On the contrary, this understanding has been common to Indigenous or First Nations peoples on every inhabited continent and archipelago for numberless generations.” (Abram, “On the Origin of the Phrase, ‘more-than-human’”).

He goes on to say, “of course, the recognition of our human embedment within a more-than-human biosphere brimming with its own intelligence is hardly a new insight. (cont. ).

Yet by this new phrase I also meant to encourage a new humility on the part of humankind, since the ‘more’ could be taken not just in a quantitative but also in a qualitative sense.” (cont. ).

that the human world is necessarily embedded within, permeated by, and indeed dependent upon the more-than-human world that exceeds it. (cont. ).

“The phrase was intended, first and foremost, to indicate that the realm of humankind (with our culture and technology) is a subset within a larger set— (cont. ).

. of connection and interconnection. I want us to get outside ourselves, even as we might locate ourselves within that array. **The “more-than-human world” as a term comes from David Abram, who writes: (cont. ).

I’m in the mood to read animal poems, and rock poems, and water poems, and cloud poems (and did I mention animal poems?), geographic poems, ecology poems, volcanic poems, star poems, poems that simmer and shine and soar, poems of longing and celebration. (cont. ).

Their constellations and ancestors. The songs they sing. Lately, I’ve been writing love songs to skunks and alpacas and to the land itself. (cont. ).

Our responsibilities to each other. Our dreams of each other. Our love songs. Our missteps and misrepresentations and pressures toward extinction and ruin, and also the ways we can learn from and protect and honor the world around us. Their languages. (cont. ).

From Kenzie Allen: I’ve been thinking about “the more-than-human world”** — so, our nonhuman animal and plant and even mineral cousins—all those and all that with which we share this earth. And all the ways we intersect with and impact them, and vice versa. (cont. ).

We are thrilled to announce our Winter/Spring 2025 Guest Editor, Kenzie Allen! . Submissions open Jan. 21 - Feb. 11 for poems on the theme "The More-Than-Human World.". 🦙🐍🍄🐐🦉🐇🐙🌳🐌🐝🐅🦔🦀🌵🐟🌄⛅. Full details via the link (and 🧵 below):

Please be sure to note, either in an epigraph or footnote, the work you are responding to in each poem. Submissions will be open May 20th - June 5th!!.

We are particularly interested in poems responding to works in movement, including media, movies, music videos, etc. but also encourage poems grounded in “traditional” forms of ekphrasis such as visual art, photography, and sculpture.

With ekphrastic poems, we encourage you to go beyond simple description within your work. Your approach to ekphrasis can work in many different ways to illuminate aspects of the artwork itself, respond to the artist, and create new meaning.

While our current issue is at the printer, we are overjoyed to announce our next Guest Editor and their call for submissions!. For our Summer/Fall 2024 issue, jason b. crawford will edit a folio of ekphrastic poems 🎨. More info here (and below):

Submission notice: we are open for translations! . Please go to for all submission details.

Submissions close tonight at 11:59pm (EST)! . We cannot wait to read your poems!!.💖💔❤️🧡💛💚💙💜.

For this folio, send your love poems. Send your heartbreak poems. Send your poems about sex. Send your poems about grief. Give into being without boundaries.

Love poems can speak to many topics: heartbreak, joy, grief, trauma, humor, strangeness, desire, family, history, and health. Like love, poems about love can boundary-less.

It is one of the most universal feelings we share as human beings, and one of the most powerful. Whether intimate or platonic, the subject of love reminds us that life is more than the hardships.