WWPH Writes 89… looks back and forward. We begin with remembering two poets with very special ties to the Washington Writers’ Publishing House: Myra Sklarew and Henry Taylor.

In 2025, we look forward to finding new talents submitting to WWPH Writes--writers like Tanner Call and his allegorical flash story Skin to Stone, which shimmers in this issue. WWPH Writes is now open for submissions of poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction–always free to submit and now paying contributors.

We also look forward to celebrating our 50th year in 2025. Join us and submit to AMERICA’S FUTURE, our 50th-anniversary anthology of poetry and prose. Send us your poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. The deadline has been extended to January 31st. Read on to some insights below on what we are seeking in your work– and detailed writing prompts are available here. Plus, mark your calendars: we have literary events this week (details below), and looking even further ahead on May 1st, we open our book-length manuscript submissions, and on September 14th, at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda, we have our big 50th-anniversary celebration/launch of America’s Future (more details to come).

Here’s to 2025 filled with creative energy for us all (we think we are going to need it!)

Caroline Bock & Jona Colson
co-presidents/editors
Washington Writers’ Publishing House

WWPH WRITES Poetry

IN MEMORIAM

Myra Sklarew (12/18/1934 – 12/30/2024), poet, professor, mentor, and friend, left us in December. She was such an important part of my life. I studied with her at American University in the MFA program that she co-founded. I feel so fortunate to have known her, and I feel so lucky that our paths crossed. She was a great teacher and friend, and I will miss her light. Here are two poems that we re-issued in a new WWPH edition of Altamira in 2022. — Jona Colson

Transplant

They used to bring
a bit of soil
from the old country
to the new

Or at burial
a handful
of sand
from the desert
to accompany
the dead
on the long journey
from diaspora
to resurrection

Or now
without soil
or sand
seed
from the inner courtyard
dispersed
between the legs
of the exiled.

Hieroglyphic

Once a girl
innocently typing
put the wrong word
on the page
and in a flash
changed my career
from physiology
to psychology.
I thought: What if
the same girl
types the place
of my birth
after I die—Baltic
for Baltimore
or writes Black
Forest for White
Mountain as my
family name or instead
of Repose puts down
Poseur? I thought:
What if the cause
of death were a
broken heart
instead of a broken-
down heart?
My last street
on earth Wormwood
instead of Marywood?

Who would argue
my case for me?
Surely some good
professor would come
and read down
the tome of my life
from top to bottom
like Hatshepsut’s
hieroglyphs, making up
a wonderful story
from wavy lines
and birds and small
unexpected footprints
erased by the sea.

Altamira by Myra Sklarew won the 1987 WWPH Poetry Prize, and the Washington Writers’ Publishing House published a new edition with a foreword by Jona Colson in 2022. Her work was also featured in one of the first issues of WWPH Writes and can be found here. Her memory will always be a blessing to us.

Henry Taylor, (June 21, 1942 – October 13, 2024). In the fall, we lost another literary giant in the DMV. Henry taught literature at American University from 1971 until his retirement in 2003, and he co-directed the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. His courses included workshops, translation, and literary journalism. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for his collection of poetry, The Flying Change. As a teacher, poet, and true friend of WWPH, he will be greatly missed —Jona Colson.

Henry Taylor’s poem, Artichoke, opened our 1995 poetry anthology, Hungry As We Are, an anthology of Washington area poets.

WWPH WRITES Fiction

FROM SKIN TO STONE

The first time Adam’s wife turned to stone, he didn’t know what to do. Her body went rigid, sinking into their bed until she couldn’t get up. Her fingers, normally so quick and nimble, were stiff and stuck. She couldn’t raise her head, couldn’t lift an arm, couldn’t move at all.

He fed her as she turned to stone, making sure she kept her strength. He bathed her, cleaning her soft skin as it grew harder with each day. He held her hand in silence, trying to hide the growing fear that gripped his own mind and body. Turning to stone was hard enough; he didn’t want her worrying about him too.

She stayed like that for days, body growing hard and still. She pleaded for Adam not to call anyone, even though he didn’t know what to do. He was terrified, worried his wife would solidify until the only thing left was a cold, empty statue of the woman he loved.

This had happened to her before, she said. It would pass, she said. He just needed to let her go through it.

And she was right. It did pass, eventually. Slowly, her body loosened back up. Her muscles became more limber, her bones less heavy. She got up from the bed, her body no longer a tomb. Soon enough, she was back to her normal self, all smiles and laughs and bright personality.

Adam thought the storm was over. He thought it was done. But he should have known better.

His wife continued turning to stone. Not every day, not even every month, but occasionally, her body would stiffen. She would sense the transformation coming, and they would prepare accordingly.

By then, Adam had grown less terrified of the notion. He still didn’t like it, but he knew he’d survive. Knew they’d survive. With each bout, her body hardened, often plunging her into the bed they’d prepared.

They couldn’t do anything to stop it, but they tried. In her better days, they’d see doctors and specialists. They’d provide tinctures and potions, which sometimes worked but never permanently kept the stone at bay.

And so, they managed. Her body would grow heavy, and he would care for her. On especially hard days, they’d hold hands in silence, just like the first time she’d turned to stone. But this time, Adam wasn’t afraid. She tapped his finger, and he tapped back as gentle as a butterfly. She didn’t have much strength, but this was what they did. Their tapping a sign of their love.

Tap. Tap. Tap. We’ll make it though.

Tap. Tap. Tap. You’ll be okay.

Tap. Tap. Tap. I love you.

Tap. Tap. Tap. I love you, too.

Tanner Call is an award-winning author of numerous short stories, novellas, and a children’s book. He has a master’s in language and communication and works an office job to fund his writing habit. Tanner lives in Maryland, where you can probably find him reading, hiking, or watching TV and movies.

WWPH NEWS

The deadline for AMERICA’S FUTURE, our 2025 anthology of poetry and prose, has been extended to January 31st. What are your questions about the future? What are your hopes? Your fears? How should or could your literary art (poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction) respond to the uncertainty of America’s future? We are looking for work of all genres; often, the most personal narratives make the most provocative political statements or pose the most thought-provoking questions. We are accepting up to 3 poems and prose up to 2,500 words (shorter works gladly accepted). As always, we aim to represent the literary richness and diversity of the DMV–and we are open to all writers who have any connection to DC, Maryland, and Virginia.

Detailed writing prompts and guidelines are available here. Payment ($25.00) and an invitation to participate in 50th anniversary WWPH readings!

Here’s to a 2025 of great reads! Support your WWPH and purchase your books at bookshop.org. Here’s the link. If you are looking for a terrific book talk, join Varun Gauri (author of FOR THE BLESSINGS OF JUPITER AND VENUS — a 2024 Books We Love pick from NPR!!) in conversation with novelist/literary and culture critic Martha Anne Toll this Thursday, January 16th at PEOPLE’S BOOK in Takoma Park. FREE and open to all…please RSVP here.

This Friday, January 17th, join us at this informal, fun Pub Night from 6-8 p! Caroline Bock, co-president and prose editor at your WWPH, will be there to answer your questions. FREE and open to all. Please RSVP here Big thanks to Donna Hemans and the DC Writers Studio. If you haven’t read Donna Hemans’ evocative novel, THE HOUSE OF PLAIN TRUTH — we featured an excerpt in WWPH Writes — find it here

INSIDER NEWS… if you are considering submitting to WWPH, check out our guidelines and FAQs (new for 2025!) here. WWPH manuscript submissions.

News from our friends at the Enoch Pratt Free Library! FREE POETRY CONTEST for Maryland residents age 18 and older sponsored by Enoch Pratt Free Library and Little Patuxent Review. Deadline: March 1, 2025. The winning poem will be published in Little Patuxent Review and celebrated at a public reading. For complete guidelines see prattlibrary.org/poetry-contest

THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING PART OF THE WWPH COMMUNITY!