All sestina submissions and inquiries to:

ACTIVE SUBMISSION CALLS AND LEGAL DETAILS

Ein: Year of the Sestina

One sestina by December 1, 2024. The top three poets will receive 100$ dollars and Fish will select one to submit a narration to a poetry music video consisting of landscape shots and original electronic music.

Please submit 1 (one) sestina as a PDF or RTF. Do not include visual art or other poems. We are not accepting simultaneous submissions for this contest.

In your submission, please include a brief (one paragraph) cover letter. Please also include whether you prefer payment over Venmo, Paypal, or CashApp. Paypal is preferred for international applicants. We can also mail a check.

The top three poets will receive 100$ dollars and Fish will select one to submit a narration to a poetry music video consisting of landscape shots and original electronic music.

Upon first publication of the #2 and #3 sestinas, all relevants rights shall revert back to the poet. Upon first publication of either or both of the #1 sestina and its potential “Poetry Music Video”, all relevant rights shall revert to the poet. We do not ask for anthology or reprint writes for this writing contest.

If said poet declines this, Fish will select from ten random submissions.

B.H.L.M will thus focus on the sestina for craft this year. Fish has never completed one.

Zwei: “100 Sonnets about Ukraine by People who Were and Were Not There”

Q1 2027, proceeds to MA Refugees

Craft and devotional essays. Reach out to Fish personally. We prefer 250 to 2,000 words for craft, and under 10K for devotional. Unpaid. For love.

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Submissions policy for “Year of the Sestina” cash prize:

A: 1 poem per poet

B: submit a .PDF or .RTF of your poem once submissions open on May 1.

C: B.H.L.M retains first anthology rights, notify us if you wish to submit your sestina elsewhere and we shall grant it without question. These rights will expire one year after initial publication.

D: payment is 100$ cash prize transmitted via Venmo, Paypal, CashApp, or, least preferred, Zelle. The raw payment is $125 to cover fees. The top three poets may claim this prize, the number one winner of the contest, selected by Fish, may submit an audio narration or designate a free narrator of their choice, not including B.H.L.M staff, to accompany a freely released “poetry music video” produced and scored by B.H.L.M staff. If the winner declines said offer, B.H.L.M reserves the right to not produce a “poetry music video” or produce one from an otherwise publicly unknown sestina not in the top three.

E: formal submissions shall be over a gmail address not registered to our domain beginning May 1.

F: submissions shall close December 1, 2025.

G: Three winners shall be announced, published, and monetarily compensated no later than March 1, 2025.

H: B.H.L.M will endeavor to complete the “poetry music video” unpaid by September 1, 2026.

I: the entire contest shall conclude and any produced video released by September 2, 2026.

TECHNICAL NOTE ON OUR SUBMISSIONS PROCESS

B.H.L.M does not commit to a full anonymous or “blind” reading process, and also does not commit to the inclusion of more than two (2) interns to prune the overall submission load to 10% per final selection by Ms. Kleiner.

Should submission volume necessitate, Ms. Kleiner will designate two readers to reduce the overall submission load to between 10 and 20 percent, then remove all identifying info from the remaining sestinas. Otherwise, Ms. Kleiner will consider the poems herself.

Ms. Kleiner believes this is a reasonable compromise between ignoring the biographies of poets, which tends to dis-favor new poets, and including them. B.H.L.M will notify all submitters at the conclusion of the submission period as to whether volume necessitates additional readers.

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B.H.L.M is also working on a sonnet anthology called “100 Sonnets about Ukraine by People who Were and Were Not There” for publication in Q1 2027. This is not a mixed form book and is intended to published as needed with a goal page length of approximately 110.

Multilingual submissions encouraged. No concern or verification for the national or ethnic backgrounds of the poets. Observation or testimony both have literary merit.

Ms. Kleiner is donating her labor and expertise to create this book. E-Commerce sales will go right to aid for those affected by the War, and physical copies will be cost-neutral. The final product may be published or promoted with a partner.