METAMORPHOSIS

once again, we enter a new year with what can only be described as hope and opportunity. 2023 will mark The Madrigal’s third year in publishing, a milestone which we as a team are continuing to work towards and surpass. in the choosing of an issue to open up another year in poetry, I wanted a theme which is reflective of the complex feelings of transition, change, transformation, and growth that appear during this time of year, personally and professionally. and what better a way to encompass this idea than this –– metamorphosis? 

metamorphosis can be defined as “a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means.” it is, inherently, all-encompassing –– change by internal or external means, by nature or by the unnatural, of the body, mind, or soul. it is indicative of any kind of transformation that one, or one’s environment, may undergo, and, more importantly, the evidence of one’s response to it. a metamorphosis, therefore, is the demonstration of triumph, and the celebration of overcoming. 

for this submission window, I ask you for poems of change and transformation, fear, challenge, and victory. I ask you to consider it all –– the form, the function, the feeling –– and return to us with what you have become in the process, at the ending. a metamorphosis does not have to be a big thing; it can be small, or as large as the sky itself. it is up to you, but whatever it is, I would love to read it.