Pandora's 
Box

A candle gutters; a figure turns in the half-light. Shadow holds its breath waiting for you.

Brightness fractures like glass. This issue seeks the threshold: poems, prose, and art that linger where dark and light collide.

current prompt for issue 07

sanguine

antiquity

opulent

unspoken

blooming

undying

caress

scavenger

moult

metamorphosis

tenebrism

winter

graceful

essence

scarlet

purgatory

wilderness

milkweed

cocoon

heavenly

undulating

undine

Submission Guidelines

Please observe the following guidelines

  • Poetry — submit one (1) poem. No strict word limit, but brevity and precision are appreciated.

  • Prose — submit one (1) piece, 1000 words maximum. This includes flash fiction or lyrical nonfiction.

  • Artwork — submit two to three (2-3) artworks. Photography, painting, digital art, film—your vision, your medium.

  • Your work should be primarily in English; other languages are welcome if accompanied by an English translation. Poetry entries tend to be especially competitive, so send us the work that cuts straight to the heart.

  • If you were published in the previous issue, please wait until the next call to submit again.

  • The current antler velvet team are not eligible to submit.

Issue 07 of Antler Velvet is open for submissions under the theme PANDORA’S BOX until 15 March, 11 pm AWST.

“ Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty. There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all. ”

― Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

Submit your work.