Catching up on mail submissions from incarcerated poets before we open for digital submissions this Monday June 1! We tr...
05/30/2026

Catching up on mail submissions from incarcerated poets before we open for digital submissions this Monday June 1! We try to offer personal feedback in these letters. In our responses, we always include other snail mail submission and mentorship opportunties for incarcerated writers. We’re always on the lookout for special folios—if you hear of any, please send them our way.

Shoutout to the folks currently on our list: Incarcerated Writers Project , , Rain Shadow Review, , The Incarcerated Writers Initiative , and Freedom Meridian .

We are OVER THE MOON 🌝🌚🌛🌜to share that Erica Dawson has been honored with a Pushcart Prize for her poem “Portrait of the...
05/25/2026

We are OVER THE MOON 🌝🌚🌛🌜to share that Erica Dawson has been honored with a Pushcart Prize for her poem “Portrait of the artist as sonnet for Dickinson’s line A wounded deer—leaps highest—”! This poem was published in Shō No. 6 and will appear in the The Pushcart Prize LI: Best of the Small Presses (2027). Congratulations, Erica!

Listen to Erica Dawson read her poem (tinyurl.com/ericadawsonportrait) or read it in Shō No. 6.

Erica Dawson is the author of three books of poetry, most recently When Rap Spoke Straight to God (Tin House, 2018). Her poems have appeared in Blackbird, Orion, Revel, The Believer, and other journals and anthologies. She lives in the Baltimore-DC area.

We're running a sale on print issues—and we're including a Shō goody with every order! No code needed: shopoetryjournal....
05/24/2026

We're running a sale on print issues—and we're including a Shō goody with every order! No code needed: shopoetryjournal.com/shop

Can't decide which issue to get? Swipe to see how our recent issues open, or check out our contributor list for each issue.

Sending a gift? You can include a message for the recipient in the notes at check-out.

1. Shō Poetry Journal Spring Sale: $8 per issue, till June 1

2. Every issue ships with one Shō goody ("Hopi Leia" bookmark or cover art postcard). Buy 3 copies and get free shipping.

3. Shō No. 8 (Winter 2025/26) opens with "Questionnaire for Qu**rs (in their 30's) by Chen Chen ()

Shō No. 7 (Summer 2025) opens with "Poem for the Man Who Said He Would F**k the Rest of the Boy Out of Me" by Sara Hovda ()

4. Shō No. 6 (Winter 2024/25) opens with "At Lake Merritt I'm wearing a hoodie with nothing under it" by Jackson D. Moorman ()

Shō No. 5 (Summer 2024) opens with "Saraswati claims creation" by Kuhu Joshi ()

5. Shō No. 8 features cover art ("Hopi Leia") by Sikuyva Dawavendewa and 72 poems by 48 poets

6. Shō No. 7 features cover art ("Interim") by Tanya Rastogi and 67 poems by 48 poets

7. Shō No. 6 features cover art ("In Gilded Walls") by Tanya Rastogi and 57 poems by 40 poets

8. Shō No. 5 features cover art ("Lucy") by Harim Choi and 68 poems by 47 poets

9. Shō No. 4 features cover art ("Girl with Deer Mask") by Harim Choi and 73 poems by 47 poets

10. Shō No. 3 features cover art ("Grandfather Autumn") by Juanita Rose Violini and 62 poems by 42 poets.

Get your packets ready! Submissions for Shō No. 10 (our winter issue) open on June 1.The Basics:1. Manuscript* Submit up...
05/20/2026

Get your packets ready! Submissions for Shō No. 10 (our winter issue) open on June 1.

The Basics:

1. Manuscript
* Submit up to 5 unpublished poems in a single PDF or Word doc/docx
* Include your name and page numbers on every page
* Name your file ‘FirstName_LastName’ e.g. Victoria_Chang.pdf

2. Cover Letter (pasted in Submittable)
* Include your poem titles
* Include a short third-person author bio
* Simultaneous submission? Let us know

Policies & Requests
* We do not accept work that has been generated or aided by AI
* Please do not submit poems that have been posted online/published in any form
* To withdraw individual poems, use the ‘Messages’ feature in Submittable (do not notify us via email or our contact form)

Good to know
* We charge a $3 submission fee for a response of 30 days or less
* All contributors receive a print copy of the issue. U.S.-based authors receive a discount on extra copies
* Editors’ Prizes of $150 each are awarded to two U.S.-based poets in each issue. The winners and two runners-up each receive a one-year subscription to Shō Poetry Journal
* Submissions are always free for U.S. Indigenous poets
* We offer at least one free BIPOC pop-up window per reading period

Our latest newsletter features lots of poetry news, as well as links to new and forthcoming poetry books by Shō fam, inc...
05/13/2026

Our latest newsletter features lots of poetry news, as well as links to new and forthcoming poetry books by Shō fam, including .craft, , , .mack88, , , , , , , and .

Link in stories or shopoetryjournal.substack.com

Shō No. 9 sequencing in progress!
05/04/2026

Shō No. 9 sequencing in progress!

05/02/2026

Listen to Loisa Fenichell read “From where I arrived” from Shō No. 8.

About this Poem: The poem started with an image of a blue whale — my poems usually start with images, though very occasionally poems will evolve from a line instead — and then I suppose as I was writing the blue whale became the past itself (I was thinking in a bit of an ecological way, too, if I recall correctly). The gas stations bit is very much inspired by a poem by Catherine Pond, “At the Sunaco in West Virginia,” and the ambulance image is inspired by a movie called “A Different Man.” Other moments are more autobiographical, like with the teacher...as with any poem (I think!) it stemmed from a myriad of places, from a myriad of sources of inspiration.

Loisa Fenichell’s work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best New Poets, and has been featured or is forthcoming in Poetry Northwest, Washington Square Review, The Iowa Review, and elsewhere. Her chapbook, all these urban fields, was published by nothing to say press and her collection, Wandering in all directions of this earth, which was a Tupelo Press Berkshire Prize finalist in 2021 and 2022, was the winner of the 2022 Ghost Peach Press Prize, selected by Yale Younger Poets Prize winner Eduardo C. Corral, and published by Ghost Peach Press. Her second collection, Folk Singer!, is forthcoming from Cornerstone Press. She is the winner of the 2021 Bat City Review Editors’ Prize, has been a finalist for Narrative Magazine’s 2021 30 Below contest, a runner-up for Tupelo Quarterly’s Tupelo Poetry Prize, and a finalist for the Dorianne Laux / Joe Millar prize. She has received support from Bread Loaf Writers’ Workshop and Community of Writers and holds an MFA in Poetry from Columbia University.

Address

PO Box 4410
Chino Valley, AZ
86323

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Shō Poetry Journal posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category