We accept all forms of digital making— visual arts, poetry, prose, and we especially encourage submissions from historically underrepresented voices and emerging artists and writers.
unearthedesf.com/call-for-sub...
🔔 We are open for submissions until October 31st!
The theme for our Fall 2025 Issue is “Nourish”— of the body, the mind, the spirit, and the land.
What does it mean to be fed? What does it mean to feed others, or to be denied sustenance—emotional, physical, or cultural?
Ian Cotter is a student at SUNY ESF in Syracuse NY.
He states “As I was writing “Power of Cold,” I wanted to make the reader feel what I felt when the story unfolded: the coldness and isolation, embarrassment and humility, and ultimately the lesson of slowing down to appreciate what you have.”
“The most beautiful and the most painful experiences I’ve ever had as a human being have taken place in the wilderness. Backpacking and hiking, I’ve found, have the remarkable capacity to crush your spirit and rebuild it again, in the same fatal blow.”
Read the full story linked below!
Cosmic Journey, by Dr. Chaitali Umesh Hambire, reflects the transition from darkness to light... This transformation is not only observed in nature but also resonates deeply with the human experience, symbolizing resilience, hope, and the pursuit of enlightenment.
Link in our bio for more!
For more from Izze, subscribe to their substack: wwavveyy.substack.com.
Image credit: Merlin Kraus, Unsplash
shrouding my body
in evidence of
(i want to be holy)
i weep and ask each
fistful of mud to
inherit these hands
i pray from my igloo in
every soulful swallowing
from here, i am hidden
so i compost my tongue
and grow this body back from blue
to where i replace the
snow carefully
i stand and sink my
ankles into the cold
numbing the
earth warm and wet
under the crux i am
starved and trembling
i crouch low
lightly, lapping
spirals round my
thighs i dig and
dig and dig
in the bathouse at midnight
alone becoming black oil
shadowed against the
(dark blue)
the sun was tempered in a
net downtown
(dark blue)
somehow again
it is morning and
the newly vapored sun
has slipped through
i rise and flap my wings
panting, i plant my toes
sneak out the back door
We share a poem by SUNY ESF student Izze Modell-Kowalski, titled “On Some Sort of Edge”. This was published in our latest Spring 2025 issue, Searching for Light.
unearthedesf.com/on-some-sort...
The water rises, buckets
swallow the excess,
but I cannot.
Deckhands burned by
fleeting ropes, soothed by
the ocean’s mist.
I lay down on the deck,
like an anchor to
the ocean floor.
Breathe in the smell of
nothing is permanent.
~
Image credit: Abbey Leibert, 2025
Worry like a ship
stuck in a bottle
kept in check by my
ribcage.
The water rises,
competing with
an ascending airplane.
My lungs contract,
masts crack under pressure.
The water rushes into the fractures
with the spirit of glue.
My sails expand,
lungs capture the wind,
disguised as direction.
We share with you a poem by ESF student, Abbey Leibert, titled Adjusting Sails. You can also read it in our Spring 2025 issue, linked in our bio!
~
Water is a universal solvent.
I will not be left unresolved.
I can be free,
let the water flow.
unearthedesf.com/adjusting-sa...
Every other week, we shout out writers & their recent lit mag publications: wildroofjournal.substack.com/p/saturday-s...
@unearthedjournal.bsky.social @ballastjournal.bsky.social @passionfruitlit.bsky.social @baltimorereview.bsky.social @jacobschepers.bsky.social
she creates art as a form of inquiry, healing, and connection, and she invites us to reconsider how we relate to each other and to the land.
Read the interview linked above to learn more!
Her commitment to community collaboration and spatial justice ensures that her work doesn’t just speak about people and places but speaks with them. In a time marked by great ecological and societal loss, Sheila’s work offers a compelling response:
From community-based storytelling to co-created public installations, each of Sheila’s endeavors creates space for shared discovery and mutual expression. By merging creative expression with environmental and social issues, Sheila not only raises consciousness but also fosters dialogue and empathy.
We are kicking off the Spring 2025 issue by sharing an interview from our own Managing Editor, Erin Hassett @erinhassett.bsky.social
Erin had the pleasure of chatting with Sheila Novak, a talented and inspiring environmental artist in Ithaca, New York:
unearthedesf.com/an-interview...
An incredible open mic event celebrating the talents of our @sunyesf.bsky.social community!
“Taken in the redwoods of Del Norte State Park, CA, Shafts is archetypal imagery representing that wet coast landscape: fog drifting through redwoods with shafts of light becoming palpable shapes.
[It’s] a wonderful place to witness the manifestation of light, or how light shapes and takes shape.”
Green is the author of 11 books including The Sound of Fish Dreaming (Bellowing Ark Press, 1996) and the upcoming Old Man Looking through a Window at Night (Main Street Rag). At the age of sixty-eight, he hopes his new work articulates a mature vision of the world and does so with some integrity.
Sneak peek of our Spring 2025 issue! Cover by Benjamin Green, 2026, titled “Shafts”.
All acceptances have been sent out! We received so many wonderful submissions for this issue that it was tough to make a decision.
Stay tuned for the spring publication during Earth Week!
Thank you for all the wonderful submissions for our upcoming Spring 2025 issue! We will be in touch towards the end of March with acceptances.
Deadline Saturday!
“So often death is something thought of so negatively…I believe the transition from life to death is something that should be seen as beautiful. Through death our bodies are given back to the earth, giving nutrients back to her, allowing the beauty of nature to bloom all around us.”
“From the way the yellowing leaves parted perfectly around the grave to the harsh contrast of the grey stone to the colorful fall foliage, this image shows the balance between life and death. The beauty of the statue atop the grave represents a life that once was…”
~2 weeks until deadline!
“Transitions and metamorphosis implies an in-between, the territory of hope. Between present and future, between artificial and natural. In this piece I want us to look down and see that hope is enduring. It is to do the work of repairing and coexisting with the world.”
Read full piece above⬆️
