Bracken Magazine

08/20/2024

Can't help returning to this poem by Erin Pesut in Bracken XI. Have a fresh read, eh?...

Our friend the tracker can tell what happened by looking at the prints in the snow. You can tell if a rabbit is calm or anxious...

02/19/2024

We’re officially open! Send us your precious things.

https://www.brackenmagazine.com/submit

Image of a pond in the late winter, surrounded by trees and dry grasses.

Photo by Jed Myers

02/12/2024

We're back!

It’s been a hiatus, yes—but now, dusted off after a nice long drift under the trees, Bracken is roused and inviting your poems, your art…your works that might wake us to our own nature.

A few changes upon our return—leaving fiction aside to focus on poetry, relaxing our pace (maybe a second issue within a given year, maybe not), and asking for up to five poems per submission. Most else is as it’s been. Evolving….

Updated guidelines will soon appear. Once they do, have a look and consider sending us some work. We remain wildly picky (not an oxymoron), and will soon offer up a lovingly, fiercely (yes both) curated Issue XI.

Submissions will be open February 19th to April 22nd (Earth Day!).

https://www.brackenmagazine.com/
Jed Myers

09/01/2023

It’s been a little while but what better to come back and bring you The Arrival from poet & writer Ana Reisens -

Please do head to https://www.brackenmagazine.com/issue-x/the-arrival-by-ana-reisens to read the rest of this wonderful work.

Ana Reisens is an emerging poet and writer. She was the recipient of the 2020 Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Award, and you can find her poetry in The Mud Season Review, The Bombay Literary Magazine, and Sixfold, among other places.

07/26/2023

As part of Issue X, we are delighted to share with you ‘Rife’ by

You can also find ‘Thear’ and ‘BLCAV’ here

https://www.brackenmagazine.com/issue-x/jeremy-siedt

Jeremy J. Siedt’s work explores the boundaries and potential of corrosive metals and natural ephemeral material in painting. He captures the color and movement of individual elements during the process of corrosion. Metal is laid behind the canvas and stained by working from the front with different solutions.
Process and material are the most important aspects of his method. Vigorous, repetitive motions act as imprint and record of the harsh interaction between destruction and rebirth. These paintings act as relics that express the impact of nature on man-made materials. We often forget that nature inevitably wins the battle in which nature reclaims space and material.
jsiedtpainting.com

07/03/2023

So delighted to share with you a part of this extraordinary work by artist Jeanne Simmons.
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Please do head to our website https://www.brackenmagazine.com/issue-x/jeanne-simmons to view the rest of the collection.
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Jean grew up admiring artists greatly but never believed she might become one. She found herself in art school in her early twenties. Her time at the Maine College of Art and Design (formerly the Portland School of Art) was life-changing. She briefly attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago as a graduate student in sculpture in 1992, and then moved to the Pacific Northwest, where she’s resided since, wholly inspired by the natural world. She spends time walking the beaches, fields, marshes, and woods of the Olympic Peninsula daily, along with her canine companions who lead the way. Her work conveys her love of the natural world, her belief that we humans are an extension of the natural world, and her hope for a harmonious rapport between us and nature.
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You can find Jean here jeanneksimmons.com

06/23/2023

We’re circling back to the breathtaking art featured in our Issue X

Here is a single still from collection ‘Ravaged by the wind the sea and the sand’ by

“The images included are from a project photographed over six years of a rowboat on Glassillaun Beach (Ireland) that was returned to the earth by being sandblasted out of existence by atlantic winds.” - Michael Gannon

Find the rest of Michael’s images on our website here at https://www.brackenmagazine.com/issue-x/michael-gannon

Michael Gannon is a self-taught visual/photographic artist working in the west of Ireland. He works in lens-based photography and more recently in alternative/historical processes (cyanotype, anthotype, etc.). He has exhibited in many solo shows as well as in many selected group visual art exhibitions.

06/17/2023

Another offering from our Issue X, ‘Becoming a Field’, by poet Nicole Brooks

Nicole Brooks lives with her family in Lafayette, Indiana, and is a writer and editor at Purdue University’s business school. Her poems appear in Anti-Heroin Chic, Barren Magazine, The Indianapolis Review, and Minola Review, among other publications. She holds an MFA in poetry from Butler University, where she served as poetry editor of Booth. Find her here: https://www.nicolekbrooks.com/

Do take the time to read the rest of Becoming a Field here!

https://www.brackenmagazine.com/issue-x/becoming-a-field-by-nicole-brooks

06/06/2023

A little while since we posted, but well worth the wait!

Here is the beginning of ‘Dead Snapping Turtle’ by poet Kurt Luchs (kurtluchs.com). Do head over to
https://www.brackenmagazine.com/issue-x/dead-snapping-turtle-by-kurt-luchs to read the rest of the work.

Kurt is a senior editor of Exacting Clam and lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He has been awarded numerous prizes for his work (amongst them, Pushcart 2022, James Tate Poetry Prize 2021). His latest poetry chapbook is The Sound of One Hand Slapping (2022).

05/12/2023

Delighted to share with you ‘A Perfect Tombstone Has No Name’ by author of ‘Temporary Skin’, a poetry collection recently accepted for publication by Glass Lyre Press.

Do take a moment to read the full poem here
www.brackenmagazine.com/issue-x/a-perfect-tombstone-has-no-name-by-romana-iorga

Romana is a multilingual writer whose work has been inspired by different countries, cultures and landscapes. She has an MFA from the University of Minnesota. Her poems have appeared or are fourth coming in various journals, including New England Review, Lake Effect and The Nation, as well as on her poetry blog at claylandbranches.com

04/26/2023

An offering from established expressionist artist as part of Issue X

“I describe my artwork as a form of visual poetry. In my landscape paintings, my intent is to capture the natural light that occupies the atmosphere and bring it forth within the landscape”

Do head to
https://www.brackenmagazine.com/issue-x/vian-borchert
to take a closer look

Vian is one of the "Notable Alumni" from the Corcoran College of Art & Design at George Washington University, Washington, DC. Vian exhibits in the museums and key galleries of major cities such as NYC, LA, London, and Washington DC. Borchert has had her artwork exhibited in the SAM Museum, Times Square Broadway Plaza, the United Nations Lobby Gallery in NYC, Art Basel Miami Beach, and 1stDibs Design Center in NYC. Her artwork is also in embassies and in private collections worldwide. Borchert describes her expressionist artwork as a form of visual poetry. Borchert is an art educator in the DC area, teaching fine art classes in painting and drawing to adults. www.vianborchert.com

04/18/2023

‘This new series concerns the facet of anthropogenic tensions involving nature’s reclamation; the photographs employ snowdrifts as setting’ - Irwin Freeman
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Head to www.brackenmagazine.com/issue-x/irwin-freeman to see the rest of the collection
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Irwin Freeman is a Philadelphia sculptor who has exhibited work at museums in Arizona, Montana, Rhode Island & Delaware.

04/12/2023

Introducing our first artist featured in Issue X, ‘Last Post’ is one of three photographs by Greg Turlock.

Do head to www.brackenmagazine.com/issue-x/greg-turlock to view his other two pieces.

Greg is an internationally published author, poet, and photographer. He is a graduate of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, and lives in Parkland County, Alberta, Canada.

04/10/2023

Here is the first of ‘Two Poems’ from poet Michael Lauchlan making up the third offering of Issue X
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To read the rest of ‘After The Windstorm’ and ‘Thinking of Womholes’ do head to https://www.brackenmagazine.com/issue-x/two-poems-by-michael-lauchlan
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Michael Lauchlan has contributed to many publications, including New England Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, North American Review, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Sugar House Review, The Louisville Review, Poet Lore, Lake Effect, Bellingham Review, and Southern Poetry Review. His most recent collection is Trumbull Ave., from WSU Press (2015).

04/01/2023

Our second feature of Issue X comes from the wonderful Tina Blade with ‘Spawning Season’
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Find the full work here:
https://www.brackenmagazine.com/issue-x/spawning-season-by-tina-blade
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Tina currently lives in Duvall, Washington, just east of Seattle in the Snoqualmie River Valley. Her work has appeared in Apple Valley Review, The Moth, Sweet Tree Review, Pontoon Poetry, Still Point Arts Quarterly, Calyx, Mid-American Review, Menacing Hedge, and elsewhere. A nominee for a 2022 Pushcart Prize, she is currently working on her chapbook, Broken Blue Egg.

03/22/2023

The first offering from our latest Issue X
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Here are the first few incredibly poignant lines of ‘Still Life With Moving Parts’ by the wonderful
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Do head to https://www.brackenmagazine.com/issue-x/still-life-with-moving-parts-by-risa-denenberg to read the rest of Risa’s rising and falling words
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About the poet:
Risa Denenberg lives on the Olympic peninsula in Washington state where she works as a nurse practitioner. She is a co-founder of Headmistress Press, curator at The Poetry Café Online, and the Reviews Editor at River Mouth Review. Her most recent publications include the full-length poetry collection, slight faith (MoonPath Press, 2018) and the chapbook, Posthuman, finalist in the 2020 Floating Bridge Chapbook Competition. A new collection, Rain / Dweller (MoonPath Press, 2023), is now available.

03/14/2023

Very delighted to have some of my Paintings featured in the Seattle based "BRACKEN" Literary magazine. Thank you Bracken Magazine
See link for feature:
https://www.brackenmagazine.com/issue-x/vian-borchert
These 2 paintings titled "Crisp" and "Winter Woods" are available at 1stidibs with Maggio Arts.
Link for "Crisp":
https://www.1stdibs.com/art/drawings-watercolor-paintings/abstract-drawings-watercolors/vian-borchert-crisp-winter-painting-large-painting-abstract-landscape-snow-snow-lands/id-a_11716632/
Link for "Winter Woods":
https://www.1stdibs.com/art/paintings/abstract-paintings/vian-borchert-winter-woods-blue-abstract-painting/id-a_10157532/

03/07/2023

Hey you all goers! We’re co-sponsoring this great event hosted by Julia Kolchinsky-Dasbach with all proceeds going to Ukraine. Come see us!

An offsite AWP reading and fundraiser, featuring writers from across the post-soviet space, standing in solidarity with Ukraine. Amid the last year of brutal war, people in the US and abroad have been turning to literature to find comfort and take action, bringing awareness to atrocity and raisin...

02/10/2023

It’s rewarding to be the place where great poetry and art, and sometimes fiction finds its temporary home. That should be rewarding in itself but sometimes, when emails pile up and it all becomes work, it is very nice to feel recognized and seen for what we do. We are not a non-profit and this thing is a labor of love. One way you can support us is by buying us coffee. Thank you Kris Beaver and Erika Goodman Michael for being our long-term supporters both with your work and with coffee. We 💚 you.

01/31/2023

An unforeseen season, drought, the red maple seized and spun off a whirlwind...

01/31/2023

Dear Reader,It’s a brilliant late afternoon in January, and Bracken is shifting from one state of being to another—from the scatter of collected pieces that seemed to call to us in our search, to the formed arrangement—this shape, this bloom, that is our new issue.

01/31/2023

We’re sorry we’ve been quiet but we’ve been working on this beauty. Issue X is out now. Link in bio. Cover by the amazing . Grab a cuppa and have a read.

Thank you to all the poets and artists for trusting us with their precious things.

12/13/2022

We've been running a few polls over on Instagram about some future projects and thought we'd check with y'all here. We're having a little think about the future and building our Brackeneer community so we're thinking workshops and check-ins. Here are some of our workshop ideas. Comment below and let us know your thoughts. Want us to do something we haven't thought of? Tell us! 👂💚

12/01/2022

Sandi Daniel is a local as well as national award winning artist and we are thrilled to feature her work in our latest issue.

Sandi Daniel has exhibited extensively throughout the US as well as Japan. Her work has been shown in museums, galleries as well as academic universities, including the Hecksher Museum Biennial and the Steinberg Museum of Art at Hillwood.

Sandi Daniel is a graduate of the University of Michigan where she received a bachelor of science in Zoology and Hallmark Institute of Photography where she studied commercial photography. She is highly experienced in photo retouching both analog as well as digital. In addition to making artwork Sandi has also run children’s art programs and has curated art shows for Vision Gallery in Arizona.

Although her work is constantly changing in theme and technique there is a distinctive sensibility that runs throughout her imagery. Take a look at her work on our website and enjoy!

11/21/2022

Submissions close tonight at midnight. Show us what we don’t know and make us fall in love.

Find us in Submittable, through the link in our bio or on our website.

Gorgeous image from

11/19/2022

Our doors are open to poetry submissions, but not for long.

Send us your best work. The work that explores nuance, internal and external places of wild, the intersections of human and otherwise.

Submissions close on the 21st of November!

Link in our bio or on our webpage.