Description (from Doralee Brooks, City of Asylum’s Poet Laureate of Allegheny County)
The weather is always a safe topic for small talk in Pittsburgh because as the saying goes, if you don’t like it now, just wait a few minutes, it will change. As a child, I remember watching the Gulf Tower beacon from our North Side yard as if it were a weather oracle, a kind of magic. We Pittsburghers enjoy making jokes and groaning about the few days of sunshine we get, and we’re proud, I think, of the way that we withstand the rather dark and overcast skies. Maybe it’s good for raising artists and poets. No one can deny the abundance of homegrown literary and musical talent the city has produced.
There is also something evocative about dark weather that nurtures the imagination. Think of all of the songs and poetry collections celebrating it. I often think of Patricia Spears Jones, The Weather That Kills, or Cornelius Eady’s Hardheaded Weather. In my youth, the fusion jazz group, Weather Report, was one of my favorites. The Gulf Tower Forecasts Rain is an anthology that celebrates poetry inspired by Pittsburgh places, history, colloquialisms, and quirks. It’s part of the laureate project I submitted as City of Asylum’s poet laureate of Allegheny County 2022-24. We are asking you to send us your best original poems inspired by Pittsburgh. Previously published poems are also considered as long as full publication citation is provided.
Submission Guidelines
- On the first page of the document, include a brief biography of up to 150 words.
- Submit up to three poems* each on a separate page with your name and email address in the upper right-hand side of each page.
- Send submissions as a single PDF or Word document to plsubmssions@cityofasylumpittsburgh.org with your name as the subject line.
- The deadline to submit is October 15, 2023.
*If submitting previously published poems, send a complete citation of publication.
Submissions will receive confirmation of acceptance in December 2023. The goal of publication is print or electronic format in late spring 2024.
Meet the Editor: Doralee Brooks
Doralee Brooks holds an MEd from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA from Carlow University. She is Professor Emerita of Developmental Studies at the Community College of Allegheny County. In 1995, Doralee became a fellow of the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project, a national writing project for teachers of kindergarten through college who endorse the practice of writing instruction in every discipline. In 1997, she led a community group for girls in Homestead who called themselves The Spice Writers. In 1997 and 1999, Doralee received fellowships to Cave Canem. Currently, Doralee facilitates writing workshops in poetry at Carlow University, and her poems have appeared in several journals including Voices from the Attic, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Uppagus, Dos Passos Review, and Paterson Literary Review. Her chapbook, “When I Hold You Up to the Light,” won the 2019 Cathy Smith Bowers Poetry Prize sponsored by Main Street Rag.
