River Poets Journal seeking submissions for “Special Edition” in editorial collaboration with Joseph Reich, poet, philosopher, social worker, dreamer, family man…

riverpoetsjournal.com/SeekingSubmissions.html

Title: Jukebox Junction USA: a poetic history to how music moved you
Deadline: August 31, 2009

Theme: Please consider that song you recall from your adolescence and youth, which significantly and profoundly moved you from a sentimental and nostalgic point-of-view; Perhaps it was when you found out he/she liked you, when he/she broke up with you, used to just love to croon in the shower for one reason or another, loved to drive to and always heard on the radio, some life-transition, loss or abandonment, some arrested stage of development, or maybe simply just that stage of growth and development in which you may have felt unconditionally satisfied and contented.

We are interested in hearing from all backgrounds and age groups, all topographical regions, all generations and genres, which may include all the way back to good ol New Orleans Dixie Jazz, perhaps a great solo by Coltrane or Miles Davis, Doo-Wop from The Fifties, the great folk singers and rock and rollers of The Sixties; Soul, Motown, Philadelphia Sound; Wherever you may have been in The Seventies, whether it be Hard Rock, Reggae, Bubblegum Rock, Disco, All that strange (English Influenced) New Wave, Alternative, Progressive or Punk from The Eighties, Grunge or Rap in The Nineties, all the way up to the present day.

In writing your poem, please base it on one simple verse (and supply us with it). One that sentimentally and transcendentally stands out, or sticks in your mind. Take us back to that place in time from a lyrical or narrative, or psychological and social and cultural point-of-view, taking into consideration, of course, and making the effort to integrate a sense of “time and place,” atmosphere and mood.

Also, please note, in keeping with the nature and consistency of this theme, submissions will be limited solely to American songs.

This sample demographic (for eclectic purposes) will be used for your heading (as opposed to a bio) and to introduce the poem; Please submit no more than five poems.

Name of Song: Thunder Road
Name of Album: Born To Run
Artist: Bruce Springsteen
Year: 1975
Setting: Far Rockaway
Love Interest: T. Rodriguez
Hometown: Muncie, Indiana
Season/Weather: Fall, brisk and drizzly
Verse: Screen door slams/Mary’s dress waves/Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays/Roy Orbison sings for the lonely/Hey, that’s me and I want you only/Don’t turn me home again, I just can’t face myself alone, again/Don’t run back inside/Darling you know just what I’m here for…

(And Then Title of Your Poem, Your Name, and Poem…)

So again, we will need 3 things:

1. Your demographics for each song
2. The verse for each individually submitted poem
3. The poem

Email: judithlawrence@comcast.net