Callout for poems on the theme of 'home'

Share your work on The Coach House

I’m inviting you to share your poems on the theme of HOME in collaboration with The Coach House. I’ll publish these in the quiet time after Christmas, linking to your Substack and any other places you publish your work.

Join me as we build a house of words, rooms made from phrases, chambers of feelings and remembrance.

Joyful, heartfelt, playful or poignant poetry. Words that express what home means for you.

My friend Mel recently wrote a beautiful poem about taking the books from her mum’s bookshelves; volumes her mum had picked out and shared with her when she was a child avaricious for words to consume and craft for her mother’s delight. Now her mum has gone, Mel stands in the house that was hers and the volubility of all those written words contrasts with her silence in the face of her loss. No words. Speechless.

Mel is an author (among many other things) but as far as I know, she is not a regular writer of poetry. But it was this form that became the vessel for her thoughts and feelings in that moment. It made me think about the poetry we could all share about the place we call, or have called, home. 

I’d love to collaborate with you to publish your poems about home. Thank you to the kind suggestion of Cassandra Bumpus, I’ve created a form where you can upload your poem and also the details of your Substack publication so that I can share this and help other people find your work. The link is here.

Thanks also to Marcy Farrey who will be sharing this callout on CollabStack. And to Clare Venus and her Sparkle on Substack community.

Deadline for submissions is Friday 20 December.

I have no idea how many I will receive but I will share them all in a dedicated newsletter (maybe even a pdf) and also post selected poems on Notes between Christmas and New Year.

If you are a poet, please get involved!

If you know someone you think would like to join in with the project, please share this post with them.

I’m so excited and can’t wait to see your words. I may even be brave enough to write and share a poem myself.

Thank you. Any questions, please reply in the chat or message me.