Call for Submissions: Issue 01

I Can’t Be Your Girlfriend is a small journal of and about poetry by women that’s hand bound in Providence, RI. ICBYG publishes poetry of any length or stylistic format by woman-identified writers. While ICBYG does not publish traditional fiction or non-fiction writing at this time, I am open to the micro and the non-traditional.

I am interested in unusual, surprising cohesion and organization that deviates from traditional literary journal formats. I might even theme the first issue based on the submissions I receive. Please send poems (3-7 or whatever you see fit) in the body of an e-mail (or attached in a .doc or .pdf file) to icantbeyourgirlfriend@gmail.com. Introduce yourself in the friendly way you see fit.

ICBYG also prints reviews of new and old poetry books, chapbooks, and journals by women. Please send a query to icantbeyourgirlfriend@gmail.com along with a clip or two of your own writing. I love small presses, strong voices, emotional intelligence, hand bound books, the old and rare, self-published anything, forgotten secrets…

I also seek illustrations and ephemera for the first issue. Send an e-mail if you have an idea or would like to submit a high resolution image.

Send all submissions by August 20th, 2008 (or so).

Regrettably, I cannot pay contributors at this time, but if the first issue goes well, I will actively search for funding. Contributors receive a complementary copy of the journal.

Finally, the fine ladies at Switchback Books in Chicago sum up ICBYG’s views on gender nicely when they write about their own press: “Our definition of ‘women’ is broad… It includes transsexual, transgender, genderqueer, and female-identified individuals.”

Thanks in advance for your interest, and I look forward to reading your work!

Claire Donato
Providence, RI
July 2008
http://icantbeyourgirlfriend.blogspot.com