Submissions are now open for GLJ Blog and for ROAR showcase.

Green Lion Journal is an online independent literary review for poetry and prose, with an annual feature, ROAR, showcasing several works from one poet for a full year, and a blog which publishes poems on a regular basis. GLJ proudly displays the works of both greenhorns and hardened veterans, and aims to be a platform for powerful, stirring verse from all walks of life and experience.

Confessional verse is very welcome here. Green Lion likes pieces that impact the chest, stretch the nerves, and invoke that white hot feeling of surrender to emotion. The work does not necessarily have to be dark and sinister; in fact, if you can avoid this route, you should. What Green Lion looks for is introspective, explosive, and attached; detached nihilism and ersatz spooky lines will likely get you rejected. (Though if you truly feel you have “it”, send it in regardless.) Poetry and prose that holds the sensation of intense caring and need, inner conflict and internal analysis will hit the notes that will get you published.

Here are some keywords to reflect upon:

Catastrophe, loss, power, deep, indomitable, explosive, fate, sudden, fierce, passion, pain, clash, titans, imposing, metamorphosis, infiltration, release, love, tragedy, concentrated, unidirectional, control, surrender, hot, expansion, panic, unknown, force, scars, vast, imploding, stricken, freeze, red, resurrection, clung, volcanology, tumultuous, struggle, event, verity, running, daring, pressure, corybantic, leviathans, confusion, shadowed, want, broken, triumph, polarizing, overwhelm, core, fear, courageousness, alone, realization, entanglement, captured, writhe, full, opposition, shape, genuine, flow. 

Submissions for showcase in ROAR are open January 1st until September 10th each year. Admission is free. Send in 5 to 7 pieces of original work in the body of the email or in a single attached document to greenlionroarjournal@gmail.com with the subject line “Submission [Your Name] Roar.” Work that balances on a reoccurring theme or purpose will likely be favored. Be powerful, be vulnerable, be brave. Each poem should have a maximum count of 106 lines. Prose pieces should not exceed a standard page (8.5 x 11). Poems that exceed this limit by a few lines will not be rejected but will be strongly disfavored. Poems that have been previously published or accepted elsewhere will be rejected. GLJ accepts poems and prose published on personal blogs.

Submissions for the blog are open year round and are free. Send us 1 to 3 pieces of your best work in the body of the email or a single attached document to gljblog@gmail.com with the subject line “Submission [Your Name] GLJ Blog.” Maximum line count for each poem is 45. Keep your prose 300 words or less. Preference is also for unpublished pieces, but exceptions are made. If your work has been published elsewhere please leave a note at the bottom of your submission stating where your poem or prose piece has previously appeared.

We accept simultaneous submissions, but please alert us as soon as possible if your work is accepted elsewhere.

At this time, Green Lion Journal does not offer payment for accepted submissions. The hope is this will change in the future.

Should your work be chosen for publication, in either the blog or in our ROAR showcase, all rights revert back to the author following one month after publication and we ask that you credit Green Lion Journal when appropriate. Distinguishment between GLJ Blog and Green Lion Journal’s ROAR is encouraged. By agreeing to be published by Green Lion, you grant Green Lion Journal one-time electronic rights.

Please include in the body of the email a short cover letter and a small bio, and if you feel friendly, a picture of yourself. Make sure you have sent your submission to the correct email. Turnover rate for the blog is fast so rejections or acceptance letters are churned out quickly. Responses for those aiming to be in ROAR will likely show up in your boxes around the first week of November. The winner’s poems will be up for viewing December 1st each year, and will remain featured until November 30th, when next year’s compelling poet takes the podium, and so forth.

“This is my death … and it will profit me to understand it.” – Anne Sexton

Send out your words, tell your stories. Roar. 

For any additional queries contact editor Renwick Berchild at renwickberchild@gmail.com