Asterales: A Journal of Arts & Letters

This very cold day has been perfect for me to work on the personalized thank you notes for our Issue 5 Contributors, something our editors really enjoy!

While we prepare to highlight each of our Issue Five Contributors, polish up your poems, prose, and visual art for our Issue Six Submission Window, opening February 1!
Guidelines at asteralesjournal.com/submissions

We are so excited to feature your work!

Thank you for sharing it with us!

Correct link here! I got too excited...

asteralesjournal.com/current-issue-2-5

Oops, wrong link!

asteralesjournal.com/current-issue-2-5

Cover page of the website at asteralesjournal.com with the names of pieces and contributors in beige colored boxes with original art in circles.

Issue Five is now live with words from @katiemanningpoet.bsky.social, Katie Kim, @aprilist.bsky.social Svetlana Litvinchuk, @creakyvoice.bsky.social, Amanda Lee, & Stephen Energia Gifford Bell. Art from @sjane.bsky.social and @titaniayellow.bsky.social!

asteralesjournal.com/currentissue

Issue One Successes black text on linen background with red/pink asters at the bottom. ALL DETAILS on silde at http://asterales.com/celebrations

Issue Two Successes black text on linen background with red/pink asters at the bottom. ALL DETAILS on silde at http://asterales.com/celebrations

Issue Three Successes black text on linen background with red/pink asters at the bottom. ALL DETAILS on silde at http://asterales.com/celebrations

Issue Four Successes black text on linen background with red/pink asters at the bottom. ALL DETAILS on silde at http://asterales.com/celebrations

We're celebrating our first year of publication by sharing some of the successes of our Year One contributors. Without them, there is no journal!

Check out the new Celebrations page at asteralesjournal.com/celebrations for details and links.

Stay tuned for Issue Five coming up later this week!

Aren't they gorgeous!?

3 abstract painting - one in grays and whites, one in pinks, oranges and yellows, and one in teal and white featuring circular shapes and a corner box that reads Feature Artist Sheila Squillante.

We were taken by the movement and emotion in these abstracts by Issue 4 featured artist @sheilasquill.bsky.social
asteralesjournal.com/1-4-squillante

Your editors read their eyeballs out the past few days so that we could make decisions and send emails before the holiday hits. Emails going out tonight...stay tuned for Issue Five in January! And thanks for being with us for our first year.

B/W photo of a monument of several repeated figured with primitive featured heads on rectangular plinths arranged in a semicircle with a smaller one at the center. Text reads "How Many Memorials Make a Lesson" Vishaal

This haunting photo by Vishaal from Issue Four will stay with you

Two more days to get your submissions in for issue Five! Still would love to see more prose and visual art!

Two colorful collages using papers and found text on a beige background with the artist's name Susan Barry-Schulz in dark brown text.

The collage work of @susanbarryschulz.com graces two different pieces in Issue 4 accompanying work by @jillkitchen.bsky.social and Sean Cho.

www.asteralesjournal.com/current-issu...

A photo of Gwen Stefani in dark red lipstick looking disgusted or afraid, wearing a necklace of crystals with a background of lawns, sidewalk and trees and a quote from the essay "Track 8: Sunday Morning (No Doubt, 1997) by Charles Jensen - "The way a person's thoughts and mood are visible in their facial expression, their posture, their walk, their energy level. Negative feelings really gum up the work of our bodes."

Monday morning quarterbacking old relationships through the lens of No Doubt's "Sunday Morning" with @charlesjensen.bsky.social :

asteralesjournal.com/1-4-jensen-s...

white text: I hope by the time we get there we will find exactly what we were looking for. each bird already having a name. from Metrology Theory #7 by Sean Cho A. Text is on a photo of a car's rearview mirror framing a curving road and a roadside of yellow grasses and green fields with a cloudy sky.

A road trip and a moment to linger in this beautiful poem by Sean Cho A. from Issue 4:

asteralesjournal.com/1-4-cho-a-ba...

Don't forget...submissions for Issue Five are open until December 15. Particulary looking for more prose (F or CNF or hybrid) and more visual art!

Send us some things, will you?
asteralesjournal.com/submissions

White wall with the shadow of leaves cast upon it. Black text that reads "As the garden starts to silence, I think, Is this what it's like to hear/a god? I want to scream like a star exploding, but instead I sit/and hold my wife's hand and wait" From Reading Rosebud Ben-Oni's Turn Around, BRXGHT XYXS While Listening to Tori Amos's Cover of Total Eclipse of the Heart During the Total Solar Eclipse" by Anthony Frame

Relationships, music, poetry, and heavenly bodies interact and eclipse one another in this poem by @anthonyframe.bsky.social

asteralesjournal.com/1-4-frame-sq...

Nov 1 - Dec 15 Subs are Open! Poetry, 1-3 poems. Prose - 1 piece up to 7500 words (flash also welcome) Art - 3-5 images at 300 dpi Specific Guidelines on the SUBMISSIONS page of the website: www.asteralesjournal.com

Don't forget...we're open for submissions of poetry, prose and art until December 15. Send us your best and maybe help us kick off Year Two of Asterales in January's Issue 5!

Inside my body, a new universe is just beginning- matter and molecules, dark energy all raked together in some pre-universe muck from "Fearful Symmetry" by Allison Blevins. White mannequin head with back scribbles in the brain area reaching past its limits and into a landscape of dark mountains and a spiraling white sky

Read these two poems by Allison Blevins and travel through both the universe and the body, both mysterious and mostly out of our control. asteralesjournal.com/1-4-blevins-sq…

Thank you for reading and spreading the word! Our contributors are amazing!

The absurdity of waiting and the relief of knowing come together in this poem by @sarahmillswrites.bsky.social
asteralesjournal.com/1-4-mills-biggs

Thank you!

Thank you for thinking of us! We're only a year old, but we hope to maintain the wonderful work we're receiving! Happy to be mentioned with @glasspoetry.bsky.social, @whaleroadreview.bsky.social @splitlipthemag.bsky.social and @onlypoemsmag.bsky.social ... such good company!

Put on your Doc Martens and take a hike with nostalgia and regret in this poem by @jillkitchen.bsky.social : asteralesjournal.com/1-4-kitchen-...

Thanks for sending it our way!

We were captured by this dizzy flash piece by @willmusgrove.bsky.social

Take a spin here: asteralesjournal.com/1-4-musgrove...

Subs are open 11/1 - 12/15 Poetry 1-3 poems Prose - 1 piece up to 7500 words (Flash also welcome) Art - 3-5 images at 300 dpi Guidelines at http://asteralesjournal.com

Hey, friends! Remember that Subs are Open for all categories (poetry, fiction, CNF, art) until December 15.

Send us your beauties, your weirdos, your ships in a bottle, your mother's teapots, the trees outside your bedroom windows, your favorite striped sweaters. You know the drill.

Today’s the day! Send us your darlings, now through December 15! ❤️

@sarahmillswrites.bsky.social @chiaroscuro1897.bsky.social @anthonyframe.bsky.social @jillkitchen.bsky.social @susanbarryschulz.com @willmusgrove.bsky.social @charlesjensen.bsky.social