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Downtime

By Gary Soto

Part of the California Poets Series, Downtime features new poems by Gary Soto. He describes the process for writing this collection: The Monday when Daylight Savings, 2021, kicked in, I was left in the dark. The morning light appeared in our eastern window, then was gone by the time I finished washing the lunchtime dishes. […]

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Speech Crush

By Sandra McPherson

“Like kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing a broken vessel with lines of tree sap and gold, the poems in Sandra McPherson’s new book, Speech Crush, run a vein of intelligence and attention through often harrowing experiences—of deep loss, of scammers and self-immolators, of institutionalization and separations that rival those of Elizabeth Bishop’s “One Art.” … McPherson’s poems ask us to take into ourselves a wrecked, a transformed beauty.” Jordan Smith, author of Little Black Train and Common Spirits

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Our Music

By Dennis Schmitz

David Young, author of Field of Light and Shadow, says “What joys of discovery lie in wait for readers here, in Dennis Schmitz’s final collection. There is no falling off: the same lancing wit prevails, along with the psychological and spiritual acuity which has always marked his work. His poetic canon, first to last, here rounded out, inspires delight and reverence. His originality is our treasure, a gift we scarcely know how to celebrate adequately.”

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What’s Up, Gunpowder?

Accidental Garden

“In this book, Catherine Esposito Prescott assembles a glowing collection of poems that seam the quotidian with the ethereal; for this poet, they are one and the same. There is a gently probing curiosity to these poems, a faith pieced with wing, hedge, moon, and the tenderness of our own bodies.” —Emma Trelles

Central California poets invited to send poems

Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and Gunpowder Press are joining together for the next Shoreline Voices Anthology. Poets living in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Kern, or Ventura counties are invited to submit 1-3 poems which feature the native flora of California, with a focus on the Central Coast. We are especially interested in poems aligned […]

Other recent announcements:

  • Gary Soto’s DOWNTIME
  • Gary Soto to judge 2023 Barry Spacks Poetry Prize
  • Anacapa Review now accepting submissions

Past announcements

Barry Spacks Poetry Prize

Catherine Esposito Prescott selected as winner of the 2022 Spacks Prize

Congratulations to Catherine Esposito Prescott! Her manuscript Accidental Garden was selected by Danusha Laméris as the winner of the 2022 Barry Spacks Poetry Prize.

Spacks Prize increased to $1,000!

Gunpowder Press is very excited to announce that the award for the 2022 Barry Spacks Poetry Prize has been increased to $1,000, thanks to a generous gift given by an anonymous donor in recognition of Barry. We are so honored to continue his legacy of support for other poets. Barry loved playing with numbers (for […]

More Spacks Prize news

  • Starting January 1, 2022: Spacks Prize open for manuscripts
  • Todd Copeland selected for 2021 Spacks Prize
  • Lynne Thompson to serve as final judge for the 2021 Spacks Prize

Past Spacks Prize announcements

Contact Us

gunpowderpoetry@gmail.com
Gunpowder Press
P.O. Box 60035
Santa Barbara, CA 93160-0035

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