Two Sylvias Press

08/01/2025

Want to write poems on Zoom with Ellen Bass? 🧡

Join us September 11 from 4–6 pm PST for Ellen’s class:
The Long-Armed Poem / Controlled Chaos — a workshop on poems that stretch wide, gather the unexpected, and still feel whole. Ellen will share examples and offer practical ways to try this form in your own work.

✨ How to join us?
Sign up for the Weekly Muse (monthly for $18.99 or get a whole YEAR of Zoom poetry classes for $198!) here:
👉 https://twosylviaspress.substack.com/subscribe

When you sign up, you'll also get Weekly Poetry Prompts & Writing Exercises from the editors at Two Sylvias Press in our Weekly Muse museletter 💌

Oh—and yes, the class will be recorded! If you can’t make it live, you’ll have access to the replay whenever you’re ready. You’ll get the registration link to Ellen’s class in your WELCOME LETTER 📨
👉 https://twosylviaspress.substack.com/subscribe

Let’s write some new poems! (Class Description below!)
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Class Description: The Long-Armed Poem (or Controlled Chaos)

A certain kind of poem has a long arm and sweeps disparate, unexpected things into its net. It scoops in a great deal of material that is more or less obviously related. It doesn’t hug the shore. It doesn’t walk a narrow line. It retains a kind of wildness. It can seem untamed. And yet all the elements have enough magnetic or gravitational attraction, enough resonance, that the poem feels organically whole. We’ll look at examples of the long-armed poem and I will give some practical suggestions about how you might experiment with this form in your own poems.

👉 https://twosylviaspress.substack.com/subscribe

The Weekly Muse is the ultimate resource to help poets write & publish more poems. Weekly prompts, writing exercises, publishing opportunities, insider tips from editors, & more! Includes FREE Zoom classes with award-winning poets with paid subscription! Click to read Two Sylvias Press' Weekly Muse,...

07/27/2025

📣 LAST DAY to Register for the August Online Poetry Retreat!!!

✍️ Want to end the summer writing new poems? We got you!
twosylviaspress.com/online-poetry-retreat.html

We send you poetry exercises and inspiring example poems all month to keep you writing. THEN at the end, you'll also receive a detailed critique & response to one of your poems from our guest poets:
Diane Seuss, Traci Brimhall, Danusha Laméris, or Jennifer K. Sweeney. (And you can choose who you want to work with!)

📬 And yes--everything is delivered by email—write from anywhere, on your own schedule.

📅 Retreat Sessions
🌻 August 4–31 (a few spots remaining)
🍂 October 6–Nov 2 (Critique from Two Sylvias Press editors)

Space is limited, so hurry to register here:
🔗 twosylviaspress.com/online-poetry-retreat.html

📝 Note: The material is the same for both sessions—please sign up for only one.

07/25/2025

✍️🚨 LAST CHANCE to be part of Jane Hirshfield's Zoom Poetry Salon and Q&A this Monday, July 28 🗓️ AND join Ellen Bass' 2-hour writing class, "The Long-Armed Poem / Controlled Chaos!"

How to register?
Become a monthly ($18.99) or yearly ($198) subscriber of our Weekly Muse 🌟:
👉 https://twosylviaspress.substack.com/subscribe
The links to register for BOTH classes will arrive in your Welcome Letter! 📩

Can't make the classes live? No worries—🎥 we record every Zoom class and send it to you later!

And if you find the Weekly Muse museletter isn't your thing? No hard feelings—just one click, and you're out! ❌💌

Sign up here: https://twosylviaspress.substack.com/subscribe

The Weekly Muse is the ultimate resource to help poets write & publish more poems. Weekly prompts, writing exercises, publishing opportunities, insider tips from editors, & more! Includes FREE Zoom classes with award-winning poets with paid subscription! Click to read Two Sylvias Press' Weekly Muse,...

07/10/2025

Poetry lovers, it's time to REGISTER!—✨ Spend an evening with Jane Hirshfield in an intimate conversation on poetry (plus a live Q&A!), and take a two-hour generative class with Ellen Bass!

Subscribe to the Two Sylvias Weekly Muse and you’ll get instant access to register for both events—links arrive right in your welcome letter. Join us here: https://twosylviaspress.substack.com/subscribe

✨ But what is the Weekly Muse?? ✨

Think of it as your all-inclusive creative getaway—no airfare required. Spend the summer (and winter!) writing new poems and staying connected to the poetry world.

A subscription to The Weekly Muse gives you everything you need to stay inspired and moving forward with your writing.

Here's what you get EVERY Sunday morning to help organize and prioritize your writing life:

✦ Weekly poetry prompts & creativity exercises
✦ Curated lists of places to submit your work
✦ Publication tips & your questions answered by our editors
✦ Interviews with well-known poets
✦ Pep talks when you need them most
✦ The latest research on creativity (yes, actual studies)
✦ A private & nurturing online community
✦ Zoom classes with major poets (this summer: Jane Hirshfield & Ellen Bass!!)
✦ And, we share your publication news with the whole community!

The Weekly Muse is your literary salon, creative classroom, and poetry toolkit—all delivered to your inbox every Sunday. Our Zoom classes alone are valued at over $2000 a year, but you get everything for just about $4 a week ($18.99/month or $198/year for the best deal).

Try it for a month—or dive in for the year. If it’s not your thing, unsubscribe with a single click. No hoops, no hassle. We keep it easy so you can stay focused on what matters: your writing.

Join the hundreds of poets and writers who count The Weekly Muse as their creative anchor.

Join our Weekly Muse community and experience what so many writers are already benefiting from—plus enjoy two incredible poetry classes with Jane Hirshfield and Ellen Bass to boot!

Register here 👉 https://twosylviaspress.substack.com/subscribe

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Join Jane Hirshfield for an evening of discussing poetry, creative process, and Jane and a live Q&A of YOUR questions!

Join Ellen Bass' for her 2-hour generative class "The Long-Armed Poem."

Description: A certain kind of poem has a long arm and sweeps disparate, unexpected things into its net. It scoops in a great deal of material that is more or less obviously related. It doesn’t hug the shore. It doesn’t walk a narrow line. It retains a kind of wildness. It can seem untamed. And yet all the elements have enough magnetic or gravitational attraction, enough resonance, that the poem feels organically whole. We’ll look at examples of the long-armed poem and I will give some practical suggestions about how you might experiment with this form in your own poems.

To be part of this class, become a paid subscriber to the Weekly Muse here and the registration links for BOTH these classes will be sent to you immediately in your Welcome Letter: Register here 👉 https://twosylviaspress.substack.com/subscribe

The Weekly Muse is the ultimate resource to help poets write & publish more poems. Weekly prompts, writing exercises, publishing opportunities, insider tips from editors, & more! Includes FREE Zoom classes with award-winning poets with paid subscription! Click to read Two Sylvias Press' Weekly Muse,...

07/08/2025

It’s back for the 10th year! Our annual (and popular!) ONLINE SUMMER/FALL POETRY RETREAT is open for sign-ups!

Have one of your poems critiqued by DIANE SEUSS, TRACI BRIMHALL, DANUSHA LAMÉRIS, or JENNIFER K. SWEENEY for the summer session. Fall session poems will be critiqued by the editors of Two Sylvias Press.

We send you poetry prompts and example poems to inspire your writing—ALL VIA EMAIL.

2025 Retreat Sessions Available:
August 4 - August 31 (August Session)
October 6 - November 2 (October Session)

Choose the session that best fits your schedule and sign up! Space is limited! Please visit our website to register: https://twosylviaspress.com/online-poetry-retreat.html

Please Note: The material for each retreat is the same--so please sign up for only one session.

​Two Sylvias Press 2025 Online Poetry Retreat (Open!) 2025 Retreat Sessions Available: June 30 - July 27 (July Session) (Filled and Closed) August 4 - August 31 (August Session) October 6 -...

07/07/2025

Congratulations to EVE ALEXANDRA () for her new poetry book—NONE OF US IN WHITE () Happy book release!!

07/07/2025

New from Two Sylvias Press: NONE OF US IN WHITE by Eve Alexandra--Winner of the Wilder Series Poetry Book Prize!

Kerrin McCadden writes: “Eve Alexandra’s None of Us in White is an unflinching book of poems—a liturgy of love, wreckage, grief, and arrival that is as visceral as it is transcendent. Rooted in intimacy, in thrall with the natural world, and run through with a sequence of charms that offer as much warning as antidote, the range in these poems is stunning—in form and subject. Alexandra’s materials—childhood, a father’s presence and loss, bodily hunger—are made new in her hands. These poems are inventive and incantatory, their language precise and alive: ‘My hand runs the length of the field, and the field is your torso, odd rib that caught my heart like a lacy hem.’ Nature is mirror and medium, and love, a rebellion—'I am remembering how to make love. In protest.’ Lyrically beautiful, but also frank, surprising, and deeply moving, this is an extraordinary collection.”

Eve Alexandra’s first book The Drowned Girl was selected by C.K. Williams for the Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize. Alexandra’s poems have appeared in publications such as Narrative, Barrow Street, Cape Cod Review, Harvard Review, and American Poetry Review. She teaches creative writing and literature at the University of Vermont.

To learn more about NONE OF US IN WHITE, including purchasing information, please visit our website: https://twosylviaspress.com/none-of-us-in-white.html

07/01/2025

✨ Join us for an Evening with Jane Hirshfield—Live on Zoom! ✨

We’re thrilled to invite you to a very special event:
July 28 at 5 pm PST, the incredible Jane Hirshfield joins us for a talk + live Q&A about her poems, writing process, and how to hold light in dark times.

This isn’t your average Zoom class. It’s a night of insight, inspiration, and connection—with room for your questions in the final 30 minutes.

Cost? Just $18.99. Or sign up for the year ($198) and get all our future classes (including Ellen Bass, Traci Brimhall, Jane Wong, Kelli Russell Agodon, and more!)

🎟 Register here: https://twosylviaspress.substack.com/subscribe

And if you’re new to The Weekly Muse, here’s what you get every Sunday morning when you join:

— Weekly poetry prompts
— Submission calls & lesser-known opportunities for poets
— Craft tips, publishing insights, literary trivia
— A private online group + community
— Shout-outs + promotion for YOUR work!
— A top-rated newsletter ( #12 on Substack for literary newsletters!)
— A little pep talk when you need it most!

We’re a small press run by poets, and we created this because we know how much support and encouragement matters in our writing lives. You deserve a poetry life that’s alive and thriving!

And if you can’t make it live to Jane or any of our Zoom events? No problem. Every event is recorded and yours to keep.

So come write, grow, and gather with us. We’d love to see you at Jane’s event—and everything that follows.
📚🌀💫

Sign up here: https://twosylviaspress.substack.com/subscribe
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Testimonials from Weekly Muse members:

“Every single Sunday, The Weekly Muse reminds me why I started writing in the first place. I’ve never felt more inspired—or more seen—as a poet.”
— Julia S.

“I watched the Dorianne Laux class in my pajamas at midnight and ended up drafting two new poems before bed. These Zoom classes feel like conversations with poets I’ve loved for years. Totally changed how I think about writing community.”
— Heather M.

Improve your community and writing life here 💛: https://twosylviaspress.substack.com/subscribe

The Weekly Muse is the ultimate resource to help poets write & publish more poems. Weekly prompts, writing exercises, publishing opportunities, insider tips from editors, & more! Includes FREE Zoom classes with award-winning poets with paid subscription! Click to read Two Sylvias Press' Weekly Muse,...

06/20/2025

Poets! Our ONLINE POETRY RETREAT is BACK for the 10th year!

Write new poems this summer then have one of your poems critiqued by Diane Seuss, Traci Brimhall, Danusha Laméris (August Only), or Jennifer K. Sweeney for the summer sessions. Fall session poems will be critiqued by the editors of Two Sylvias. We send you daily poetry writing exercises and example poems to inspire your writing—ALL VIA EMAIL.

2025 Retreat Sessions Available:
June 30 - July 27 (July Session)
August 4 - August 31 (August Session)
October 6 - November 2 (October Session)

Choose the session that best fits your schedule and sign up! Space is limited! Please visit our website to register: https://twosylviaspress.com/online-poetry-retreat.html

Please Note: The material for each retreat is the same--so please sign up for only one session.

05/29/2025

Today's the LAST day to sign up write NEW poems with Dorianne Laux tomorrow at 10 am PST on ZOOM!

Subscribe for a year or monthly here: https://twosylviaspress.substack.com/subscribe (The Zoom registration link for Dorianne's (and Jane too!) will come in your WELCOME LETTER! And if you can't make the class, a recording of the event will be sent to you!)

Hope to see you!

05/26/2025

⭐ ⭐ POETS-- ENDING SOON! 5 DAYS LEFT to send in your CHAPBOOK (17 - 24 pages of poems)!

Also, this year we've increased the prize for our CHAPBOOK CONTEST to $1,000! Judged by the wonderful ELLEN BASS!

Winner also receive:
🏆 A one-of-a-kind trophy (yours to keep!)
📚 20 author copies
🖋️ Publication by Two Sylvias Press.

Open to ALL poets—worldwide!
Deadline: May 31, 2025 (Midnight Hawaii Time!)

All submissions are considered for publication with Two Sylvias Press with a standard royalty contract of 20% and 20 author copies (additional copies available at an author discount).

We look forward to reading your work!
Full guidelines here: https://www.twosylviaspress.com/chapbook-prize.html

Winner receives $1000 Chapbook published as print book 20 Author Copies An amethyst depression glass trophy (circa 1930). ​ ​ 2024 Winner: Zachary Kluckman for WHEN I SAY...

05/17/2025

✨ POETRY All Year Long—Starting with Dorianne and Jane! ✨

📝 Write new poems with Dorianne Laux (May 30)
🌙 Then spend an evening with Jane Hirshfield (July 28 plus live Q&A!)

—Busy those days? No worries, we send you the recordings to watch anytime!

And that’s just the beginning…

When you sign up, you’ll ALSO get access to EVEN MORE Weekly Muse Zoom poetry classes announced throughout the year (including classes from Traci Brimhall, Kelli Russell Agodon, Jane Wong, and more!) all at NO extra cost—really!

Along with that you'll a full year of poetry prompts & exercises, submission calls, poet interviews, & ongoing inspiration sent to your inboc EVERY Sunday morning to help you prioritize and simplify your writing life!

How much? All this for just $198. Yep, seriously. (Monthly payment plan available!)

👉 👉 Registration is closing soon, so don't miss out to connect with these incredible poets!:
https://twosylviaspress.substack.com/subscribe

(The registration links to BOTH classes will be in your Weekly Muse Welcome Letter!)

We hope to see you there!

The Weekly Muse is the ultimate resource to help poets write & publish more poems. Weekly prompts, writing exercises, publishing opportunities, insider tips from editors, & more! Includes FREE Zoom classes with award-winning poets with paid subscription! Click to read Two Sylvias Press' Weekly Muse,...