Disability Desirability

We invite artists who live with disability/chronic illness/mental illness and other forms of existence that are impacted by ableism to send us poems, prose, essays, and reviews exploring what it means to be in the world, or your topic of choice. We hope that your art challenges the able-bodied gaze and doctrine by changing the narrative of the dominant body and extending the meaning of wholeness. These poems will be part of ARC’s Fall 2023 issue.

Guest Editor

Therese Estacion is part of the Visayan diaspora community. She is an elementary school teacher and is currently studying to be a psychotherapist. Therese is also a bilateral below knee and partial hands amputee. Her poems have been published in CV2 and PANK Magazine. Her first book, Phantompains, was published by Book*Hug, and is a finalist for the CLMP Firecracker Awards. She lives in Toronto/Tkaronto.

Submissions

Submit your poems by May 15, 2023 to be considered.

Submissions must not exceed 3 poems.
If you have submitted to ARC’s general call for submission, you may still submit work this issue. Submitting poems for this issue does not count towards the three poems per calendar year limit.
If you are submitting 2 or 3 poems, you must submit these as separate files. All poems must be sent as individual submissions.

Please email pitches for essays, How Poems Work articles, interviews, or book reviews related to this themed issue. If you have an inquiry about this issue, please contact Coordinating Editor Manahil Bandukwala at coordinatingeditor@arcpoetry.ca. ARC cannot promise to respond to all inquiries regarding the status of submitted poems before the completion of our reading period.

Submit

Payment & Publication

Arc‘s rate for poetry is $50 per print page. Payment is issued upon publication along with one free copy of the issue in which the work appears. With acceptance, Arc secures First Canadian Serial Rights, meaning the poems should not appear in any print or digital publication before the release of the issue in which the work appears. All rights will revert to the author upon publication.

Frequently Asked Questions

Persons with disabilities, chronic illness, mental illness, and those affected by ableism, which includes fat and obese folks.

We are prioritizing work from folx who are currently living with disabilities and would like to give them the space and opportunity to share their work. If you are unsure, please feel free to reach out via email: coordinatingeditor@arcpoetry.ca

Please send your essay and review pitches to Manahil Bandukwala: coordinatingeditor@arcpoetry.ca. Include a 100-200 word pitch, and a brief note of your writing history.

Please email Arc a pitch (100-200 words) first. We accept essays between 1500-2000 words, and our standard rate is $50 per print page (approx. 400 words per page). We accept brief book reviews with a preferred word count of 500 words for a flat rate of $80 OR feature reviews at $50 per print page with a discussion of at least two books of poetry, 800-1200 preferred word count.

Please provide content warnings at your own discretion. If you would like us to provide a content warning to go along with your published work, please indicate the content warning after your work’s title.

Arc Poetry Magazine accepts work from international artists.

Arc will notify all submitters of acceptance or rejection after the closing of the submission deadline. Please do not inquire about your work until at least three months after the submission deadline.

Please do not be discouraged! Sometimes it is a matter of subjectivity, other times it is a matter of readiness. Continue to submit to other magazines and to Arc in the future. We hope your work finds a home one day!