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Two Poems by Michael Lee Johnson
by Michael Lee Johnson Steel Bars a Single Sheet I'm Steely Dan Seymour Butts, South America, trust me on that. I can't pull up my sheet inside these steel bars anymore. 25 to life. No man is God in the cold or the clouds. Isolated poets grab words anywhere they can find them in newspaper clippings, ripped-out Bible verses are a sin. No one pities people like me in prison. Spiders hang from my cell ceiling— dance the jitterbug, "In the Mood." Jigger bug fleas on my unpainted
Michael Lee Johnson
Jun 11, 2025
Sandhill Turtles
by Mary Bone One by one baby turtles go down a winding path. The sandhill was always a place of safety. Their shells will be their...
Mary Bone
Jun 9, 2025
Two Poems by Ace Boggess
by Ace Boggess Red I drove a red car onto a street lit red by the reddish sun descending below reddened hills, & did I feel the burning...
Ace Boggess
Jun 8, 2025
Two Poems by Ace Boggess
by Ace Boggess House Painters When they stroke their cautious marks over awning & eaves, gutters & trim, do they doubt themselves as if...
Ace Boggess
Jun 5, 2025
The Flight
by Kushal Poddar The rain adds a black coat to the asphalt. They try hard not to get us wet, and yet we climb in the jet drenched as if we have parted a waterfall to enter a secret cave. Your handbag drops on my head. A baby cries. When we shall fly we shall fly low, and the city below will remain the best sight until the city we want to go will arrive. Runway runs behind. I tell you that I feel tired already. The clouds leave a flash message. I feel tired. I reiterate. Withi
Kushal Poddar
Jun 4, 2025
Meeting Your Match
by Lynn White D H Lawrence once wrote that there were lots of good fish in the sea but as the vast majority were mackerel and herring,...
Lynn White
Jun 3, 2025
The Argument
by Dominik Slusarczyk Age with me. We will sleep Beside the sea. Die with me. We will sleep Inside the trees.
Dominik Slusarczyk
May 29, 2025
Hephaestus, Seasoned Mechanic
by Steven Bruce Oil oceans beneath his nails. Bad back, bad knees, good hands. They bring him junk. Wrecked Fords are his favourite. He...
Steven Bruce
May 28, 2025
Stranger Moon
by Linette Rabsatt the tides have become irritable imploding the beaches with bitter force and the wolves are howling in higher tones...
Linette Rabsatt
May 26, 2025
The Pavement Performer
by Tazeen Erum A happy-smiley painted face, Exhausted now, exuberant all along, In a billowing patchwork of satin— Green, teal, red,...
Tazeen Erum
May 22, 2025
Six Poems by Strider Marcus Jones
by Strider Marcus Jones In and Out Arc i've joined this cast pressed against the glass breath condensing, unsure if the audience will...
Strider Marcus Jones
May 19, 2025
Ten Minutes
by Fonteini Tzouveleki As I’m brewing my pot of coffee I’m thinking of diving into my books again It’s going to take about ten minutes ...
Fonteini Tzouveleki
May 16, 2025
Two Poems by Eamon Stewart
by Eamon Stewart The Equerries The worst thing in life is getting used to things. Thousands of hangovers traded for a spark of jamais vu . Cats claw at trash bags flimsy as graphene This was the veil that was lifted from me. Callous, like modern mountaineers. Oblates of the craving for oblivion. Butterflies sip nectar. Houseflies sip ordure. Waking, I was back in Byzantium With the sounding boards calling the faithful to prayer . It was just kids battering the plywood That la
Eamon Stewart
May 15, 2025
House on Apfelweg
by Peter Newall Years pass. Empty, the house leans, the doors out of joint, the roof held up by spiderwebs under the eaves. In the...
Peter Newall
May 13, 2025
Two Poems by John Grey
by John Grey One Day, Not Feeling Well I memorized the insides of public restrooms – every word scribbled on the walls. And snow fell on...
John Grey
May 12, 2025
To the Pursuit
by Derek Thomas Dew We are not yours, we are your The real wound is this fatigue, with its dental floss and background checks, its...
Derek Thomas Dew
May 8, 2025
Articles
The Morning It Started
by Elizabeta Žargi That summer I was travelling through Europe on an Interrail ticket — a month of trains and no fixed schedule beyond a language course waiting in Ljubljana. I had already spent a week in Malmö, made a delayed stop in Hamburg after sleeping through it once, then gone down to Geneva to visit Milena. Eventually I returned to Vienna, where I was staying with Gregor and Sandy. They were also planning to attend the course in Slovenia. I was meant to leave on the 2
Elizabeta Žargi
6 days ago
Dreaming of Kalbarri
by Meredith Stephens “Wake up! If we don’t get going now it will be too hot!” urged my fiance Alex. I couldn’t understand why we had to leave for Kalbarri National Park at 5:30am in darkness. Was it really going to get that hot? We quickly arose and headed to the car for the long drive. By the time we arrived, the day was breaking and we were among the first tourists to arrive at the famed Nature’s Window. We made our way along the trail to the window where international tour
Meredith Stephens
Nov 2, 2025
Between Two Skies: An Egyptian Heart in Albany
by Walid Abdallah When I first arrived in Albany, New York, in the winter of 2014, I felt as if I had stepped into a painting. The air...
Walid Abdallah
Oct 13, 2025
Reviews
The Radiant Dark Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 4.5/5 stars ★★★★⯪ The Radiant Dark by Alexandra Oliva (to be published April 2026) is a generational story of mother-and-daughterhood that starts with Carol in 1980 as she holds her first days-old child when a message is intercepted from Ross 128b, an exoplanet 11 light-years away in another galaxy. She raises her two children in the shadow of the Rossians and of the back-and-forth messages between Earth and Ross 128b. Her daughter, Rosanna, is so inspired
Catalina Bonati
Mar 22
Mother is Watching Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 2.75/5 stars ★★★☆☆ Mother is Watching by Karma Brown (to be published March 2026) is a literary sci-fi horror novel which focuses on Mathilde, or Tilly, and her art conservation job. In the near future, she receives the opportunity to restore the last artwork of a deceased artist named Charlotte Leclerc who used human body and insect parts as part of her paintings. However, as she becomes pregnant and becomes part of the MotherWise organization, the paintin
Catalina Bonati
Mar 15
We Call Them Witches Book Review
by Catalina Bonati 3.75/ 5 stars ★★★⯪☆ We Call Them Witches by India Rose-Bower (to be published April 2026) is an apocalyptic folk horror tale centering around Sara, a young 17-year-old with a large family of three younger siblings, an older sibling and their wife, and a mother. They move around the country in search ground that is safe from witches, which seem to be primordial monsters taking the shape of the surrounding landscape who attack and dismember humans for consum
Catalina Bonati
Mar 5
Short Stories
Heirloom of the Wilting Jacaranda
by Maekawa Kirin You know… Grandpa Nathe was quite the tease. I can still recall those episodes vividly, in the same way this green tea paints itself in my mind from its lingering taste. Mostly bitter, but one I can stand behind. The peak of my frustrations toward him occurred at my graduation in the late spring of 2005. That day, the rain poured buckets, yet it was merely a gentle murmur compared to the thunder that erupted when Grandpa Nathe accompanied me on stage. I mean,
Maekawa Kirin
Mar 10
The Moon as Her Mother
by Hira Amir It all started the day when a team of doctors, wearing masks and lab coats, from the Institute of Animal Health came to their part of the village to announce the development of the new vaccine that fights various cattle diseases. All the village cows were to be injected immediately, the senior doctor said, no emotion behind his eyes; it is a government order. They had prepared in advance for the collective rebellion from the villagers. “We’re not letting these go
Hira Amir
Feb 26
Reading the Squeak Times
by Christopher Dabrowski Boar Albert ate and read The Squeak Times. -Loretta -he grunted animatedly. -Did you know that Earth's inhabitants eat pigs? -Oh -quipped his wife. -Barbarians! Albert adjusted the bathrobe belt and went back to reading. Yet he couldn't concentrate. Too much anxiety cost him what he read. -I will avenge them! I will eat a human! I'll buy one from the greyhounds -he decided. -They sell humans? -asked Loretta. -Yeah, th
Christopher T. Dabrowski
Feb 18
Poetry
Hammer
by Aidan Bernales Smirnoff piss in the face of Jesus Christ Leapt over in our pursuit of rundown rooms That bear no windows. We know to winnow The sheets upon the kiss of the lock and the key Or kiss our bedbug-bitten end. Ah, this city! Graffiti litanies line its fences. How they beckon me, Like the early-morning tsupers or those nocturnal Prostitutes who whistle for you. Birdsongs, I call them. And you’re quite raring to bargain, aren’t you? Strike up a conversation with th
Aidan Bernales
2 days ago
Menus
by Erin Jamieson cacophony of marigold taxis in cities whose perfume is Tuscan olive oil & fried cod a farewell to the Thai bistro, where you shared pad thai and he took your chopsticks a farewell to the cafe with discount espresso past mid day- he’d order two even though your mind was already racing a farewell to a family diner with sticky red polyester booths his double bacon cheeseburger dripping onto your salad plate- the salad he ordered without your consent I didn’t thi
Erin Jamieson
4 days ago
Community Unrest
by Carl 'Papa' Palmer Silence shattered 2am security alarm blasts a block or a mile away relentless until it stops abruptly leaving a void of non-noise yet not quiet serenity in the darkness of my bedroom did someone return home not enter the control code within the time limit push the wrong button on their car remote unable to reset in the dark or a thwarted burglary prowler frightened toward my unlocked car or yet another false alarm alerting no one not bothering to turn on
Carl 'Papa' Palmer
Apr 2
Art & Photography
Submission Guidelines
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We do not publish homophobic, transphobic, racist, or misogynist works of any kind.
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If the piece you wish to submit has italics or an image attached, please email us your submission at ultramarineliteraryreview@gmail.com rather than using the submission form.
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Art and photography must be uploaded to an email and must NOT be shared as a Google Drive document.
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Prose must be less than 3,000 words.
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Poetry must be less than 3 pages, single-spaced.
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We respond to submissions within the span of two weeks.
Submissions
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By clicking on the SUBMIT button, you are agreeing to the following terms:
a) The submission is an original work that has not been previously published.
b) You have obtained permissions by the third party involved if the submitted work contains intellectual property not attributed to your authorship.
c) By submitting, you guarantee you hold the rights to the work, and you grant Ultramarine Literary Review the rights to publish the submitted work. After publication, rights revert to the author.
d) Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but the author must let us know if their work has been accepted elsewhere prior to publication.
e) Submitted articles, reviews, and short prose fiction less than 1,000 words will be translated from English-Spanish of Spanish-English by Wix Translation AI along with manual translation by the editor. The author has the right to approve or deny translation.
f) Poems will not be translated unless the author supplies their human-written translation.
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