About Soil Unfurling From Stem
Soil Unfurling from Stem is a multi-author collection of nature poems from sub-Saharan Africa. Contributors include Dr Kayode Adesimi Robbin-Coker an English Language and Literature graduate of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Dr Jive Lubbungu from Zambia, Chukwuebuka Freedom Onyishi, the current Winner of the 2025 Coalition of African Literature, a Nonprofit organisation in Nigeria and fifteen-year-old Namibian secondary school student, Utaara Tjozongoro.
In the foreword, renowned Sierra Leonean writer, Oumar Farouk Sesay explains why poetry matters. ‘Throughout history, poets have sought to celebrate, mourn, and defend the natural world, wielding the measured word and the sharpened image with reverence and urgency,’ explains Mr Farouk.
This anthology, edited by British Sierra Leonean writer, Bridgette O James, also opens with the winning entry, ‘Prayer’ penned by the widely published poet: Osahon Oka (pictured). The book title comes from a line in his outstanding poem.
Nigerian, Mr Oka is a Pushcart nominee whose poems have appeared in journals and magazines like Sontag Magazine, Kinpaurak, Poetry Sango-Ota, Feral Poetry, and elsewhere. He won the Visual Verse Autumn Writing Prize, 2022.
Email Submissions from July 1st - 31st to:
Please Address Submission/s to Editor, Chukwuebuka Onyishi
The Friday Poem Submission Category is Open All Throughout the Year.
Submit to Penned in Rage Literary Journal How to Submit Submit Free of Charge, by Email - pennedinrage@outlook.com Penned in Rage invites submissions from underrepresented writers. SUBMIT a Poem or Flash Fiction in Word Document Format Please Poem - free verse, haiku, Fibonacci, Prose et cetera preferred over meters. Maximum lines 40. Flash Story - maximum 500 words; Fiction. Nonfiction and Non-academic essays accepted. Submissions The unthemed submission window will reopen 01 AUGUST 2025 for the third online edition of Penned in Rage Literary Journal. CLOSES 31 AUGUST 2025
EDITOR’S NOTE | August–December 2025 Edition Theme: We Were Not Meant to Die Here. Sometimes, there are stories we inherit, and others we are courageously forced to carry. While some echo through silence, others are patterned enough to speak even in the midst of fire. This edition of Penned in Rage is able to gather those voices together with their beauty: amazing works shaped not only by the force of anger and grief, but also by the stubborn endurance of those who have vowed to let their voices be heard. Whether through verse, narrative, or meditative reflection, the contributors summon a shared language that moves through broken systems and fractured selves, each boldly reaching deeper for something so startlingly honest.
About Penned in Rage Journal
Penned in Rage magazine is focused on publishing fiction, nonfiction, poetry, flash fiction, experimental prose and hybrid works, written by underrepresented writers. Each quarter a submission is chosen as the featured piece. The journal aims to create a community of subscribed readers who enjoy contemporary creative writing styles. Penned in Rage invites submissions from underrepresented and marginalised writers.
Submissions: Closed until January 2026
The 'unthemed' submission window will reopen 01 JANUARY 2026 for the third online edition of Penned in Rage Literary Journal.
CLOSES 31 JANUARY 2026.
How to Submit
Submit Free of Charge, by Email - pennedinrage@outlook.com
Submissions: You may submit a 40-line poem for consideration. Styles accepted: free verse, haiku, Fibonacci, prose et cetera preferred over meters. Maximum lines 40. Flash Story - maximum 500 words; Fiction. Nonfiction and Non-academic essays accepted. We do not publish metered poetry of any shape or form, neither do we accept anything that offends other social groups. Flash fiction not exceeding 500 words on any genre or topic may be submitted, as may non-academic essays or creative nonfiction not above 500 words. Underrepresented writers from anywhere may submit a poem or flash fiction for consideration. We only consider submissions sent through our online submission portal https://www.ellaspoems.com/#subscribe-to-penned-in-rage-journal or by email. Please provide a brief 30-word third-person bio to accompany your submission. Only one poem not exceeding 40 lines and/or one story of not above 500 words will be considered.
Simultaneous Submissions & Withdrawals: We accept simultaneous submissions, but we must be immediately notified if a piece is accepted elsewhere. If you wish to withdraw your submission, please email me directly at pennedinrage@outlook.com with the title/s of the work(s) you are withdrawing.
Previously Published Work: Except for The Friday Poem, https://ellaspoems.com/#the-friday-poem we will not publish pieces which have appeared elsewhere, including social media sites.
Publishing Rights: We ask for first time worldwide rights for accepted pieces. Following publication, all rights revert back to the author.
Payment: Penned in Rage Journal was borne out of a small, self-funded project. At this time, we are not able to offer payment to our contributors for published works; however, the PDF version of the journal is widely circulated and published writers are promoted on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).
How is the journal published?
Triannual Online Publication - Downloadable PDF January, April, August
Everything Begins with Ruins, then a Miracle
By Ridwan Fasasi
for Chiwenite, Imossan, Abdulbasit, Yahuza,
Fatou, Zaynab & everyone who thinks I'm
beautiful enough to be looked at with love.
We must measure our glory by the
small mercies.
All my life, I have learnt to be grateful
to every hand
that groomed me. Metaphor it: The
rain falls on
the barrenness of a tree & suddenly,
it leaves want
to be seen. Once, this body, a whole
field, was barren
& deserted. All year, all I wanted was
to turn into a
garden & leap out of the drought of
my body. I'm tired
of giving my ruins, a beautiful name.
I must teach the
butterflies to return to their hunger.
My first lesson:
The desert must return to its hunger
if it must call
the butterflies to itself. The heart is
a destitute
child—the primordial light beneath
darkness. It's
still about faith what the atheist lacks.
All day,
he would tend to this barrenness. As
if to say look: I do
not concede against faith. I, too, believe
in abstraction.
His little hand, running with mercy.
& the soil, if at all,
is unfulfilled—seeping in water than it
seeps out flowers.
Is this not a sort of love— to begin as a
ruin, then a miracle.
Look outside the window of your blue
eyes. The world
might disprove this theory, at least sometimes.
But the garden & the
leaves—are they not proof of small mercy?
& the butterflies,
their creamed wings. Even the desert, too,
has a heart.
There in its barrenness, you must glorify
the trees, & the notes
of the birds, soft as the morning dew.
It's how all that
the bird sings is what matters at the end
of the day: write out
of the little things. You must not be tempted
to believe you are
incapable of love. Even amidst the desert
blooming in your bones,
somebody loves you enough to groom
flowers out of them.
If ever in doubt, know that the leaves must
crave patiently for the
rain before crawling out of their agony.
Ridwan Fasasi is a Nigerian poet of Yoruba descent. He is the winner of the 2024 Labari Prize for Poetry. A Pushcart Prize Nominee whose works have appeared on ANMLY Lit, Chestnut Review, Euonia Review, Akpata, Lucent Dreaming, Strange Horizon, Hindsight Creative and elsewhere.
From the Manuscript of Soil Unfurling from Stem
This Month's Featured Poet
Ridwan Fasasi
Sunflower
By Gideon Idudje
Sunshine rains on you, your beam on me
the sun your colouring, the day your rainbow
the sun your warmth, it's radiance your cloth,
the earth your feet, it's dust, your feet, manured to beauty.
Tender breeze in my garden of beam
is your memory, its lingers longer in your flowering.
Insects collect upon you, in different variants colouring,
soft pinkish-purple, forest green, indigo attires they wear.
homage they pay to scent —your lovely fragrance,
acrobatics they play on you in circles,
like tracks drawn on fields Olympics
the butterflies call you names:
biological being,
helianthus
vannuss,
asteraceae,
asterales.
I whisper to you, in pseudonyms sunshine sunbeam,
sun rose, sun love, the tiny birds fable you sings,
sing your sweet nectar spring life.
sunshine rains on you, your beam on me
I caress your face, to scent of your sunny face,
your ornaments in fashioned ornamentals—
wearing the colours of the sun in my fields of greens
The sunny-blaze-date, the bees ever mated,
in pollinations they lay your love seeds —pollen
they taste and sip, you kiss them. Enchanted,
they radiate in golden vapours. Glow,
when winter shows, I see you coated
with a fall of snow, I see you fold,
shelter your gold, my bouquet — your home
as springtime knocks, sunshine you wear,
when summer bangs, you smear with heat
a sunny sun, to bathe you with warmth
Sunshine
rains
on
you
You're my sunflower.
About Poet
Gideon Idudje was born in Midwest Ughelli-north and bred in Lagos, Gideon Idudje is a poet, dramatist, and novelist. He is a graduate of Delta state university.
The Following Poems Were Placed, Commended or Won a Special Prize
Entry 770822 - 'Big Lights Thunder' Matched to runner-up, Chukwuebuka Freedom Onyishi -$10 USD + Best Metaphorical Poem - $5
Entry 58622 - 'All of it' Matched to Solomon Hamza - $10 USD
Entry 50870 - 'Prayer' Matched to winner Osahon Oka - My Favourite Poem: $20 USD + $40 USD
Entry 46770 – 'The Path I Learned “Wilt”'Matched to Egharevba Terry - Judges' Favourite Piece- $10 USD
Entry 12977 – 'Sigh' Matched to Clement Abayomi - Third Place- $10 USD
Entry 30466 - 'House of Water' Matched to Daniel Jacinth - Fourth Place - $10 USD
Youngest Shortlisted Contestant - Fifteen-year-old Utaara Tjozongoro - $10 USD
