Beachcombing Poetry

Call for Entries

April is National Poetry month — 30 days of celebrating the joy, expressiveness, and pure delight of poetry. We would love to share your poetry in the March/April magazine and/or online. Interested writers and secret poets should submit their poems of 350 words or less about beachcombing, beach life, collecting, and related subjects. Your poem can be in any poetry form: haiku, sonnet, visual/concrete poem, acrostic, ode, ballad, limerick, or free verse.

Submission Guidelines:

Please read carefully. Submissions that do not meet these guidelines will NOT be eligible.

1. The poetry contest is open to the worldwide beachcombing community.
2. We look forward to reading your poems that celebrate the beauty, fun, therapy, camaraderie, insight, humor, and positivity that beachcombing brings to your life.
3. Your submission can be in any any poetry form, including haiku, sonnet, visual/concrete poem, acrostic, ode, ballad, limerick, or free verse. 
4. Your submission is limited to 350 words or less. Please email your poem in the body of your email or attach a .doc, .docx, .rtf, or editable .PDF file. If you would like to include an image in your submission, please see our image submission guidelines.
5. Previously published works will not be considered. 
6. Include a your name, address, email, and the title of your submission in your email or document.
7. Please note that pieces may be edited for length and formatting.
8. Entries should be emailed to submissions@beachcombingmagazine.com, with “Beachcombing Poetry” in the subject line.
9. No racist, sexist, sexual, violent, derogatory, political, or hateful speech. 
10. Submissions are due January 8, 2023, by midnight Pacific time.
11. First, Second, and Third Place Winners will be selected by a committee of judges. Decisions by the judges are final. Winners will be notified by email.
12. By submitting your poem, you give the publishers of Beachcombing permission to use your copy and images in print and/or online as outlined in the Beachcombing Magazine Contributor Agreement. Please sign and submit the Beachcombing Magazine Contributor Agreement form to tell us how your name should appear and to let us know where to mail a free copy of the magazine where your image or story appears.

Beachcomber

Monday I found a boot –
Rust and salt leather.
I gave it back to the sea, to dance in.

Tuesday a spar of timber worth thirty bob.
Next winter
It will be a chair, a coffin, a bed.

Wednesday a half can of Swedish spirits.
I tilted my head.
The shore was cold with mermaids and angels.

Thursday I got nothing, seaweed,
A whale bone,
Wet feet and a loud cough.

Friday I held a seaman’s skull,
Sand spilling from it
The way time is told on kirkyard stones.

Saturday a barrel of sodden oranges.
A Spanish ship
Was wrecked last month at The Kame.

Sunday, for fear of the elders,
I sit on my bum.
What’s heaven? A sea chest
with a thousand gold coins.

By George Mackay Brown from Fishermen with Ploughs (Hogarth Press, 1971), and included in The Collected Poems of George Mackay Brown (John Murray, 2005).