Submissions to tinywords 24.2 — and a new writing prompt
Lopi LaRoe’s mural, Beginner’s Mind, in Rutland, VT. Photo taken by Peter Newton.
tinywords 24.1 has now ended with Maeve O’Sullivan’s haiku “I shake the sand.” We will be on pause until the next issue, 24.2, begins at the end of September.
The submission window for tinywords 24.2 opens on August 1st and closes on August 31, 2024. 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, 2024. Please send us your haiku, tanka, small poems, haiga, or brief haibun to be considered for our next issue: tinywords 24.2.
To keep things interesting while we work on the next issue, we present a new writing prompt: A photo image of a mural In Rutland, Vermont, by Lopi LaRoes titled “Beginner’s Mind.” Many of us with a passion for words and reading remember the books that sparked our creativity in childhood and those that influenced us later. Books that still circle around in our thoughts and continue to inspire us. We hope the whimsical flying books of this mural and its wonderstruck young girl will inspire you to write a tiny poem or two.
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 at the start of tinywords 24.2, due out in late September, 2024.
Thanks again for dropping by. We look forward to reading what you have to say.
Be well,
The editors
July 31st, 2024 at 9:37 am
so many words
opening my mind
letting my soul take flight
July 31st, 2024 at 10:08 am
AFTER DICKINSON
A girl imposes her fresh-faced contours on a red brick wall, eyes turned upward rather than inward, cap brim shadowing a window with unreadable panes. Her braids are ropes to belay a new Rapunzel, freeing herself from the castle of sub-parental expectations. Enchanted books surround her, pages levitating to release geometries of dreams.
frigates take to the skies
as a human soul
prances
July 31st, 2024 at 10:43 am
braiding
a beginner’s mind
banned books
July 31st, 2024 at 3:42 pm
a book unfolds
into leaves of grass
deckle edges
Alan Summers
July 31st, 2024 at 5:09 pm
chapter 1
my armchair
sprouts wings
July 31st, 2024 at 5:45 pm
seeing
in the eyes of a child
the wonder
July 31st, 2024 at 5:47 pm
seeing …
in the eyes of a child
the wonder
July 31st, 2024 at 5:49 pm
vacation begins
taking flight in a world
of books
August 1st, 2024 at 3:07 am
with each book
a new chapter
of my life begins
August 1st, 2024 at 5:51 am
recalling from preschool
those red cardboard bricks
we broke through
August 1st, 2024 at 7:59 am
into the woods leaving with a box red with words
Alan Summers
August 1st, 2024 at 8:02 am
a book unfolds
into leaves of grass
its deckle edges
Alan Summers
August 1st, 2024 at 11:41 am
opening a book opening my mind
August 1st, 2024 at 1:11 pm
opening the book…
the flutter
of new butterfly wings
August 1st, 2024 at 5:36 pm
scent of a book
what bound me
to home
*
August 2nd, 2024 at 1:37 am
late November
we skip across puddles
of library light
August 2nd, 2024 at 7:12 am
book collection
those that keep me grounded
those that set me free
August 2nd, 2024 at 8:59 am
scramble of butterflies—
the words fly from
her imagination
August 2nd, 2024 at 5:25 pm
page-turner a work of imagination takes flight
August 4th, 2024 at 8:55 am
red brick school
we covered our books
with brown paper
August 4th, 2024 at 10:19 am
borrowed book
inside unfinished
love letter
August 4th, 2024 at 3:34 pm
her life bookended
by stories’ transcendence
Miss Lynne’s last read aloud
August 5th, 2024 at 12:05 am
in between a book’s words
the scent of a sunlit meadow
August 6th, 2024 at 9:21 am
folding mini leggings grand-niece’s first year
August 6th, 2024 at 11:41 am
Books as butterflies…
offering the great promise of change.
August 7th, 2024 at 2:18 am
dice scatter
hair strays from its braid
entropy encroaches
well-chosen words
set the garden back in order
August 7th, 2024 at 6:02 am
stacking library books . . .
the geometry
of imagination
August 8th, 2024 at 10:25 pm
flower mural
on sundown warm bricks
– paint made of muddle
August 10th, 2024 at 4:13 am
bound for the sky
this dance of wonder
bibliophile wings
August 13th, 2024 at 9:51 am
illustrated book –
exploring the universe
and its silences
August 13th, 2024 at 9:52 am
a new book…
i let myself go
Aladdin on my side
August 13th, 2024 at 1:29 pm
the soft voice
of the children’s librarian
where the wild things are
August 14th, 2024 at 5:25 am
the flutter of leaves
a library in every corner
of her mind
August 14th, 2024 at 5:28 am
letting them loose
for others to lose themselves in
she donates
her childhood books
to the charity shop
August 14th, 2024 at 7:42 am
paper trails
a journey into
the world
led by contrails
of ideas
August 15th, 2024 at 7:10 am
books in the wind
ruffling their wings
August 16th, 2024 at 8:42 am
childhood evening –
on the bedside table a book
of mythology
August 20th, 2024 at 4:39 am
without an escape
in red vermilion summer
Dewey decimals
All summer season word, kigo 季語: red vermilion summer, shuuka 朱夏 (しゅか)
[World Kigo Database]
August 20th, 2024 at 4:40 am
bountiful harvest . . .
forever for their mothers
classmates who have cared
Mid-autumn season word, kigo 季語: bountiful harvest, hoonen 豊年 (ほうねん)
[World Kigo Database]
August 23rd, 2024 at 10:58 am
and from each book
another dream
takes flight
August 23rd, 2024 at 11:27 am
the gift of a book
ripping off the cover…
of her imagination
no longer weighed down—
taking flight
with the wonder of words
the freedom to read…
giving rise
to the mind’s emancipation
August 26th, 2024 at 2:51 pm
a young adult
watching her turn
her own pages
August 26th, 2024 at 6:12 pm
Earth baked
into sky,
lifting words
from life.
August 26th, 2024 at 9:29 pm
hope
my name
given wings
August 26th, 2024 at 11:23 pm
winter clouds
still next to his chair
a pile of books
August 27th, 2024 at 3:42 am
after …ever after
under the covers
her flashlight glowing
August 27th, 2024 at 7:59 am
past her bedtime
my daughter and i
still in Neverland
August 27th, 2024 at 10:50 am
a tesseract
through space-time
the open book
August 28th, 2024 at 12:24 am
look up, little girl
the pages are being rewritten.
look up
August 29th, 2024 at 11:38 am
blank canvas
the artist draws
a crowd
August 29th, 2024 at 1:05 pm
Visiting a soiree of books
turns her turnpike journey
into an enchanting reverie
August 31st, 2024 at 8:32 am
leaf bookmark
an ant’s journey
after each flip
August 31st, 2024 at 11:16 am
butterfly stickers
my students begin
to spread their wings
September 10th, 2024 at 3:12 pm
birds
flying across
I read stories
horizons
expanding my world
of letters