I’m so excited to have my artwork featured on the cover of Issue 18 of Stanchion Magazine.

https://www.stanchionzine.com/product-page/issue-18

The Headlight Review is excited to announce the finalists for the 2025 Poetry Chapbook Prize. Out of over seventy total submissions, twenty submissions were selected for the longlist. Of those twenty submissions, the following nine titles were selected:

It was an honor to participate in the MER reading on May 4th for Volume 23 of this amazing journal on motherhood and women’s lives. There are many rich offerings in the issue, and I recommend it highly.  

2025 Poetry Chapbook Prize Longlist

The Headlight Review announced the longlist for its annual Poetry Chapbook Prize. Out of over seventy submissions, the following submissions were selected to move forward in the review process:

MER 23 Launch Event Sunday, May 4th, at 5:30 pm ET.

You are invited to a reading to celebrate the launch of MER 23! The reading is online, free and open to the public but preregistration is required at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/.../register/sIzw1sfOT4-sRPXPZ--L0w

I am so very grateful and pleased that Cider Press Review has published my poem “The Grasslands.” It is a poem that is dear to me, as I fell in love with the elephants when my husband and I and two very close friends walked (with guides) through the Serengeti fifteen years ago for six days, sleeping in small tents along the way.

You can read the poem here:

https://ciderpressreview.com/cpr-volume-27-1/in-the-grasslands/

So grateful to be among the LitFox Award finalists for 2025. Congratulations to Len Lawson, the winner! Len’s poetry collection New Names for Stars was selected by Mary Biddinger as the winner of the Lit Fox Award. New Names for Stars will be published March 1st, 2026.

MER 23 will launch on April 15th!

Very gratified that my poem “As If It Were My Name,” about what my grandchildren call me, and about the thread among generations, will appear in the forthcoming issue of the amazing Mom Egg Review, launching April 15th.

My poem “Song of Innocence,” was published in the new issue of Eye Contact the literary and art Magazine of Seton Hill University.

Read the full poem here on page 34 of the current issue.

Beyond delighted & grateful, “In the Morning in the City” https://passionfruitreview.com/in-the-morning-in-the-city-by-elizabeth-j-coleman/ appears in the prizewinning and commended poems of the Love and Loss competition, selected by Sheila E. Murphy, published in a special issue of @passionfruitlit  I loved the other poems chosen.

I’m very grateful to Lit Fox Books for featuring my poem “Stratagem” in their Spring 2025 poetry series.

2025 Trail to Table Book Awards

I continue to be a strong believer that hope is a strategy, sort of…

Because hope gives us the courage to fight for what we believe in. 

I’m honored Cider Press Review has published my poem, “Windhovers” on their beautiful website.

Cider Press Review is a journal of contemporary poetry and poetry small press based in San Diego, CA.

In thinking about the Presidential election of a lifetime that’s before us, I was reminded of two poems I wrote four years ago, one about waiting in line to vote early in the 2020 election and one written during the violent insurrection of January 6, 2021.

Looking back on this article written several years ago during the pandemic, https://lithub.com/on-earth-day-turning-to-poetry-for-hope/ I am reminded how much has changed in some ways, and yet so little in others, and how  poetry and other arts can touch our hearts and open us up to facing and addressing climate change with courage. This was my thesis for Here: Poems for the Planet (Copper Canyon Press, Earth Day, 2019), and it is my thesis to this day.

"Content is often unsettling or painful in poems, but form is play, a residue of the fun the poet had while working.  Of course, like form and content, pain and fun want to be each other.” That tension is at the heart of the matter of poetry, I think. I mention this quote in the Pinhole Poetry interview.

This moment of unexpected hope for our country and the world is a wonderful time to revisit the possibility of an empowered future for those of us wishing to protect our planet and all its sentient beings.

My copy of elementals has arrived, and I am experience the difference between reading about a gorgeous book with brilliant creators online, and holding it in my hand. I have begun my journey through this astonishing land of great, passionate, elemental writing, and already planning all the people I want to give it to, all over our beautiful blue planet. Thank you this bible of the elements, and thank you  for letting me be part of it.

I was honored to see my poem “I pledge allegiance” featured in Third Act Upstate New York’s “Poets Corner” in June. I’m grateful to David Grubin for choosing it.

This is an extraordinary collection, with two great editors, Nickole Brown and Craig Santos Perez. I am beyond honored to be among all these great poets Center for Humans & Nature.

I was honored to be long listed in this beautiful poetry journal @surgingtidemag summer writing contest in 2023. Their 2024 summer writing contest runs July 1-July 31.

Many thanks to poet Jane Hirshfield & @DAVIDWICKPOETRY for the gorgeous showcase & many poetry treasures https://poetsforscience.org

@ucsusa @coppercanyonprs

The poems and photographs in this chapbook reflect the isolation, loneliness, and fear many of us felt in that solitary time. It was as if Autumn leaves, that annual death and decay, symbolized the tragedy unfolding. At the same time, we found great comfort in the natural world.

I am honored to have two poems in the beautiful new issue of descant, “Sitting Next to You at the Hospital on East 68th Street, I Read about the History of our Galaxy"  (which they’ve nominated for a Pushcart Prize!) and “On a porch in the Catskills during the Pandemic’s second spring.” @descanttcu @descantTCU

This poem read from Autumn in a Solitary Time, The Hudson Valley, 2020 (Audience Askew Chapbooks), a collaboration with photographer Michael J. Palmer played on Planet Poet), describes three invasive plants (Lenape was the language spoken by the original, indigenous inhabitants.) @sharonisraelcucinotta

Here I read the last poem, The Gathering of Seeds, in the photography/poetry collaboration with Michael J. Palmer, Autumn in a Solitary Time (Audience Askew Chapbooks, 2023) on the podcast Planet Poet. @sharonisraelcucinotta

Here’s Michael J. Palmer discussing his process of photographing the plants in situ on special paper for our photography/poetry collaboration, Autumn in a Solitary Time (Audience Askew Chapbooks, 2023) with Sharon Israel, poet, on her podcast Planet Poet Words In Space.

Pleased to share my reading of the first poem in Autumn in a Solitary Time, The Hudson Valley, 2020 (Audience Askew Chapbooks 2020), a collaboration with Michael J. Palmer, played on Planet Poet, Sharon Israel’s poetry podcast.

Above is a clip from “Pizza Day” (f.k.a “Joy Had No Use for E”), which I had the pleasure of reading at @wordupbooks on October 23. Poets Patricia Brody, Lucille Lang Day, and Alicia Ostriker also read poems inspired by the theme “Why Poetry Matters” in this challenging time. (October 2023 at Word Up Community Bookshop at Amsterdam & 165th St.)

This poem about winter in a time of climate change touches on the devastating fact that more frequent and severe natural disasters can and will cause entire communities to be displaced, leading, among many disturbing outcomes, to the loss of languages and cultures. And the poem alludes to the idea of not appropriating the languages of other cultures.

2023 was the hottest year on record by a significant margin. With Cop 28, is the world finally ready to make desperately needed changes?

“Nearly 200 countries convened by the United Nations approved a milestone plan to ramp up renewable energy and transition away from coal, oil and gas.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/13/climate/cop28-climate-agreement.html

This resulted in collaboration of words and images between two strangers that became Autumn in a Solitary Time, the Hudson Valley 2020.

In the fall of 2020, when most of us were home-bound, isolated and fearful, photographer Michael Craig Palmer took pictures of the glorious fall shades of trees and leaves in a few of the parks, public gardens and preserves in and around the Hudson Valley. Later he asked poet Elizabeth J. Coleman to find words for his photographs. This resulted in a collaboration of words and images between two strangers that became Autumn in a Solitary Time, the Hudson Valley 2020. This book is a celebration of the astonishing and enduring beauty of nature, as well as a celebration of connection in a solitary time.

Honored to have three poems in Hobo Camp Review’s Upstate New York issue, “Rambling in a Time of Plague,” “Epiphany by a Small Cascade,” and “The Japanese Maple.” Each of the poems takes place in or around our wood cabin in the Catskill Forest Preserve, a beautiful and wild place. https://hobocampreview.blogspot.com/2023/09/elizabeth-j-coleman.html

In the fall of 2020, when most of us were home-bound, isolated and fearful, photographer Michael Craig Palmer took pictures of the glorious fall shades of trees and leaves in a few of the parks, public gardens and preserves in and around the Hudson Valley. Later he asked poet Elizabeth J. Coleman to find words for his photographs. This resulted in a collaboration of words and images between two strangers that became Autumn in a Solitary Time, the Hudson Valley 2020. This book is a celebration of the astonishing and enduring beauty of nature, as well as a celebration of connection in a solitary time.

Please join poets Patricia Brody, Lucille Lang Day, Alicia Ostriker, and me for an evening of poetry (“Why Poetry Matters”) Tuesday Oct 10th at 7pm--at Word Up Community Bookshop at Amsterdam & 165th St.

It’s often asked if poetry matters. Four women poets will read work that demonstrates why it does. Patricia Brody, Elizabeth J. Coleman, Lucille Lang Day, and Alicia Ostriker will read work that helps light our way forward.

This event is a $5 suggested donation ticket with 30 max attendees. Please register in advance.

I was so happy to be a finalist for the 2023 Marsh Hawk Press Prize. Congratulations to the winners!

Ann Fisher-Wirth, Laura-Gray Street, Ruth Nolan, Craig Santos Perez, and I came away energized by the response to our panel at #AWP22 on The Value and Use of Eco Poetry Anthologies in a Time of Environmental Crisis. For a compilation in process of Eco Poetry Anthologies and Eco Literature see the bibliography below. 

Very happy to have been introduced to and now to be listed on @YetzirahPoets https://yetzirahpoets.org/jewish-poets-database/

A wonderful resource, and opportunity I highly recommend. Thank you @jessicalgjacobs

Grateful to be part of Pinhole Poetry's interview and poetry series. If you’d like to see my interview & poem & those of others in the series on our featured poem and craft, visit Pinhole Poetry.

Poem “The Errand” by Elizabeth J. Coleman on Poems2Go.

Pinhole Poetry is a digital poetry journal that loves the upside-down view and the fact that some art can only happen in the dark. We aim to be the pinprick of light for your work.

Poetry Miscellany, first produced in 1970, publishes poems and interviews with poets, including Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winners.

Dr. Richard Jackson is retiring from directing Poetry Miscellany. The 2022 issue is his final as editor.

The Baltimore Review was founded by Barbara Westwood Diehl in 1996 as a literary journal publishing short stories and poems, with a mission to showcase the best writing from the Baltimore area, from across the U.S., and beyond.

Join us for a reading at 1053Main Gallery in Fleischmanns, NY on Saturday, July 16, 20224- 6pm.

Inspired by Robin Factor's landscape paintings, we'll be reading poems about internal & external landscapes.

I’m so grateful to Red Alder Review for publishing my poem, “The Egret,” written January 6, 2021, in Issue No. 4, Peace.

It was thrilling to meet Nancy Lynee Woo at AWP 2022 at the panel I moderated entitled, “The Value and Use of Eco Poetry Anthologies in a Time of Environmental Crisis” and to read her MFA thesis for Antioch/LA, “The Emergence of Hopepunk in Poetry, ” Winter/Spring, 2021.

This is a wonderful poetry newsletter by Eunice "Nicie" Johnson Panetta which I recommend, called the Frugal Chariot: Your weekly guide to exceptional books about nature, climate, and place.

Thank you so much to @miracel_monocle for publishing my poem, “Joy Had No Use for E,” a poem written without the letter E, in its exciting Issue 18…

Issue 18 of Miracle Monocle

http://louisville.edu/miraclemonocle

@miraclemonocle

@miracle_monocle

@miraclemonocle

At a time when protecting trees is crucial to protecting life on our planet, this is a rich and varied forest of words by 130 terrific poets speaking about and to the trees they have known.

“Just in time for Earth Day and Arbor Day, Grayson Books has published Tree Lines: 21st Century American Poems, an anthology that includes work from 130 contemporary poets, including U.S. Poet Laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, and other outstanding writers.

The bookʻs editor Elizabeth J. Coleman will also be present to share about the inspiration behind the book. Each poet will read a few selected poems and will participate in a Q&A with the online audience.

In 2016, as a thank you for changing my life, I translated my first poetry teacher Lee Slonimsky’s Pythagoras in Love into French, with a resulting bi-lingual edition, Pythagore, Amoureux (Folded Word Press, 2016) https://www.amazon.com/Pythagore-amoureux-Pythagoras-Love-Multilingual/dp/1610191080

Ann Fisher-Wirth, Laura-Gray Street, Ruth Nolan, Craig Santos Perez, and I came away energized by the response to our panel at #AWP22 on The Value and Use of Eco Poetry Anthologies in a Time of Environmental Crisis. For a compilation in process of Eco Poetry Anthologies and Eco Literature see the bibliography below. 

"Mother Earth clamors to be heard. All is not well. Our individual beliefs and alternate realities mean nothing in the grand scheme of our collective lives. If we are to avert climate and environmental disaster, we must connect with each other and with the other living beings with whom we share this planet. Doing so with grace is a good place to start."

Read Rosaliene Bacchus's full review oh Here: Poetry for the Planet here: https://rosalienebacchus.blog/2021/07/18/on-a-saturday-in-the-anthropocene-by-american-poet-elizabeth-j-coleman/

Please join us for this AWP Conference event Saturday, March 26, 2022.

https://www.elizabethjcoleman.com/blog/awp-con-2022

Elizabeth will be moderating a panel on Eco Poetry Anthologies with poets/anthologists Ruth Nolan, Ann Fisher-Wirth, Craig Santos Perez, PhD., and Laura-Gray Street.

@ruthnolan @TerrapinBooks @craigsperez @awpwriter @RClgstreet

Five ecopoetry anthology editors will discuss editing and publicizing anthologies (international, national, or local) encouraging action on our environmental crisis and environmental injustice that can help readers feel a sense of both urgency and hope. Some of us have collaborated with scientific or environmental organizations, donating royalties and developing action guides. We will discuss organizing the book, finding a publisher, and working with the publisher to develop a unique point of view.

Elizabeth was one of the poets invited to the UCS event Poetry of Science, on October 2021.

The Union of Concerned Scientists is a national nonprofit organization founded more than 50 years ago by scientists and students at MIT. Follow UCS @UCSUSA on Twitter and on Instagram @unionofconcernedscientists.

The full recording of the UCS event Poetry of Science, on October 2021. A virtual conversation among five contemporary poets whose work explores science and our relationship to the earth.

Speakers:

• Elizabeth J. Coleman (moderator, editor of HERE: Poems for the Planet)

• Kimiko Hahn

• Jane Hirshfield

• Jenny Qi

• Sarah Sala

Including a special appearance by Maria Melendez Kelson.

@kimiko.hahn @PoetryFound @JQiii @MKelsonAuthor @UCSUSA

Two Poems by Elizabeth J. Coleman published in Minyan Magazine, a Literary Magazine in Support of the Jewish Community

Minyan Magazine is an online quarterly literary magazine run by Liz Marlow. Their mission is to publish the finest poetry and flash fiction by Jewish writers and their allies.

@LizRMarlow and @MinyanMag

Virtual launch of Issue 5 of Channel, a literary magazine born out of the climate crisis, publishing poetry and prose with an environmentalist perspective.

Elizabeth J. Coleman’s reading of 'Nightly Migration' begins at the 01:17:24 time mark.

@CGadenGilmartin @eamurtough @Channel_LitMag @IrishWritersCtr @SYPIreland

Here: Poems for the Planet is a lovesong to a planet in crisis, with foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and an activist guide by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Summoning a chorus of 128 diverse contemporary poetic voices, from prize-winning poets to young people, this anthology approaches our environmental crisis with a sense of urgency and hopefulness. 

ISBN-10: 1556595417

ISBN-13: 978-1556595417

In these deeply human (therefore quirky and unique) poems, Elizabeth Coleman exhibits an engagement with the world and its inhabitants that is sometimes humorous and sometimes piercing and always fresh. A splendid collection. -Thomas Lux

ISBN-10: 1941550053

ISBN-13: 978-1941550052

The Fifth Generation, contends with what it means to truly belong, as the concentric rings of our commingled existence ripple outward. This is a book of the most tender intimacies, one in which the speaker reminds us that we are not only members of families but also the bound residents of cities, farms, cultures, histories, and nations, that each of us must finally see as home the whole peaceable kingdom. -Kathleen Graber

ISBN-10: 1941550983

ISBN-13: 978-1941550984

Rachel Hadas, author of THE GOLDEN ROAD (Northwestern University Press), says: "Lee Slonimsky's beautiful sonnets in PYTHAGORAS IN LOVE are chastened by the consistent austerity of their limits. Yet these restrictions of vocabulary and imagery are also enriching and generative. Elizabeth J. Coleman's elegant French translation, conveying the burnished spareness of the original, sometimes recalls the elemental lyricism of Yves Bonnefoy."

ISBN-10: 1610191080

ISBN-13: 978-1610191081

A poetry chapbook by Elizabeth J. Coleman.

ISBN-10: 1622292235

ISBN-13: 978-1622292233

Our planet is in crisis. As readers, publishers, and writers, we ask ourselves: In this pivotal moment, what is our role?

Here: Poems for the Planet answers this question through poetry and a practical guide to activism, inviting readers to become inspired—take in a new breath, and a new perspective—and then take action.

Here begins with a foreword from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and contains poems from more than 125 voices, including U.S. Poet Laureates, Pulitzer Prize-winners, and youth poets, and HERE culminates in a 37-page guide from the Union of Concerned Scientists. The publication date is Earth Day, 2019

Here will be distributed to every member of Congress, and copies donated copies to programs in need. As editor, I am donating all royalties to the Union of Concerned Scientists.