Civitas

by Daniel Romo

Daniel Romo’s poetry appears or is forthcoming in Gargoyle, The Los Angeles Review, MiPOesias, decomP, and elsewhere. His first book of poetry, Romancing Gravity, is forthcoming from Pecan Grove Press. His second book of poetry, When Kerosene’s Involved, is forthcoming from Black Coffee Press. He’s currently looking for a home for a book of poems about IKEA. More of his writing can be found at danielromo.wordpress.com

The ties that hold these three pieces together are an interesting part of ‘Civitas.’ Explain that process for you as a writer in creating that kind of harmony. I write a lot of prose poems. I find that prose poems contain circular narratives: narratives that can be physical, emotional, or thematic. Sometimes these poems seem to go off on tangents. But they ultimately pull the reader back with the ending, often employing a smart twist or resounding image from the beginning. In the case of Civitas, I tried to capture the essence of each individual region while utilizing the same tone throughout. Though these places possess distinct characteristics, I wanted the language to be consistent. I keep the poetry first. The piece must contain poetic elements at its core. I used sentence variety to create a sense of urgency, and assonance and alliteration to help ground the poem. I think, too often, blocks of writing are incorrectly labeled prose poems. The inclusion of poetic elements creates a consistency that binds the different pieces together. I used Latin subtitles to further create a poetic experience.

Check out the write-up of the journal in The Writer.

Matter Press recently released titles from Meg Boscov, Abby Frucht, Robert McBrearty, Tori Bond, Kathy Fish, and Christopher Allen. Click here.

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Submissions

Poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction/prose poetry submissions are now open. The reading period for standard submissions closes again December 15, 2023. Submit here.

Upcoming

11/27 • Michael Mark
12/04 • Helen Beer
12/11 • Rachel Rodman
12/18 • Betsy Robinson
12/25 • Trish Hopkinson
12/31 • Kim Chinquee
01/01 • Jill Michelle