Poets! 

Taking a cue from a printer’s mark in the 1748 edition of the Martyrs Mirror, Anabaptist World is looking for poems on Work and Hope.

Every edition of the Martyrs Mirror has had a special printer’s mark. This mark shows a man digging, along with the words “Work and Hope.” The earliest editions of the Martyrs Mirror in had this motto in Latin. When the Martyrs Mirror was printed in Ephrata, Pa. in 1748, these words appeared in German.

In 1995, Julie Musselman designed an image for an Anabaptist women’s history conference. This image, called “Anna Baptist,” shows a woman digging, while wearing a head covering and modest dress.  The words “Work and Hope” appear in English.

What do these images or words evoke in you?  Poems could engage historical events or concepts. Poems could focus on the images themselves or simply the words. Poems could also imagine a conversation between the man and the woman in the images, or even engage in conversations with the images.

We like well-crafted poems with clear, grounded images. We like to see scriptural, cultural and/or theological engagement in poems, but also new, striking reflections on or articulations of classic themes in Anabaptist faith and life.  We appreciate imagination, mystery, beauty and simplicity.

Anabaptist World is aware that this prompt is grounded in Euro-American understandings of Anabaptism. We are very happy to read poems that engage Work and Hope from different Anabaptist cultural perspectives. Work and Hope as a theme is meant to generate ideas, not to limit them.

When submitting poems, please do so in a Word document, and send up to three preferably unpublished poems to poetry@anabaptistworld.org.