Asterales: A Journal of Arts & Letters
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asteralesjournal.bsky.social
Asterales: A Journal of Arts & Letters
@asteralesjournal.bsky.social
930 followers 300 following 130 posts
A new quarterly literary journal publishing 5 poems, 2 prose works, and original visual art. Issue One Coming in January of 2025

Co-founders/editors @djvorreyer.bsky.social and @rebunting.bsky.social

http://www.asteralesjournal.com
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asteralesjournal.bsky.social
Hey, friends! Remember that Subs are Open for all categories (poetry, fiction, CNF, art) until December 15.

Send us your beauties, your weirdos, your ships in a bottle, your mother's teapots, the trees outside your bedroom windows, your favorite striped sweaters. You know the drill.
Subs are open 11/1 - 12/15 Poetry 1-3 poems Prose - 1 piece up to 7500 words (Flash also welcome) Art - 3-5 images at 300 dpi Guidelines at http://asteralesjournal.com
November 16, 2025 at 9:42 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
Today’s the day! Send us your darlings, now through December 15! ❤️
November 1, 2025 at 11:16 AM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
It’s here! Issue 4 is live today, featuring work from Sean Cho A, Sarah Mills, Allison Blevins, Jill Kitchen, Anthony Frame, Will Musgrove, Charles Jensen, Susan Barry-Schulz, Julia Biggs, Sheila Squillante, and Vishaal! #poetry #prose #visualart #literaryjournal #asterales

tinyurl.com/5h25zt3c
October 20, 2025 at 2:04 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
We are thrilled to announce our very first Best of the Net nominees!
@prayfortheapex.bsky.social @josephlezza.com @erinmurphy.bsky.social @jasonbcrawford.bsky.social Mike Nees Ellene Glenn Moore @mattkish.bsky.social @amymiller.bsky.social
We are thrilled to announce our very first Best of the Net nominees! @prayfortheapex.bsky.social @josephlezza.com @erinmurphy.bsky.social @jasonbcrawford.bsky.social Mike Nees Ellene Glenn Moore @mattkish.bsky.social @amymiller.bsky.social Beige background, green and maroon lettering - text is centered and framed by two bunches of maroon and pink asters with green stems, one on each side of the text.
September 23, 2025 at 6:30 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
There is so much mystery and wonder in this poem by @fklein907.bsky.social Read "How I Met My Deer Wife" in Issue 4!
asteralesjournal.com/1-3-klein-wi...
Brown Text: Deer Wife, red gold sunrise haloing her head, stepping gentle on legs slendered down to cloven points Backgroun - Gold/orange autumn grove of trees with a puddle and a semi-transparent female deer standing in the foreground.
September 8, 2025 at 6:28 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
This still life has such color, movement, and surprise that we couldn't resist. Check out @carolee.bsky.social's Canary #1 in Issue 4!
asteralesjournal.com/1-3-martin-b...
September 6, 2025 at 2:31 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
This poem's narratives give us unspoken consequences and family dynamics that are so much more than just anecdotes. Read Gail Martin's "And We Never Spoke of It" in Issue 4.
asteralesjournal.com/1-3-martin-b...
A swirl of spilled white paint on a light grey background - text reads "The can flew off, lid popped open, white paint flying up and down that aisle" Gail Martin "And We Never Spoke of It"
September 1, 2025 at 6:29 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
What's on the inside? It could be fire. Check out this amazing collage work from @lauriemmarshall.bsky.social in Issue 4!
asteralesjournal.com/1-3-johnson-...
August 28, 2025 at 7:28 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
What a pleasure to find a completely original love poem that takes you on a journey through the literal heart. "Diminuendo" by @johnpauldavis.org does just that. Read it in Issue 4!
asteralesjournal.com/1-3-davis-wi...
maybe this is the section of the scripture that just lists the livestock everybody owns & all the begetting... John Paul Davis "Diminuendo" White text on black backgrouns with rays of light filtering through a stained glass window on the upper left.
August 25, 2025 at 11:04 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
This b&w photo is a story in and of itself. Check out "Italian Sea" by Rachel Turney in Issue 4!
asteralesjournal.com/1-3-trautman...
August 23, 2025 at 7:48 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
Experience the headlong rush of images and memory in Meghan Sterling's "Spring is for Remembering" in Issue 4!

www.asteralesjournal.com/1-3-sterling...
"spring blossoms coming down like so many baseballs into the cage. How I finally understand the way it can rain anything." From Spring is for Remembering by Megan Sterling. Text on a light blue background with pink petals and baseballs raining down in a random pattern.
August 18, 2025 at 3:50 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
Featured Artist Sandra Wilcoxon's delicate botanical watercolors wowed us with their detail. Take a look at her work throughout Issue 4!
asteralesjournal.com/1-3-wilcoxon
Watercolor painting entitled Small Lichen on Goatskin Vellum - pastel grays, greens and blues show the lacy forms of a lichen on a linen-colored background. Intricate watercolor of Texas Spanish Moss with a tangle of delicate green tendrils and a thin brown branch
August 14, 2025 at 4:31 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
We were floored by this simple poem about the complexity of love. Read "An Old Friend Posts His Mother's Death" by Melissa Fite Johnson in Issue 4.
asteralesjournal.com/1-3-johnson-ma…
August 11, 2025 at 4:47 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
Ever wonder how a poem with a Sasquatch could make you question time, permanence, and memory? Read Jared Beloff's "Sasquatch mourns those who died trying to find him" in Issue 4.

www.asteralesjournal.com/1-3-beloff-w...
This morning I watched as a pair of birds sat on the same branch, looking out, silent before one pushed off, flew across the water. Jared Beloff "Sasquatch mourns those who died trying to find him"
August 4, 2025 at 5:35 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
Subs are open for Issue 4! Send us your best prose, visual art, and poems. We can't wait to read!
asteralesjournal.com/submissions
Poetry 1-3 poems Prose single work up to 7500 words- fiction, cnf, or something in-between Visual art- 3-5 images as .jpgd at least 300 dpi
August 1, 2025 at 2:46 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
We loved the way this piece took us back & forth between realities, ending with a new direction that made perfect sense for both. Read Kerry Trautman's "Totality" in Issue Three.
www.asteralesjournal.com/1-3-trautman...
Monday we slipped our glasses to check the progress of the chip missing from the bottom of the sun, the moon taking bigger bigger bites of light. From "Totality" by Kerry Trautman
July 28, 2025 at 2:38 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
Issue Three is live! Poems from @readinstead.bsky.social
@johnpauldavis.org, @mfitejohnson.bsky.social, @fklein907.bsky.social, Gail Martin, Kerry Trautman, Meghan Sterling and art from @carolee.bsky.social, Rachel Turney,
@lauriemmarshall.bsky.social & Sandra Wilcoxon!
July 20, 2025 at 3:31 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
One week from today! Issue Three is coming...
Issue Three is coming soon! Poetry from Kerry Trautman, Jared Beloff, Melissa Fite Johnson, John Paul Davis, Gail Martin, Meghan Sterling, & Frances Klein! Featured Artist Sandra Wilcoxon. Visual Art from Carolee Bennett, Rachel Turney, Laurie Biggs Marshall, & Sandra Wilcoxon
July 13, 2025 at 7:38 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
Issue Two poet @stevieedwardspoet.bsky.social is on residency in Portugal at @buinhocreativehub.bsky.social! Her poem from Issue Two was shared on Insta today in her profile. Hopefully this means more great work from Stevie in the future!
9:22 ▲100% stevietheclumsy and buinhocreativehub 5 hours ago : My Dear Felicity, Stevie Edwards I have been dreaming you since the second grade when I decided to name you after an American Girl character when I learned the name meant intense happiness, which was something I didn't feel often as a child with a brain riddled by ghosts nobody wanted to talk about. Felicity with the pigtailed strawberry blonde braids and freckles. Felicity with her nose cozied in the spine of a book. Felicity flying through monkey bars. Felicity memorizing state capitals and dog breeds. Felicity, Felicity, Felicity. I named you the year my baby brother was born a blob of colic and need, but he was my little blob to take care of when Mom was busy, too flattened by postpartum depression. He was mine, cuddling a stuffed tiger, slobbering on its ear. My Felicity, my intense happiness, I am sorry. I haven't made the right life to rock you to sleep. Each day I sleep in as late as I feel like, go to sleep when gravity is a blanket pushing my muscles into bed. Each day I cook foods I'm told children don't like (chana, and masala, pasta with asparagus and peas, sesame tofu). Each day I read and write poems in the quiet guest bedroom, three pit bulls swaddled around me. Each day I take a small pill to ward off your gaining breath. Some days, Felicity, I am intensely happy. Liked by stevietheclumsy and others buinhocreativehub Meet Dr. Stevie Edwards, a poet, professor, and editor whose work explores emotion, resilience, and the complexities of human experience. With poems featured in leading literary journals and published collections, Stevie brings both sharp intellect and deep feeling to the page. She currently teaches at
July 8, 2025 at 2:28 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
Asterales is very excited that our first acknowledgement in a book is in the lovely Hawk and Moon by @hanvanderhart.bsky.social. We couldn't think of a better place to be.
Light blue book cover with black stylized text reading Hawk & Moon/Han VanderHart and a black print of a bird, blossoms, branch and moon. Acknowledgments list starting with Asterales - "My Body is an Archive Of"
June 23, 2025 at 7:46 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
We couldn’t have been more excited to see this piece from Michael Moreth in our Issue 2 subs; what a spectacular blend of movement & color & technique! Spend some more time with it over at the journal, because Mr. Moreth has made the sage decision not to have social media.
June 9, 2025 at 10:07 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
Sure dolls can be creepy, but they can also lead us to some of the most revealing moments of our lives, as @stevieedwardspoet.bsky.social helps us understand in Issue 2 poem “My Dear Felicity.” Come, get your heart broken and mended all over again with this poem.
June 4, 2025 at 8:05 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
Issue 2 received some incredible art submissions, including these arresting images from Míša Hejná. We were stunned by the beauty here; make sure to check out Míša’s IG (@misprdlina) to see more! #asterales #visualart #literaryjournal
June 3, 2025 at 4:43 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
Today’s delight comes to us from Issue 2 contributor @hanvanderhart.bsky.social, who shared the most beautiful exploration of longing. Follow them for more incredible work!
May 27, 2025 at 5:46 PM
asteralesjournal.bsky.social
Have you seen Pamela Tucker’s Memento in issue 2? The texture, the colors, the vibes - stunning. And don’t forget to check out her bio at the bottom of the page, which contains notes about her incredible process of creation. We couldn’t wait to share this as part of this issue!
May 23, 2025 at 9:18 PM