Come one, come all! For Bat City Review’s upcoming issue, our theme is Bread & Circuses. We’re looking for work that entertains, that gives us something to chew on, that makes us hungry for more. 

Coined by the first-century poet Juvenal to describe the pacification of the Roman populace, panem et circenses has re-emerged as a contemporary diagnosis of our times. We want prose, poetry, and art about extravagance and empire, consumption and distraction, pleasure and pageantry. Give us the surreal, the real, the superficial. What are we being fed, and who gets to decide? What do we need and what are we given instead?

Bring us the feast. Bring us the spectacle. Bring us what’s hiding underneath.

Note: This theme a prompt and not a prescription. If your work has another appetite, we’d still love to see it!

   Please no more than 5 poems as a single submission.    

Please submit only once per reading period.    

Do not include any identifying information on your submission file.    

.doc and .docx files strongly preferred!   

Simultaneous submissions are fine, but do let us know immediately if a piece is accepted elsewhere.    

If you wish to withdraw only a particular piece from a submission of multiple poems, please add a note to your submission via Submittable.   

Students and faculty at the University of Texas at Austin cannot submit. If we have published your work, please wait a full issue cycle before submitting again (2 years).   

If you have any additional questions, please contact our poetry editor at poetry@batcityreview.com.   

We look forward to reading your work!