Today’s post is written by Dallas Woodburn. Her essay “What My Premature Birth Taught Me About Writing” appears in our Spring 2016 issue. Being a “preemie” is an aspect of my identity that has shaped my life, and that I have been writing about in various ways for as long as I can remember. In middle […]
The Story Behind “Two Poems” by Rebecca Macijeski
May 19, 2016
Today’s post is written by Rebecca Macijeski. Her poems “Sonata for Water and Birds” and “Searching” appear in our Spring 2016 issue. “Sonata for Water and Birds” and “Searching” explore my fascination for what we can become in the gray area where opposing forces or energies overlap. The poems come from a book- length project that tries to […]
The Story Behind “In Transit” by Christopher Woods
April 29, 2016
Today’s post is written by Christopher Woods. His series of photography “In Transit” appears in our Spring 2016 issue. If I do not move, my heart is still beating. Blood courses through arteries and veins through my body. The engine goes, but where? I stand up. I am in a room. I cross the room. I cross […]
Compose Journal Seeks Assistant Managing Editor
March 23, 2016
Update: Please note that this position has now been filled. Have you always wanted to join the exciting world of lit mags? Now’s your chance. Compose is looking for an assistant managing editor. This role involves an interesting combination of responsibilities, including reading submissions, copyediting, and managing social media. For the right candidate, this could be an amazing opportunity to […]
Writing in the Dark
March 14, 2016
Today’s post is written by special guest Todd Outcalt. For the past forty years I have written, primarily, in the dark. This habit, however, was not one born of preference, but of necessity. During the day—when the sun is shining and all is right with the world—I have worked diligently in the lengthening shadows of […]
Introducing Our Spring 2016 Contributors
February 26, 2016
Spring is on the way, the days are getting longer, and here at Compose we’re getting excited about our forthcoming issue. We received nearly 600 submissions across all genres during the past reading period, but we had space to accept only a small percentage of those. Our senior editors are now working through edits with our contributors to prepare each selection […]
The Story Behind “The Call of Birds” by P. Kearney Byrne
January 4, 2016
Today’s post is written by P. Kearney Byrne, whose short story “The Call Birds” appears in our Fall 2015 issue. In 2013, I saw a UK short story competition with a prize of £7,500; a lot of money at a time when I was indulging in daily fantasies of winning my way into the black in […]
The Story Behind “Puzzle Pieces” by Bernard Grant
December 10, 2015
Today’s post is written by Bernard Grant. A piece of his creative nonfiction—”Puzzle Pieces“—appears in our Fall 2015 issue. Sometimes an image causes words to sound in my head, looping like a catchy jingle. The only way to lose it is to write. “Puzzle Pieces” was an attempt to rid myself of one such sound: “The woman […]
The Story Behind “Two Poems” by Jenna Kilic-Somers
November 30, 2015
Today’s post is written by Jenna Kilic-Somers. Her poems “My Father Recites a Story in Low Voice” and “Language” appear in our Fall 2015 issue. On the day before learning that my father had passed away, I dashed off the first draft of “My Father Recites a Story in Low Voice” for a workshop I had the next […]
The Story Behind “Two Poems” by Deborah Bacharach
November 16, 2015
Today’s post is written by Deborah Bacharach. Two of her poems appear in our Fall 2015 issue. Twenty years ago, I was lying on the grass at Green Lake reading my mom’s college copy of Whitman and writing what I saw, what I felt. It was a slim green volume with her name carefully lettered on the frontispiece […]
