SPECIAL CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS open until Jan 15th—join the Canada-wide conversation!

We are specifically looking for poems in response to work by the following poets:

Ben Robinson, Wayde Compton, Junie Desil, Kate Braid, Nina Mosall, J William Ngenda, Marita Dachsel, Tracy Wai de Boer, Shane Book, Laurence Hutchman, Eva Kolacz, Jes Batis, Trisia Eddy Woods, Brian Day, Thomas Doerksen, Nick Thran, Violetta Leigh.

While we’ve received MANY excellent submissions from all over Canada, we have not yet received publishable work in response to the above poets. Please send us your excellent work!

WHAT IS A RESPONSE POEM?
It’s a poem inspired by the poem of another poet, and thus written in response to that poem. It can be as simple as writing after “Spring” by Marita Dachsel beneath YOUR poem’s title (if your poem was indeed inspired by that poem); or it could be a poem written in a form that uses lines directly from a poem of inspiration (glossa, demi-glossa, cento, etc); or it can be a poem that reuses the title or first line, or last line of another poem… your imagination is the only limit, really. :)

AFTER: Poems in Dialogue, is a national anthology celebrating the timeless tradition of poetic response. Just as poets have always been in conversation—across generations, cultures, and languages—this collection invites new work that responds to the voices shaping Canadian poetry today.

The anthology centers on the work of over 60 poets from across Canada featured in Season 29 of Planet Earth Poetry, each with a new book of Canadian poetry (although, you can respond to ANY WORK by these poets.)

• NEW SUBMISSION PERIOD OPEN until January 15th, 2026

• All submissions will be receive responses at the end of our process (likely before April 2026)

• Email: afteranthology@gmail.com

SUBMIT NOW:
For poems responding to poets featured between January and June 2025 click to see poets, listen to their YouTube performances at Planet Earth Poetry, and get inspired! (you might also like to purchase a few books from your local independent book seller)

Submission Guidelines:

• Eligibility: Open to all Canadian poets

• Submit: Up to six poems per submission period

• Response Mode: Poems may respond in any meaningful way—dialogue, homage, resonance, challenge, shared themes, formal innovation… try Googling RESPONSE POETRY if you’re a poet who has not yet written a poem inspired by another poem.

• Each poem must clearly name the poet and poem it responds to AND the book the poem is from. Responses can be to ANY poem written by the poet in question, and are not limited to the specific poems/books the poet performed at PEP. Your six poems could respond to six different poets, or all respond to the same poet.

• Publication Status: Unpublished poems are preferred; previously published work will be considered with reprint permission

How to Submit:

• Attach: Word or PDF file(s) containing your poems. Please send one file for each poet to whom you are responding. For example, if you have two poems responding to Shane Book, both would be saved in one file. If each of your six poems respond to different poets, you will send six files. If all six respond to the same poet, you will send one file.

• File name format: “Your Name - Name of Poet Being Responded To”

  e.g. Zoe Dickinson_Zehra Naqiv

• Include in the email:

  • Full name

  • Mailing address

  • Phone number

  • Email address

  • Short third-person bio (20-30 words)

  • Titles of the poems, the books they’re from, and the poets they respond to

• Send to: afteranthology@gmail.com

• Subject line: “AFTER Submission – [Your Name]” You may send up to six poems within each submission period. All of the accompanying information MUST be in the email-letter. Thank you. :)

SPECIAL CALL: we have not yet received publishable poems for the following poets from the first submission period:

Warren Heiti, Zehra Naqiv, jaz papadopoulos, John Rockford, Melanie Siebert, Tom Wayman, Sheri-D Wilson

Please send up to three poems responding to these poets by SEPTEMBER 1ST

Please label your files with your name and the poet’s names:

e.g. Kyeren Regehr_Warren Heiti
Kyeren Regehr_Tom Wayman
Kyeren Regehr_Melanie Siebert

SUBMIT HERE

We are committed to equity in the arts!
We actively encourage submissions from poets who identify as Indigenous, Black, People of Colour, LGBTQ2S+, disabled, neurodivergent, and/or members of other historically underrepresented communities.

When selecting poetry for the anthology, our aim is to represent as many poets from Season 29 as possible, and to offer space to poets in the anthology as equitably as possible—all while adhering to the highest of literary standards.

We encourage all poets to send their work!
Whoever you are, you are welcome here.

Zoe Dickinson

Zoe Dickinson’s poetry is rooted in British Columbia’s Pacific coastline, with a focus on local ecology and human relationships with nature. She is a manager at Russell Books, one of Canada’s largest used, antiquarian, and new bookstores. Between 2020-2023, she was the Artistic Director of Planet Earth Poetry Reading Series, where she continues to volunteer as a board member. Zoe has a B.A. in Classics and Liberal Arts from Concordia University, and an MLIS from Dalhousie.

She has published two award-winning chapbooks: Public Transit (Leaf Press, 2015) and intertidal: poems from the littoral zone (Raven Chapbooks, 2022). Her work has also appeared in anthologies including Worth More Standing: Poets and Activists Pay Homage to Trees (2022), and literary journals such as Existere, Prairie Fire, and Contemporary Verse 2, and shortlisted for The Montreal Prize. Her first full-length poetry collection is forthcoming from Guernica Editions in 2026.

zoedickinson.com

Kyeren Regehr

Kyeren Regehr’s collection Cult Life, was a finalist for the 2021 ReLit Awards and The Victoria Butler Book Prize; Disassembling A Dancer won the inaugural Raven Chapbooks contest, and has two earlier chapbooks. Her poetry has been published in dozens of literary periodicals and anthologies in Canada, Australia, and the USA, including The Literary Review of Canada, Canadian Literature, Best Canadian Poetry in English, and Best New Poets. Her work has been thrice longlisted for the CBC Poetry Awards.

Kyeren served on the editorial board of Canada's iconic literary periodical, The Malahat Review. She holds a BFA and MFA in Writing, taught in the Department of Writing at the University of Victoria, and has mentored poets through the Writer’s Union of Canada, the League of Canadian Poets.

Kyeren is the 5th Artistic Director of Planet Earth Poetry, host of The Poet Laureate Podcast, and the 7th Poet Laureate of Victoria, BC.

kyerenregehr.ca