June 2026
Happy Pride! Open submissions, Tomatoes, and Good Lit
June 2026
What to expect from this newsletter:
5 Writing Prompts
Editors: What are you reading and listening to?
Plant of the Season - Tomato
Did you know? Nature & Lit News
Open Submissions
What’s New at Plants & Poetry?
5 Writing Prompts
You’re sitting outside, under the sun, on the curb, waiting for your caretaker to come pick you up. It’s 90 degrees. Write about how it will feel when you finally walk inside and cool off.
Write down your favorite recipe from this week and give it to the next friend you see. Ask them to do the same when you see each other next.
Write a letter to your House of Representatives asking them to join the Soils Caucus. Find your rep >>
Think about your favourite candy as a child. Write a half-page prose piece inspired by the flavours of the candy.
Write a journal entry from the perspective of a character (it can be an original character you are creating or your favourite character from an existing story) inspired by the photo below:
Editors: What are you reading and listening to?
Erica: Still reading the Blue Period series by Tsubasa Yamaguchi and listening to Paper Planes by Elina :))
Meghan: Reading The Thorn Queen by Sasha Payton Smith and Wild Geese by Mary Oliver and listening to Wild Child by Enya and American Girls by Harry Styles, and American Pie by Don McLean
Jamie: reading Poet Empress by Shen Tao and Splinters by Leslie Jamison and listening to Aristocrate by Heuss L’enfoire and My Own Worst Enemy by Lit.
Plant of the Month: Tomato
Plant Care
Light: 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight daily
Support: They need to climb! Give them stakes, cages, or ladders to rest on.
Water: 1 to 2 inches of water per week
Seeds: They are heavy feeders and benefit from compost or mulch after planting.
In Arkansas? Check out this Planting Calendar by Westwood Gardens. They offer weekly advice like this week: Fertilize warm-season veggies to support growth.
If you’re not local, check out a university extension office near you for a calendar.
Nature, Art, and Lit News
And cool cyber-spaces to explore
Coloring in crop management. How can management practices affect the color of your food?
The New Yorker just launched a weekly update for what they are reading.
Groundswell, a 2026 documentary film, explores how regenerative agriculture can heal soil, restore ecosystems, and mitigate climate change.
Publisher’s Weekly book picks for June 2026
line-of-action.com - for practicing line drawing
calligraphr.com - make your own fonts (free version available)
wiggly paint - early 00s paint tool
histography.io - every dot on the screen represents a historical event
window-swap.com - submit your own photo and peak into others windows from around the world.
Musicmap - Genealogy and history of popular music genres (1870-2016)
Indieshuffle - a popular music blog and streaming platform dedicated to discovering and sharing independent music
Open Submissions
Almost: an anthology of drafts and works in progress
Satire tolerance required
ABOUT THE ANTHOLOGY. This anthology invites writers to submit unfinished, unpolished, or in-progress work. We are not seeking final drafts. Editors will engage directly with selected pieces, offering margin notes, feedback, questions, and praise. These comments will appear alongside the work in the final publication.
Submissions Open: May 17th - August 17
Publication Date: November 2026
IMPORTANT: We are only taking 75 submissions, and once we hit capacity, submissions will close.
Plants & Poetry Store
Notebooks » 100 lined pages. Cover page designed by Erica Dionora
Garden & Work Gloves » Our Garden & Work Gloves are made from cowhide with reinforced palms and fingertips to add extra protection where you need it most.
Matchbooks » Set of 5 matchbooks. Design & haiku by Erica Dionora. Matchbook includes a haiku poem and plant care instructions for the Iris plant.
Heirloom Notebook » The Heirloom Notebook is a space to hold the heart of your given or found family. It is a quilt of memories.
Rituals & Remedies Vol. 2 » Rituals & Remedies vol. 2 is a collection of art, poetry, and prose that demonstrates how small, day-to-day things, such as gathering for a meal; drinking coffee as the sun rises; praying at night; or going for a walk, hold together so much of our lives.
Plant People Vol. 5 » Plant People, An Anthology of Environmental Artists Vol. 5 is a tender gathering of poetry, prose, art, and non-fiction honoring our plant relatives. Read the full collection online: https://www.plantsandpoetry.org/plant-people-vol-5
Thank you for staying until the end! We’ll see y’all on substack. :)
Did you know Plants & Poetry gets a percentage from Libro.fm sales? https://libro.fm/referral?rf_code=lfm168573
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