Submissions to tinywords 23.2 — and a new writing prompt

photograph of a tall stone gate with a dark doorway, surrounded by trees. In the foreground are broad, shallow steps leading up to the gate.

tinywords 23.1 has now ended with Tony William’s haiku “one large wave”. We will be on pause until the next issue, 23.2, begins in a month or two.

The submission window for tinywords 23.2 opened on August 1st and will remain open until the end of the month. Sending regular submissions to tinywords is a simple two-step process. Just check out our guidelines and send in your work using the form on the Submissions Page from Aug. 1 through Aug. 31, 2023. Please send us your haiku, small poems, haiga, or brief haibun to be considered for our next issue: tinywords 23.2.

To keep things lively while we work on the next issue, we present a new writing prompt: A photo image captured by Anthony Catalano of the sculpture Damascus Gate created by Walter Dusenbery, which resides at the magical sculpture garden/museum Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, New Jersey, USA. We hope this majestic gate sculpture will draw you in and help to inspire you to write a tiny poem or two in response. Be sure to share them with us: Leave your best efforts in response to the photo prompt in the comment box below and the tinywords editorial team will share the best of the best in tinywords 23.2, due out in late September, 2023.

This is an ekphrastic challenge spanning centuries. The original Damascus Gate is the main gate along the northern wall of the old city of Jerusalem.

Thanks again for dropping by. We look forward to reading what you have to say.

Be well,

The editors

46 Responses

  1. Alan Summers Says:

    rusty gate the snail left long ago

    Alan Summers

  2. ingridbaluchi Says:

    creeping over steps
    to soften hard surfaces
    wild grasses

  3. Laurie Greer Says:

    Damascus gate…
    following the scent
    of jasmine

  4. Jeffrey Ferrara Says:

    diaspores . . . drifting through the doorway

  5. Andrea Cecon Says:

    sculpture garden
    I hear
    the solitude

  6. Sam Bateman Says:

    Damascus Gate . . .
    the soft footfalls of
    pilgrims in sandals

  7. Laurie Greer Says:

    open gate…
    embracing the life
    of a pilgrim

  8. Laurie Greer Says:

    open gate
    embracing the life
    of a pilgrim

  9. Kathaleen Says:

    up-side down
    this saucer's thought gate opens
    rusted hinges sing

  10. Dru Philippou Says:

    this gateless gate–
    always arriving
    with each step

  11. Laurie Greer Says:

    Damascus gate…
    this new life
    after the stone

  12. Barbara Feehrer Says:

    step by step —
    an infinity of green
    beckons

  13. Laurie Greer Says:

    sculpture garden
    the gated city of art
    always open

  14. d. f. tweney Says:

    home planet
    up in smoke
    no more baby steps

    -Helen Buckingham
    (I'm posting on her behalf)

  15. Ana Drobot Says:

    following
    the summer sun –
    old gate

  16. Arvinder kaur Says:

    the wicket gate
    moans one last time
    demolition

  17. Arvinder kaur Says:

    moving closer
    to my favourite star
    one step at a time

  18. michaelhenrylee Says:

    time travel
    the portal
    less traveled

  19. Laurie Greer Says:

    pilgrimage…
    how the walls
    fall away

  20. Srini Says:

    beyond
    the threshold
    tomorrow

  21. Srini Says:

    meditation…
    every blade of grass
    still

  22. Dru Philippou Says:

    open gate . . .
    always arriving
    with each step

  23. darius s. Says:

    a garden kept tame –
    step altars alter step
    to on to empty way

    sorry, 'desks' are hard for me

    here's a today plein air, why not share?
    oh yeah,..the prompt.
    but…

    distant lightning –
    dry snap
    of bug zapper.

    i wish you all wise love.

  24. Laurie Greer Says:

    shed snakeskin…
    the long path
    behind me

  25. Laurie Greer Says:

    shed snakeskin…
    the fresh path
    ahead

  26. ingridbaluchi Says:

    wildfire . . .
    the need to hug
    ravaged walls

  27. ingridbaluchi Says:

    who knows
    when the struggle will end?
    Damascus Gate

  28. Mike Fainzilber Says:

    snail at the temple gate
    soft footsteps
    of the pilgrims

  29. Marcie Wessels Says:

    creaking gate
    the invisible river
    of a thousand souls

  30. Tracy Davidson Says:

    peaceful garden
    the gate I pass through
    not yet pearly

  31. Tracy Davidson Says:

    empty sculpture garden
    nothing to impede
    this pilgrim’s progress

  32. SueBurkeSpain Says:

    people pass
    tall grass on their journeys —
    gray clouds bring rain

  33. Srini Says:

    cloudy day
    a web weaved
    from silver linings

  34. Barbara Kaufmann Says:

    threshold
    almost seeing
    the other side

  35. Banyan Tree Haiku Says:

    stairway to heaven one more step

    (Marianne Paul)

  36. Sam Bateman Says:

    gateless portal
    the freedom to
    pursue dreams

  37. Ana Drobot Says:

    Damascului Gate…
    looking for a way
    back to youth

  38. Ana Drobot Says:

    Damascus Gate…
    a way towards dreams
    of history

  39. Ana Drobot Says:

    old gate…
    its only guardian
    summer sky

  40. Kim Klugh Says:

    ancient gate…
    imagining
    no borders

    open sky
    open gate…
    a life transformed

  41. Magyar Says:

    ___ life's path ___

    Grand Kim_!
    My image, as I've felt by your last line. [ Life's (path) transformed. ] _m

  42. Monica Kakkar Says:

    wind without color
    still in the continuum—
    slowly dig deeper

  43. Monica Kakkar Says:

    the shadow angles
    cushion each nook and cranny—
    border of autumn

  44. Kris Lindbeck Says:

    Ekphrasis

    An ivy grown opening from carefully tended garden to garden, a portal for contemplation that consciously invokes a Holy Land . . . Noisy, vibrant, politically contested, a great place to buy snacks on Ramadan evenings, a crenellated gate through Suleiman the First's fortifications of Jerusalem

    sun-warmed rock
    subtle patterns in sandstone
    span worlds

  45. Jo McInerney Says:

    new gateway
    a portal
    awaiting a wall

  46. anon Says:

    9…….. / 23 / 2023 ?

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