The Bells of Christmas Day--

                  Christmas Bells

    I heard the bells on Christmas Day
    Their old, familiar carols play,
        And wild and sweet
        The words repeat
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

    And thought how, as the day had come,
    The belfries of all Christendom

       Had rolled along
       The unbroken song
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

    Till ringing, singing on its way,
    The world revolved from night to day,
        A voice, a chime,

       A chant sublime

    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

    Then from each black, accursed mouth
    The cannon thundered in the South,
        And with the sound
        The carols drowned
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

    It was as if an earthquake rent
    The hearth-stones of a continent,
        And made forlorn
        The households born
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

    And in despair I bowed my head;
    "There is no peace on earth," I said;
        "For hate is strong,
        And mocks the song
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

    Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
    "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
        The Wrong shall fail,
        The Right prevail,
    With peace on earth, good-will to men."

--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1864

---

Longfellow wrote "Christmas Bells" in the winter of the third year of the Civil War, shortly after receiving news that his son Charles Appleton had been critically wounded during the the Mine Run Campaign.
I wish you all to have a peaceful Christmas, or whatever holiday you chose to celebrate.

Reasons not to date a poet--

• 50 Reasons Not to Date a Poet
• Why Dating a Poet is the Best Thing...

Winter City

"Eyeball," by Smith

Latest issue of Lady Smith's 'zine of art and poetry, the City, is now out for solstice 2015:

• The City: Winter 2015

And, join her for the 10th equinox/solstice open mic Winter 2015 Solstice poetry reading tomorrow Dec 19, 2015 from 11am – 12:30pm

Cleveland Metroparks Canal Way Center, 4524 E 49th St, Cleveland, Ohio 44125

• Open mic Winter 2015 Solstice Poetry Reading

A Poet Laureate for Ohio

The State of Ohio just named its first poet laureate: Amit Majmudar, of Dublin, Ohio
Majmudar, who is a poet and a physician, grew up in the Cleveland area. He earned a BS at the University of Akron and an MD at Northeast Ohio Medical University. His poems have appeared in many places, including the New Yorker, The Antioch Review, Poetry, The Norton Introduction to Literature, and The Best of the Best American Poetry.
He's the author of two collections of poetry, 0′, 0′ in 2009 and Heaven and Earth in 2011, and his new collection Dothead will appear from Alfred A. Knopf in March, 2016.

• Check out some of his poems
• and more

Congrats to Amit Majudar!

Links:

• Greater Cleveland native Amit Majmudar named as Ohio's first poet laureate by Gov. John Kasich, Cleveland.com
• Dublin physician named first Ohio poet laureate, Columbus Dispatch
• Ohio's 1st poet laureate to build bridges among art forms, WHIO
• U of Akron grad named Ohio's first poet laureate, WKYC
• Amit Majmudar web page

Great Bookstores in Cleveland

Cleveland.com features 13 Great Independent Bookstores in Cleveland (and surroundings).
For bonus points, visit them all!

Places to Submit - December 2015

Welcome to Literistic for December!
Yaddo Residency (fees)poetry, fiction, non-fiction    united states	January 1
Hambidge Residency (fees). Include an applicant Statement/Proposal, bio, resume, and up to 30 pages of a novel, play, short story or other written work. Poets submit 5 to 8 poems or appropriate excerpts from longer works. For writers who work in languages other than English, submit both original language examples and English translations. poetry, fiction, non-fiction    united states	January 15
Jentel Artist Residency ($, fees). Writers over 25 residing in the United States and US citizens abroad are eligible. Maximum 20 pages for writing sample. Poets send 10 pages of poetry. poetry, fiction, non-fiction    united states	January 15
Banff Centre Writing Studio (fees). The Writing Studio is structured to provide an extended period of uninterrupted writing time, one-on-one editorial assistance from experienced writers/editors, and an opportunity to engage with a community of working writers. poetry, fiction    canada	January 20

Contests
Prism Short Fiction Contest ($, fees). Max. word count: 6,000.fiction    canada	January 15
Prism Poetry Contest ($, fees). Send up to three poems per entry. poetry    canada	January 15
Meridian Editors’ Prize in Fiction ($, fees). Fiction writers may submit one story of 10,000 words or fewer in each submission. fiction    united states	January 15
Discovery/Boston Review 2016 Poetry Contest ($, fees). Open to poets who have not published a full-length poetry collection. Submissions must be no longer than ten pages, typed. At least two of the poems must be a page or shorter. Poems that have been or will be published in periodicals or anthologies may be submitted; however, at least two of the submitted poems must be unpublished as of April 2016. poetry    united states	January 25
The Iowa Review Awards ($, fees). Opens Jan. 1. Submit up to 25 pages of prose (double-spaced) or 10 pages of poetry (one poem or several, but no more than one poem per page).poetry, fiction    united states	January 31
The Lamar York Prizes for Fiction and Nonfiction ($, fees). Send one short story or essay of up to 5,000 words, double-spaced. No theoretical, scholarly, or critical essays will be considered, but all other approaches and topics are welcome.fiction, non-fiction    united states	January 31
A Room of Her Own Foundation's Orlando Prizes ($, fees). A submission consists of a single work (poem, flash fiction piece, short story, or essay). Poetry:  36 lines, Flash Fiction:  500 words, Short Fiction:  1500 words, Creative Nonfiction: 1500 words. Designed to support women writers in a variety of genres and stages of professional and creative development. poetry, fiction, non-fiction    united states	January 31
The Disquiet Prize ($, fees). For poetry: No more than SIX poems per entry, up to 10 pages total. For fiction: ONE short story or novel excerpt, maximum 25 (double-spaced) pages per entry. For non fiction: ONE piece of non fiction, maximum 25 (double-spaced) pages per entry.poetry, fiction, non-fiction    united states	January 31

Publications
Foliopoetry, fiction, non-fiction    united states	January 4
Sand Journalpoetry, fiction, non-fiction    international	January 15
Proximity Magazine. Theme issue: "Play." We are interested in reading nonfiction stories about whimsy and a wandering body or mind, the blessedly unusual act of going "unplugged," and/or any activity that offers the reader a glimpse into the abandonment of stress and responsibility in search of joy, freedom, creativity and reprieve. non-fiction    canada	January 15
Ploughshares ($, fees). Fiction and nonfiction: Less than 6,000 words. Excerpts of longer works are welcome if self-contained. Poetry: Submit 1-5 pages at a time. poetry, fiction, non-fiction    united states	January 15
Nashville Review ($). We welcome flash fiction, short stories, and novel excerpts of up to 8,000 words. Between two and five poems may be submitted at a time. We’re open to anything: memoir excerpts, essays, imaginative meditations. Send us up to 8,000 words. Submissions open Jan. 1 poetry, fiction, non-fiction    united states	January 31
The Capilano Review ($). For poetry submissions, send up to 8 pages; for fiction, a maximum of 5,000 words.poetry, fiction    canada	January 31
Magma Poetry. Theme issue: Revolution. poems that respond to the idea of revolution in the here and now. We’d be delighted to receive poems in which the revolutionary intervenes in daily life whether politically as in Heaney’s The Toome Road or even A Constable Calls; or personally as in Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death / He kindly stopped for me”, Frost’s The Road Not Taken, Bishop’s Invitation to Miss Marianne Moore or Angelou’s Personally Woman; or stylistically as in Paul Stephenson’s poem in Magma 58 where all 25 lines end perfectly logically with “beetroot”. poetry    britain	January 31
Fence. Submit no more than 5 poems at any one time, and up to 25 pages of fiction or other prose. poetry, fiction, non-fiction    united states	January 31
0s&1s Reads. Looking for more instalments of our Writers on Mental Health series in the form of a) essays of any shape and size, or b) writers willing to be interviewed. Get in touch: editor [at] 0s-1s [dot] com.non-fiction    canada