Editor Interview: Two Cardinals Literary

Underrepresented poets

Fork Apple Press
The Seventh Wave
Broadsided Press
The Maine Review
The Room Magazine

Oliver Baez Bendorf, Jericho Brown, Chen Chen, Franny Choi, Natalie Diaz, Ross Gay, June Jordan, Yusef Komunyakaa, Tyehimba Jess, Tracy K. Smith, Natasha Trethewey

As participants in the gift economy, we also create handmade 'Gifts in Print' for all our contributors. These collaged, hand-sewn books made by Livia and Sonia are to be one of a kind gifts for each contributor as a symbol of our care and appreciation for all their time, effort, and trust in us with their words and work.

Two Cardinals is a nest for us, and we want to make it a soft landing place for our poets. We encourage people considering us as a home to write authentically as themselves.

Two Cardinals Literary looks for poetry that is compelling emotionally and contextually, personally and universally, structurally, and imagistically. We want to uplift the writing of discovery and rediscovery that occurs in poems, leaving readers in a place that is somehow new or different from when they first arrived, pushing them to consider how it is that they have arrived here and what has changed in the process.

Format: ideally poems should be max. 40 characters wide and max. 25 lines long to fit on our typewriter for the gifts in print.
Feel: please read our mission statement and previously published poems to see if we would be a good fit to house your work.

Our Google form has a place where folks can write comments, and we do read them with delight, but no formal cover letter or previous publication credits matter when selecting poems to publish.

Our poetry editor extraordinaire Sonia reads every piece to the end.

Since we create our gifts in print on a typewriter, we do take into account if a poem could easily and successfully be typed in terms of formatting. This includes width (typically no wider than 40 characters) and length (ideally no longer than 25 lines). Though these are not strict and we work with poets to maintain the integrity of their form for the typed version of their work. I have hand-drawn special characters, as well, since the typewriter is limited.

As the Managing Editor, I primarily make sure our our email, website, Google Forms, and Instagram are all running smoothly and that communication with anyone who reaches out is fast. Currently the Two Cardinals Literary team volunteers our time, and I have multiple other jobs that require my attention and presence during the day. I also enjoy creating and printing physical flyers to share to our circles/community, and it's very rewarding when we notice people find us because of those. And, of course, hand-making the gifts in print! This process includes typing on a typewriter, sewing, collaging from magazines, and even hand-making stickers.

We rarely edit poems between acceptance and publication. Edits may include catching typos, adjusting lineation (only for the gifts in print), and making suggestions for clarity. Generally speaking, we appreciate the work as it is, and if it's not ready, we'll send you an encouraging message to submit again.

Yes! This is our first year and we very well intend to nominate for prizes.

At the moment, our project is not funded. Completely a labor of love. We are new and getting our feet underneath our wings. We are exploring options to become a non-profit or some other similar type of entity to start applying for funding opportunities.

We promote our published poets on our Instagram and with our Meet the Contributor feature on our website. This is a short interview where poets can explain the behind the scenes of their work.