Peatsmoke Journal

Calling all poets! We are reopening our 2025 Summer Editor's Contest for poetry through this Friday, 8/8! We can't wait to see what you send our way!

Check out some really cool work by emerging artists and writers! (Including myself, haha)

There are only a few hours left on our 2025 Summer Editor's Prize Contest! Submit on our website!

We have been FLOODED with amazing pieces for our 2025 Summer Editor's Competition! Don't forget the competition closes tomorrow! We would love to hear from you!

So excited to be included in this lineup. Thanks @psmokejournal.bsky.social ❤️❤️❤️ Looking forward to reading the other stories.

"The party ends. The aftertaste lingers." Read "The Host Family" by Rachana Pathak on our website today for a story that lingers!
Art: “Novalis 2025” by Milena Makani

Peatsmoke Peatsmoke is a literary journal committed to publishing fresh and exciting poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.

Our Summer 2025 Issue is HERE! www.peatsmokejournal.com
FLASH:
☀️Rachana Pathak
☀️Angela Townsend
☀️ @andreabishop.bsky.social
FICTION:
☀️ @gabriella-p-h.bsky.social
☀️Sarah Bess Jaffe
☀️Caroline Okello
ART:
☀️Rollin Jewett
☀️Brooke Walker
☀️Lindsay Liang
☀️Jennifer Lamb
☀️Subarna Talukder Bose

Color photo of the flowering weed, Common Teasel. One of the flowering heads is being pollinated by a butterfly and a bumble bee.

Our Summer 2025 Issue, launching TOMORROW, is definitely bringing the heat. Please enjoy this beautiful art piece, "Lamb3", by Jennifer Lamb which was selected for the cover!

We would like to extend a big congratulations to William Hawkins for being selected for the Wigleaf Top 50 with "How Well You Know the Art of Love" which was published in our Winter 2024 Issue!

In just a few short hours, our 2025 Summer Editor's Prize Contest will be live! The contest will last from July 1st-August 1, 2025. Find more information on our pinned post and our website!

“Because you don’t have to be dead to leave a ghost.” If you need a hit to the heart, try “Eulogy for a Living Uncle”, a flash piece, by J. Condra Smith.

Art: “8” by Migyoung Yun

When Stars Are Just Stars — Peatsmoke Joel Hans There was a moment, when he stopped swinging his arms and legs but had not yet stood, where I thought he would tell me what came after, but that was when I realized there were things insid...

OK having a good day so I'm posting one more—"When Stars Are Just Stars" started with a moment Mabel and I shared in Flagstaff then became something far different. Grateful to @psmokejournal.bsky.social for picking it up (oh gosh what is time) two years ago!

www.peatsmokejournal.com/summer-2023-...

"Turtle Balloons" by Stephen Mirabito is great for a day of wonder in the relentless mundane. Check it out!

“The census is coming up. There is a loophole to get out of any parking citation.”

Art: “The Part of Dorothy’s Fever Dream that Went Untold” by Thad DeVassie

Read
@pegahouji.bsky.social 's mind-reeling "Hayoula" on our site!
"She reads her daughter’s books twice, running her index finger along the edges, hoarding all the paper cuts for herself. She scours the pages for Hayoula claw prints..."

Art: “Llorando a Rodón en Butoh; 2” by Jorge Luna

Peatsmoke Journal 2025 Summer Editor's Prize Contest What can I submit? Flash Fiction Poetry Winner Receives $350 and publication in Peatsmoke Journal! When? July 1- August 1, 2025 Entry fee: $12 All entries will be considered for publication! For more information, please visit our website! www.peatsmokejournal.com

We are closed for submissions until July 1st to ramp up for our 2025 Summer Editor's Prize Contest which will run July 1-August 1, 2025! We are so excited for your entries!

Congratulations to our wonderfully talented contributors Tara Isabel Zambrano, @aniking.bsky.social , and Cathy Ulrich whose work was chosen for Best Small Fictions!

Sink your teeth into this flash by @aniking.bsky.social !
"Because Pastor said it doesn’t matter if our eyes are closed if we pray with our whole hearts, Tattletale, worry about your own eyes."
Art: "Lure" by Madison Huffman

Submit -- Peatsmoke: A Literary Journal — Peatsmoke Read our submission guidelines to submit your fiction, poetry, and nonfiction writing

We are back OPEN for submissions! Submit on our website!
www.peatsmokejournal.com/submit

A close up photo of an orange school running track with a field in the background.

A repetitive flash is always cool for ACCOMPLISHMENT SUNDAY 😎 Flash Reader @aniking.bsky.social published a fast-paced story about waiting and longing in @psmokejournal.bsky.social : buff.ly/joi9gDd

My newest short story “Little Drama” is part of this fantastic issue! Thanks to Peatsmoke for giving it a home

Art: "Memory of Bliss" by Lindy Giusta Winner! "Corn Soup" By Sammi Chiyao Selected for the 2025 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers Congratulations Peatsmoke Original "Now I understood why Mama's animosity sprang vicious and unbidden."

Incredible news! Sammi Chiyao has been awarded the 2025 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers with "Corn Soup" which debuted in our Fall 2024 Issue! Congratulations, Sammi!
Art: "Memory of Bliss" by Lindy Giusta

We are closed for submissions from today, May 1st, to May 15th! We can't wait to hear from you again soon!

"Reaction Times" by the brilliant @fionaemckayryan is featured in our latest issue! Here's a snippet👇

"A quick glance around shows her there’s no one to witness her motherhood."

Read the full piece on our website.

Art: “Colornea_2024” by Cynthia Yatchman

Reaction Times — Peatsmoke Fiona McKay She squats to examine them, moves back from an encroaching wave, exclaims extravagantly. A quick glance around shows her there’s no one to witness her motherhood.

Thank you ❤️ to the lovely @psmokejournal.bsky.social for publishing this story

And thanks to @smokelong.bsky.social Fitness where this story started and to editing month this year which made me make a revision spreadsheet and edit, edit, edit!!

"Because that happened a lot, you waiting for someone to show up, me watching you wait."

Wow, this extraordinary piece of writing by @aniking.bsky.social in @psmokejournal.bsky.social 💙💙💙

The Landing — Peatsmoke Jamey Gallagher It was while the conference organizers were giving their thank yous and preparatory speeches that she looked at her phone and saw the alert about the aliens landing.

Grateful to @psmokejournal.bsky.social for publishing "The Landing," which is part of a novel but I think stands alone as a story. Dig the art they paired with it.

www.peatsmokejournal.com/spring-2025-...

🌷Mike Callaghan
🌷Jorge Luna
🌷Migyoung Yun
🌷Meg Walker
🌷Breanna Martins
🌷Madison Huffman
🌷Harry Bauld
🌷Delaney Rose Burke
🌷Dorisha Hendrix
🌷Marina Patrice Vare
🌷Chuck Runnoe

Our Spring 2025 Issue is in bloom! Check out more of our features!

POETRY
🌷Liam Chimba
🌷Esmé Kaplan-Kinsey
🌷Lauren Mallett
🌷Ben Groner III
🌷Garth Pavell
🌷Justin Lacour

NONFICTION
🌷Simon Kelley
🌷 Annastacia Stegall

ART
🌷Dominique Elliott
🌷Sewkhy Tan
🌷Thad DeVassie
🌷Cynthia Yatchman

Peatsmoke Peatsmoke is a literary journal committed to publishing fresh and exciting poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.

Our Spring 2025 Issue is in bloom!
www.peatsmokejournal.com

FLASH
🌷 @fionamckay.bsky.social
🌷 @aniking.bsky.social
🌷 @pegahouji.bsky.social
🌷Stephen Mirabito
🌷J. Condra Smith

FICTION
🌷Jamey Gallagher
🌷@manateevanity.bsky.social
🌷Brian Lynch
🌷Alan Ackman
🌷Ea Anderson

A lone oak tree stands near a fence line in a field full of long, dry grass. On the other side of the fence, large clouds linger low in the sky.

In less than 24 hours, our Spring 2025 Issue will be live! Get a taste of it with the cover art of the release: "Eternity And A Day" by Dominique Elliot!