Quarter Notes Magazine

Rolling Call for Submissions

In a time where poetry and lyrics are often conflated as one and the same, writers and musicians are frequently asked: what's the difference? In response to that question, and in a world where both crafts continue to be devalued, I hope to cultivate attentiveness in the form of a literary magazine with a musical ear. This may look like poets experimenting with sound, or working in aural poetics; short stories and/or poems “about” or otherwise listening to music; recorded audio poems; sonic meditation scores in the vein of Pauline Oliveros, or Dylan Robinson’s ‘event scores’; personal essays about beloved albums that write with music more than about it (as described by Roland Barthes' "Grain of the Voice" or as exemplified by Hanif Abdurraqib's 68 to 05); reviews of records that read more like liner notes or essays rather than following the tradition of granting a numerical score. This space may be an avenue for musicians who also work on the page to publish literary work; or an interesting avenue for writers of all kinds to explore sonically. I most of all hope to make this corner one that welcomes and champions good listeners.

Submissions are accepted via email on a rolling basis (see schedule below). Send your work as an attachment (any file type; no more than five poems or ten pages for prose) along with a brief bio and cover letter to quarternotesmag@gmail.com.

typewriter art Logo by Trevor Nikrant