Sina Queyras

On Occasion: Poems for the People

Deadline for submissions: September 7, 2025 

In the tradition of the poem as an act of love, as an act of protest, an act of visionary incantation, of remembrance, of a call to arms, and a much-needed balm, Coach House Books is inviting poetry submissions for an upcoming anthology of occasional poems.

Occasional poetry tends to draw strong reactions from poets—it’s milquetoast, it’s a Hallmark card, it’s not real poetry. On the other hand, as one contributor put it “I’m beginning to think that everything I write is an occasional poem.” For our part, we are thinking of the occasional poem as a poem written out of a specific moment, or event. A poem that people can turn to, hold onto, maybe even slip through. We are looking for submissions that reflect our tumultuous and complicated times—times that require more than the usual thinking.

Sina Queyras, editor of Lemon Hound and Open Field: Thirty Canadian Poets will edit this anthology, tentatively titled On Occasion: Poems for People. Submissions can be new or previously published. Poems should speak to, or evoke specific occasions—life cycles, earth cycles, social cycles, upheavals and revolutionary moments; poems that ease, but also confront, challenge and open new doors; poems that cross boundaries, forms, shapes, ideas, aisles; poems that challenge what an occasion might be, what is worth commemorating and mourning, and even what such an anthology as the one we are proposing, could be.

For example:

• Poems that work with received forms—elegies, sonnets, etc—in masterful or innovative ways
• Poems of protest, anthemic poems, poems that howl
• Poems that commemorate or elegize, of mourning and rage
• Poems that offer rituals, modes of resistance
• Poems that transform our idea of what might constitute an occasion worth celebrating
• Poems of elation and incantation; poems that dream of future occasions
• Poems that are more fun than fawning, that risk humour
• Poems that lift off the page and have energy to circulate

Submission Guidelines:

• Open to all poets worldwide, emerging or established. If the poem is not written in English, please provide a translation.
• Up to 2 original short poems (2 page maximum per poem).
• All forms welcome—the most conventional to the most experimental.
• Poems can be previously published, please note where in your submission.
• Include a brief statement about the poem and occasion with contact info, poem titles, and brief bio of 50 words.
• Deadline: September 7, 2025.
• Submit to: anthology.coachhouse@gmail.com

Important Dates:

• Submissions open: July 15, 2025
• Deadline: September 7, 2025
• Notifications: October 7, 2025
• Publication: May 2026