I spent part of the morning finishing up my “work” editing poems for the July Mule. Jude Roy sent the last, but certainly not the least, of our July poems. An entire chapbook. We’ll be publishing some great poets. In addition to Jude Roy, we’ll have Sherry Chandler, Collin Kelley, Doug Ramspeck, and Jefferey Beam. And that’s just some of them. I’ll be writing more about the July issue of the Dead Mule, which will be online about July 15, but in the meantime, why not take another look at the April issue?

Of the fourteen poets we’ll be publishing, seven are men, seven are women, seven are by inviation, and seven from regular submissions. One man and one woman declined. I’m hoping they re-consider for a later issue, since the reason they gave was that they “were not southern.” As Val* says, “southern isn’t a location; it’s a state of mind.” Anyone’s southern (for Mule purposes) who chooses to be. So if you’re a writer who wants to be published, check out our submissions page. We’d love to hear from you.

The Mule is publsihed (as it has been for over ten years now) near the coast of North Carolina. It’s always been great, but we’re trying to make it even greater. And so far, a lot of good writers are helping us to do just that. I don’t work with prose submissions, but rumor has it, they’re just as strong as the poetry. I am, however, working on a poet interview for October. The Mule “work” continues.

* Valerie MacEwan is the publisher and editor of The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. Always has been. Always will be.

UPDATE:  July 5.  Val says, we hope to have the July Mule up by midnight July 16.