Intricacy: A Literary Review

Issue 2: Mending

Lately, we've been thinking a lot about how writing (when we read it and when we write it) allows us to grapple with loss, damage, and despair. This historical moment—and maybe all moments—seems to call upon us to dwell on what we have already lost and what we could still lose. But it also compels us to consider what there is to be found and created anew through the process of returning to and mending what feels broken, old, and forgotten. Of course, mending doesn’t ever return something to how it was—instead, it leaves scars, traces of a new approach or material, and, importantly, a will to repair. To mend requires, then, a simultaneous remembering and reimagining.

For our second issue, we are interested in writing that intricately navigates mending in all its forms, whether literal or figurative, internal or external, personal or communal. And in an age in which we are beginning to reckon with our urgent need to become a culture of repair instead of one of consumption, this theme of mending offers fruitful and far-reaching avenues for writers. (And, we wonder: does intricacy play a role in mending?)

For Issue 2, we are accepting flash and short fiction and nonfiction. Poetry submissions will be accepted only through our poetry contest. The winning poem and four runner-up poems will be published as part of our second issue.

• short fiction (1,000-5,000 words)
• flash fiction (up to 1,000 words)
• creative nonfiction (up to 5,000 words)

Please double space your prose. We spend a lot of our time reading and appreciate submitters using an easily readable font, such as Times New Roman, Calibri, Aptos, Arial, or Garamond.

Simultaneous submissions are fine. Please withdraw your submission on Duosuma if your work is accepted elsewhere. If this happens, congrats! We’re happy you found the right home for your piece.

We ask that you only enter one submission during each submission cycle.

Our submission window will be open November 1-30, 2026, OR until our submission cap is reached.

Submit

Issue 2: Mending, Guest Edited Poetry Contest

We are over the moon to announce that, as part of Issue 2, we are holding a guest-edited poetry contest.

For our first issue, we received so many marvelous poems from both established and new poets that we feel a celebration, in the form of a contest, is in order!

And we couldn’t think of a better way to honor the caliber of poetry we expect to receive than inviting Cameron Quan to be our poetry guest-editor and contest judge. Cameron’s poetry is playful and sharp as it delves into ideas closely and obliquely aligned with mending, such as the acts of repair and apology—to name but a few.

We invite poets to submit one polished poem (not exceeding three pages in length) in any style, broadly related to our theme "Mending," for the opportunity to win a cash prize, editorial feedback, publication in our 2nd issue, and a signed copy of Cameron’s new book.

About Guest Editor Cameron Quan:

Cameron Quan is a multidisciplinary writer based in Tucson. He is the author of Repair Attempts (Curbstone Books/Northwestern University Press, 2027) and the award-winning chapbook Apology Engine. He holds an M.F.A. from the University of Washington, Seattle and an M.Ed. from the University of Arizona. Cameron works at the University of Arizona Press, serves as co-chair of the Tucson Festival of Books poetry committee, and hosts the annual CRESTED poetry reading. His work explores Asian American identity, the borderlands, pop culture, gender, and the archive through text and image. Learn more about Cameron and his work at cameronquan.com

Some words from Cameron about Mending:

“Visible mending” is the act of repairing textiles so that both the damage and the repair become an ornamental feature of the work. I’m excited to read poems in any form or style that consider acts of mending—failed, successful, ongoing—as a visible process unfolding between humans and objects, humans and humans, humans and the natural world; mending as the fraught work of healing the body, restoring landscapes, reexamining history, and repairing relationships (of all kinds). Are there limitations to how much we can mend? Unexpected consequences? And after the mending is done, how visible are the scars?

Selection Process:

• The editors of Intricacy will read all poetry submissions and will notify writers whose poems have not been selected
• The guest editor will review the top 20 selected poems and will choose the winner and four runners up
• All writers will be notified of whether their poem was selected within 60 days of the submission window closing

Prizes:

• The winning poet will be awarded $250, personalized feedback on their work from guest editor Cameron Quan, and a signed copy of his latest poetry collection, Repair Attempts
• The top two runners-up will receive personalized feedback from Cameron on their work, a signed copy of Repair Attempts, and publication in Intricacy at our standard honorarium rate of $30
• 4th- and 5th-place writers will be published in Intricacy and receive our standard $30 honorarium and a signed copy of Repair Attempts.

Submit