We sit across from each other and try
to assign blame. Is the fault YOURS / MINE?
– Faultlines, Mark Ward
There are two sides to every story, and in VOLTA! we invite you to show us both.
A volta is the clear shift in tone, framing or point of view, that marks the turning point in a sonnet.
Think:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
or
Then slaughter axed one quiet summer night
shivering the deep silence of the stars
In Mark Ward’s interactive sonnet, Faultlines, the volta is the crack that provokes a stomach churning flip of perspective…if you can find it.
To celebrate its release, we are inviting you to submit your own work to our latest pop-up, VOLTA!
The pop-up will be published on 3 March 2024 the release date of Faultlines, and participants may be invited to contribute a reading to the virtual launch.
All styles and genres are welcome – your piece doesn’t have to be a sonnet (though it can be!), or even a poem – prose is equally welcome.
What matters is that there should be a clear point where the tectonic plates of your piece shift.
Maybe the narrator comes across a revelation that changes their perspective.
Maybe you introduce another narrative point of view, Rashamon style, that throws everything that’s come before into doubt.
Maybe it’s the tone of the piece that takes a sudden turn, for darker or lighter.
Maybe it’s something else entirely.
Whichever you choose, we should feel the charge, the leap and spin and crackle as everything changes.
Send your pieces to voidspacezine@gmail.com
Subs are open until Monday 24 February
We can’t wait to see what you come up with