Anneliese Finke's Poetry

This one’s a little unique! Blue Heron Review was looking for submissions for Spring 2025, their issue on Offerings. I submitted a couple of poems; one of them, while it won’t be in that issue, was selected for the following one: What We Gather For Tomorrow! And that issue is now available to read online, for free, right here!

It was very flattering to have the editor like my poem so much they wanted to find a place for it! I hope it’s not bad manners/a literary faux pas to print this here, but in her acceptance, she said, “I can’t fully put my finger on why I like this poem so much, but it genuinely feels like something we need for our times—to build a fort together, to have a safe space.” What a wonderful thing to have said about something I wrote!

Creative Wisconsin Magazine is the thrice-yearly magazine of the Wisconsin Writers Association. In addition to running a conference every fall and their Jade Ring writing contest, they make this magazine available both on their website (for free) or, if you prefer a printed copy, through purchase on Amazon.

I submitted the poem “The Best Lies Have a Kernel of Truth” to them, and I’m happy to say that it appears on page 68 of this issue – so check it out!

Belatedly, I’m sharing ArtAsPoetryAsArt 2025! It’s a project that pairs up poets and artists (mainly through the Lakeshore Artists Guilds in Manitowoc); you submit an artwork or a poem, then you are paired up and create a second one based on your pairing. The pairings were displayed at the Rahr-West Museum in Manitowoc earlier this summer, and a pamphlet was produced with the pairings as well!

As always, they have made the poems and artworks for 2025 available to view online here. I have to say I was also really flattered when the pamphlet arrived in the mail and my poem was the opening poem; the artwork (by George Lottermoser) that accompanied it was really interesting and taught me something new (yobitsugi).

The 2026 Wisconsin Poets’ Calendar is now available! The theme for the 2026 calendar is “pathways,” so I submitted a poem, “The Lost City,” dedicated to Petropavlovsk (although it has a little Almaty in it as well). It’s on page 116, right at the beginning of fall – after all, this is also a real planner you can use to record your own schedule, with nice thick paper for writing on!

If you live in Wisconsin (or Duluth!), it’s carried at some local bookstores, and it’s also available online (the list of bookstores as well as online purchasing is at this website): https://www.wfop.org/poets-calendar-1.

It has arrived! The MacGuffin, Vol 40.3, August 2025, featuring yours truly! One interesting thing about the time between an acceptance and publication is… I had to go look up what poem is appearing in it. And then I remembered that it’s a fairly dark poem, and could easily be read as personal (although it isn’t exactly; I don’t write straight experience very often), and I got a bit self-conscious about the whole thing… ha!

Don’t let that stop you from checking it out, though. (Really. In fact, let it make you even more intrigued… like it will gnaw at you late at night, when you’re trying to fall asleep, until you give in and check it out.) You can purchase a copy here for only $9! And, if you would like a special discount… I might be able to hook you up if you send me a message.

I also decided to preserve my original excitement here, from December 22: I just found out that I’m going to have a poem published in Vol. 40.3 of The MacGuffin, the literary magazine of Schoolcraft College! I’m not sure exactly when that volume will be coming out – 40.1 just came out in November – so I’m guessing summer or fall of next year. Am I using too many exclamation points here? No! In fact, I am not using enough!

The Association of Australasian Writing Programs puts out a literary magazine, Meniscus, and one of my poems appears in the Spring 2025 issue, which one of the editors described as having “a rich mix of prose and poetry, all exploring questions that captured our interest, in forms that we found irresistible.” And if that’s not enough, my poem involves alligators. If that doesn’t draw you in, I don’t know what else to do.

Plus, Meniscus is online, free and open-access. Right now, the most current issue is 13.1, Spring 2025; if you’re coming to this later, you might need to look in the archives to find it instead.

Cacti Fur featured one of my poems on June 4, 2025! They post a new poem every Wednesday, so you can get an interesting range of poets and styles – it’s like an ongoing online anthology. My poem can be found right here.

I’m going to have a poem in the next issue of the San Pedro River Review by Blue Horse Press, which will also be their first to feature flash fiction and their second to feature full-color interior artwork! The issue comes out around mid-February and should be available to buy on Amazon around that time as well, so I’ll put that link here when it does. The press also lists both Naomi Shihab Nye and Jack Ridl in their list of representative poets, so… wow.

Update: it’s out and available! You can find it on Amazon right here.

This was the Décolletage issue – in their own words: “Our theme was Décolletage: an overarching theme that sought subtly sensual literature that wove emotions and sensations through evocative language to explore eros and alienation, desire, intimacy, and the wider nuances of human connection. We looked to embrace diverse expressions of passion. We sought rich and immersive experiences that resonated on emotional levels.” Which is a wild thing to have used to describe one of your poems, I have to say!

Just found out that I will have a haiku appearing in the Spring issue of Acorn: a Journal of Contemporary Haiku! Also, the editor actually emailed back and forth with me about formatting and how it might change how the poem reads… it was kind of amazing! I think that’s only the second time I’ve had a conversation like that with an editor.

Acorn Haiku’s website is here: https://www.acornhaiku.com/

And if you are not very familiar with haiku, I highly recommend “The Essential Haiku,” edited by Robert Hass.

You can also read more of my own haiku right here on my website if you’re so inclined!

Found out recently that I will have a poem in the upcoming January 2025 issue of Moss Piglet, the art/literary journal of Krazines! I’ll have more information in January, but I’m excited. The theme was Nine Lives, the same as the theme for their very first issue nine years ago. Did I go the literal route and include a cat? Did I go the figurative route and include musing on life and death? Dear reader, I did both!

While this issue isn’t in the archives as of this posting, it will also eventually be free to read online here. And since Moss Piglet has so much visual design and art involved, I highly recommend finding a way to view it in full if you can!

And Happy Anniversary, Moss Piglet!

I’m incredibly honored to be included in the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets upcoming Poets’ Calendar for 2025! The theme for the 2025 calendar is “shine” – and my poem “Kintsugi” appears on page 67, right at the beginning of summer. And so you know, the calendar is a full-on spiral-bound 170 page planner – so it’s poetic and useful!

If you live in Wisconsin, it’s carried at some local bookstores (I can’t say how surprisingly moving it was to run across it in a random bookstore in Door County and pick it up and see my work there, for sale, in a real physical bookstore!), and it’s also available online (the list of bookstores as well as online purchasing is at this website): https://www.wfop.org/poets-calendar-1.

Christopher Kolon, the Poet Laureate of Kenosha, wanted to create a project that would “celebrate the relationship between the people of Wisconsin (Kenosha County in particular) and Lake Michigan,” and so The Lake Is Mother To Us All was born.

A collection of poems by 36 local writers, the poems will be appearing in storefronts in Kenosha this summer. In addition, they were compiled into a chapbook. I think this might be the first time that I’ve appeared in a book that you can purchase on Amazon! It’s $10, and you can buy it here.

But you don’t need to purchase the book (although I have a copy – it’s really nice!). The poems are also available to read on the project’s website so that they’re available to everyone. So check them out here!

ArtAsPoetryAsArt is back again for 2024! If you missed it before, it’s a project that pairs up poets and artists (mainly through the Lakeshore Artists Guilds in Manitowoc); you submit an artwork or a poem, then you are paired up and create a second one based on your pairing. I love things like this that combine multiple art forms – and if you’re in the area, you can see it this summer at the Manitowoc Public Library until June 7!

If you can’t make it up there, though, you can also see the poems and artworks for 2024 online here.

Let me know if you run into any issues with it, and please enjoy! The world can always use more art, I say!

My poem “Lost City” is appearing in Issue 2 of Tabi Po, a new online literary journal out of Milwaukee (and a great monthly open mic!). The theme of the issue was Cities & Borders – you can read it online here. And while you’re there, check out their open mic schedule and featured readers and stop by if you’re in Milwaukee!

Every year, the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets puts out a Poets’ Calendar. The 2024 calendar is now out, and I have a poem appearing (if you get a chance to look through one, it’s in mid-November!). It’s pretty exciting! If you live in the area, it’s carried at some local bookstores, and it’s also available online (they also have a list of bookstores on this page): https://www.wfop.org/poets-calendar.

ArtAsPoetryAsArt is back again for 2023! If you missed it before, it’s a project that pairs up poets and artists (mainly through the Lakeshore Artists Guilds in Manitowoc); you submit an artwork or a poem, then you are paired up and create a second one based on your pairing. This time, the exhibit will be at the Rahr-West Art Museum in Manitowoc from June 13-June 18! And if you can’t make it or those dates have passed, the poems and artworks for 2023 are also available to view online here.

I just received my copy of the Fall 2022 issue of Bramble, along with a really nice note from the editor! My poem “North 7 Night Bus” was published in this issue. You can check out more information at https://www.wfop.org/bramble-fall-2022 – or support them by buying your own copy (there’s a link to it on Amazon on that page). Plus, Lisa Vihos, wonderful Poet Laureate of Sheboygan, was the guest editor!

ArtAsPoetryAsArt is a very cool project that pairs up poets and artists (mainly through the Lakeshore Artists Guilds in Manitowoc); you submit an artwork, then you are paired up and create a second one based on your pairing. I love things like this that combine multiple art forms – and if you’re in the area, you can see it this summer at the Manitowoc Public Library!

If you can’t make it up there, though, you can also see the poems and artworks online here.

Let me know if you run into any issues with it, and please enjoy! The world can always use more art, I say!

Here, I’m gathering together my older publications in one spot:

My poem “Metaphors” was published in Issue 31, Spring 2014, of Ruminate, a beautiful literary magazine dedicated to “slowing down and paying attention.” Sadly, after 16 years, Ruminate shut down in 2022. However, they have made every issue available, for free, online, in full print layout/format, which is amazing. The issues can be found here.

“Metaphors” was also republished on Little Eagle’s RE/VERSE, a blog dedicated to republishing published poems that are “well worth another look.” It was published there on September 16, 2015.

In Volume 10, Issue 1 (Spring 2009) of Georgetown Review, my poem “To Hal Struthee” was published. This journal was founded in 1993, and unfortunately published its last issue in 2015.

This is also the first, and only, poem that I have had reviewed (well, the whole issue was reviewed)! The Review Review called it “a powerful meditation on the effect our lives leave on the world.” While The Review Review is no longer available online, it can be viewed thanks to the Internet Archive right here.

Two poems, “Photographs” and “I Never Knew Jesus Smelled So Good,” appeared in Hurricane Review, Volume 1 Issue 6, 2008.

Eclectic Muse, a journal that was dedicated to more formal poetry, published “The Magical Journal of C. Eustatius” and “Jumprope Song” in Volume 13, Christmas 2007.

And my earliest publication was in the still-going-strong Dunes Review – in volume 12, Issue 2 (Winter 2007-2008), two of my poems appeared: “December Photograph” and “Mrs. Ellis’ Twelve Months Without Rain” (if you click the link above, you’ll see the title has been revised to “Twelve Months Without Rain).