ALT Graphic with a deep purple/blue background reads: Poet Lore Winter/Spring 2024 Guest Editor Luther Hughes call for poetry submissions: love poems by queer writers Dec. 15 - Jan. 5. On the right side of the graphic: A photo of Luther, dressed in a khaki polo and light khaki pants surrounded by lush greenery; they stare intimately towards the camera, forearm leaning against a knee.

ALT Mourning Cloak by Minnie Bruce Pratt No snow, no bloom, the world is brown, tattered, nothing to read in the dead leaves. Then sudden semaphoring wings flap fast, right under my nose, a quick prism, crimson, scalloped yellow, blue-eyed snap. The book later says it’s a mourning cloak, folded all winter into bark, named as if it grieves. But something wrapped in that flimsy cloth survived a minus-twenty freeze and now is lit on an oak trunk, read to lick. Ready to wade head-first into the spring sap sweating sweetly through every wrinkled crack.

ALT Announcement on a blue background: Poet Lore's Summer/Fall 2022 Guest Editor Taylor Byas. Call for poetry submissions from Black writers open July 25 - Aug. 8