“Tunanortsa”—poetry call for Clive Matson’s “Crazy Child Scribbler”

Hello poets!
May Garsson (maygarsson@yahoo.com) is collecting submissions for Clive Matson’s publication Crazy Child Scribbler using a new form called “tuanortsa” (astronaut spelled backward). This is a simple form, a poetic palindrome that reads more or less the same from top to bottom as from bottom to top.

Here’s an example May gives (taken from an excerpt of a longer poem called “The Yuppie Dog Phenomenon”):

A chihuahua is in the library
dancing on his hind legs
yap yap yapping, yap yapping
behind me.
His owner gloats, stands beside me
with pride he yak, yak, yaks
on his cell phone.

On his cell phone
with pride he yak, yak, yaks.
His owner gloats, stands beside me,
behind me,
yap yap yapping, yap yapping.
Dancing on his hind legs,
a chihuahua is in the library.

May says: “It’s fun to vary the wording and line breaks to make it hold together better as a whole poem. Look for John Rowe’s site featuring his award-winning poem “Forever—An Old Man Considers His Hand,” which inspired me to get on this roll in the first place.”

If you want to try some out, send them to May at maygarsson@yahoo.com. It’s a great way to see a mirror image of your poems and see how they work in the opposite direction. It will be fun to see what people do. Publication is June 1st, so send them by May 15-20.

To the spirit of fun and creativity!