Submissions for oxygen8

Submission period for oxygen8 will close on Friday 20 September 2024.

Submissions of poetry must be sent by post to:

Cheryl Howard

PO Box 614

WOODEND VIC 3442

 

A stamped self-addressed envelope must be included for return of response.

 

Nonfiction articles can be sent as attachments within one email to poetry.clh@gmail.com

 

Photos and art must be emailed as attachments in one email. High quality resolution of 300dpi minimum.

 

Send two, three or four pieces of work.

 

Work must be the original work of the submitter and not previously published, nor on offer elsewhere.

 

For poetry, name and address must be on each page. 

 

Please do not include quotes unless they are no longer under copyright protection. 

 

Responses will be sent out in September. 

The magazine will be issued late in October.

            Photo by Mauro Cateb, Flickr creative commons
 

 

 

Invitation to contribute to oxygen8

Working on creative expression is an important pursuit. Many human achievements benefit our physical existence and that does contribute to wellbeing. Nevertheless it is obvious while there is at present less material poverty in the world, an inner poverty may be on the rise, manifesting in the prevailing obsession with fame and wealth, which reveals an ignorance of the inner riches within us all. While there has been a strong movement in the recognition that we need not only physical health but also a healthy knowledge of who and what we are, within the surge in mindfulness and meditation practices there is infused the hard to relinquish need for instant gratification and short-cuts – this insecure concern for appearances and quantifiable results.

It is neither the acclaim nor the rejection that matters in creative expression, but the process. In that process we are uncovering what has been hidden, sifting to find what is true, distilling over the course of time, winding our way along an unknown path, unaware of what we will come upon.

Your completed piece may spark something in others, or it may not — what matters is the work that went into it, the attempt. We are all trying to remember something — every day we can attend to this — even though we have no guarantee that there is anything to be found. The alternative is to become more lost and entangled. Every day we can give our attention to what matters, which is whatever is before us.