The Adroit Journal

We hear you, students! The deadline for the 2026 Summer Mentorship Program has been EXTENDED to March 10. Apply at the link in our bio!

Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar’s “Tahsin from Erzurum,” translated by Aysel Basci, lingers in the quiet between man and landscape. Read Issue Fifty-Six through the link in our bio.

Jane Hirshfield’s “I Report to the Earth” bears witness to a world of terror and tenderness. Read Issue Fifty-Six through the link in our bio.

Meg Thompson’s “Both” reflects on labor and motherhood. Read the rest of Issue Fifty-Six through the link in our bio.

David Keplinger’s “Remembering Being a Horse” inhabits breath, muscle, and memory. Read the piece in Issue Fifty-Six through the link in our bio.

Lisa Knopp’s “Creep” traces the word from its Old English roots to its modern unease, asking how language shifts over time. Read Issue Fifty-Six through the link in our bio.

Solomon Ibn Gabirol’s “[High bough with flowers],” translated by Dan Alter, sings of longing rendered in gold, fruit, and fragrance. Read Issue Fifty-Six through the link in our bio.

Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s “Green Love Poem” celebrates devotion in lush, botanical abundance. Read Issue Fifty-Six through the link in our bio.

Evgeniya Dame’s “Mother, Tongue” skewers language, hierarchy, and the politics of fluency—where grammar becomes a measure of belonging. Read the full piece in Issue Fifty-Six through the link in our bio.

We’re open for general submissions through the end of March! Visit the link in our bio for guidelines.

Megan Pinto considers the elegiac image in Larry Levis’s “Winter Stars,” tracing how stillness, memory, and withheld speech shape a complicated grief between father and son. Read Issue Fifty-Six, link in bio.

Abner Dormiendo’s “In Antipolo, I Stopped Smoking,” translated by Ethan Chua, maps the body as nation—lungs as city center, memory as war zone, love as the last lit match. Read Issue Fifty-Six through the link in our bio.

D.S. Waldman’s “At Lake Merritt” traces the body’s urgencies—anxiety blooming in the chest, thought as sensation, the quiet interruptions of a lakeside afternoon. Read in Issue Fifty-Six through the link in our bio.

Donte Collins’s “American Sonnet w/ a God Complex” interrogates beauty, power, devotion, and the uneasy theater of being alive—confession circling the silence of God. Read more in Issue Fifty-Six, link in bio.

Hanif Abdurraqib’s “Variations on a Theme: Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel” moves through memory, survival, and the echoes of prayer in a world of chaos and grace. Read Issue Fifty-Six through the link in our bio.

K-Ming Chang’s “Female Dog” traces the contagion of a single forbidden word—how it spreads, mutates, and refuses containment. Read Issue Fifty-Six through the link in our bio.

Calling all high school writers! Adroit’s 2026 Summer Mentorship Program is open for submissions through 3/1. Learn more & apply at the link in our bio. 📝

Larry Levis’s collected poems, SWIRL & VORTEX, is out today from @graywolfpress! Our new issue features a collection of essays and criticism honoring the late poet, including reflections from the book’s associate editor, L. A. Johnson.

Carolina Ebeid’s “Winternet” traces grief, memory, and the technologies that carry our voices through time. Issue Fifty-Six is out now—read the rest through the link in our bio.

Heading to Baltimore for #AWP26 this March? Come by our booth for author signings, merch, submission info, and good chat. We’ll also be partying off-site—stay tuned for details.

Issue Fifty-Six is here! Head to the link in our bio to explore an abundance of new poetry, prose, and art—plus a special series of essays and criticism honoring the late Larry Levis (1946-1996).

Another throwback in anticipation of Issue Fifty-Six coming at the end of the month✨ “She didn’t expect her guest to be so unimpressed, so languid, so bored by her nakedness…” Read the rest of Mirror in the Green Room in Issue Seventeen through the link in our bio.

Another throwback in anticipation of Issue Fifty-Six coming at the end of the month✨ “Meredith’s world mercifully shrinks… all that exists now are her two pillaging hands and her insatiable mouth.” Read the rest of Bone Meal in Issue Fourteen through the link in our bio.

Fancy a sneak peek into Issue Fifty-Six? Join us on Tuesday night to hear from a handful of our talented poetry and prose contributors! Reserve your free spot at the link in our bio.

Here’s another throwback in anticipation of Issue Fifty-Six releasing at the end of the month. From Issue Fourteen: Ada Limón on navigating loss—grief, rage, and the way poetry comes after, helping make sense of the unimaginable.

Is 2026 the new 2016? We can’t be sure, but we do know we published some incredible writing that year. Here’s an excerpt from Will Brewer’s “Resolution,” featured in Issue Fourteen. Stay tuned for more!

Jesse Nathan’s November 20 captures a cityscape and the fleeting intimacy of connection. Read the rest of Issue Fifty-Five through the link in our bio.

Ali Choudhary’s “The Orgasm Is a Fugitive Event” maps desire and surveillance, tracing moments that slip beneath the grid. Read the rest of Issue Fifty-Five through the link in our bio.

Sarah Lao’s poems drift between memory and the meticulous weight of thought. Read the rest of Issue Fifty-Five through the link in our bio. ✨

Mickie Kennedy’s “The Pecan Tree Leaning Away from My Childhood Home” drips with memory, desire, and the vivid textures of childhood. Read the rest of Issue Fifty-Five through the link in our bio. 🌳