Six Questions for Cendrine Marrouat and David Ellis, Co-Founders/Editors, Auroras & Blossoms Poetry Journal

Auroras & Blossoms Poetry Journal is a family-friendly, digital magazine that publishes poetry to 1,500 words. The editors are particularly interested in poetry that is stimulating, optimistic, confident, uplifting and inspirational. Read the complete guidelines here.

SQF: Why did you start this magazine?

Cendrine: At the beginning of last year, David and I started discussing our frustrations with the negativity we saw around us and the elitist and selective stances adopted by many poetry journals. We realized that those journals spent more time reviewing a poet’s publishing history and celebrity status than looking at his or her poems.

As poets interested in inspiring and uplifting others, we wanted to change the situation. We wanted to give every poet a chance to be featured. His or her experience or publishing history did not matter.

Auroras & Blossoms Poetry Journal was born a few days later.

David: Cendrine and I write and publish so much inspirational poetry between us that it was inevitable that our paths should cross with each other. In a world that sorely needs the healing touch of inspirational words and since we saw that a lot of other journals weren’t covering this type of poetry, we thought we would specialise in it exclusively. Our mission was to be a positive force that would allow people to express themselves and give readers a good reason to read the poetry we feature because of the beneficial effect that it will have on them.


SQF: What are the top three things you look for in a submission and why?

Cendrine: David and I rarely disagree when it comes to deciding what will make it into an issue. The submissions we refuse often display the following: complexity, lack of positive message, and typos / grammatical errors.

David: Cendrine is very right, we do see eye to eye on lots of poems that come through our doors. I would say that I am keen to see poems that end up exploring a journey and take us to unique places. I like to see pieces that can be personal in nature, yet we can find common comparisons in our own lives too and empathise with the situation that the poet is writing about. Finally, negative subject matter may be considered but only if we learn a life lesson, with the piece ending in an uplifting and positive way at the end.


SQF: What most often turns you off to a submission?

Cendrine: What turns me off the most is the long lists of achievements that we receive in lieu of simple bios. I want to know who the poets are first and foremost.

David: I’m not happy to see meandering thoughts, if you are writing a prose poem then there has to be a focused purpose, brevity and a musicality to the words that you write. Furthermore, we do get some submissions where the poet tries to give us reasons as to why specifically their poem is inspirational, positive or uplifting but it is clear to us that their poem is not inspirational at all to readers themselves. We have had submissions that are extremely abstract, with no way of fathoming out the message within or even including things like references to politics (which we don’t allow) when they say they are not doing that. Better to be honest with yourself about your poems, be sure that the message is inspirational and closely follow our submission guidelines before sending poems to us.


SQF: What do you look for in the opening stanza(s) of a submission?

Cendrine: I never focus on the opening part, otherwise I would say no to 90% of the submissions we receive. From experience, I know that a majority of poems have to be read until the end to make complete sense.

David: Yes, as far as I’m concerned anything goes at the beginning, I’m not particularly looking for anything in particular, so long as the poem sets the scene and resolves itself well, then it has an excellent chance of being selected by us for publication.


SQF: You have a separate section for works by poets aged 13-16. What advice can you offer this group to help them get published, perhaps for the first time?

Cendrine: I would tell them the same thing I would tell an adult. Write about the things that make you happy. However, if you must write about a difficult experience, include the lesson you learnt. Think about the positive impact you want to have on your readers.

Also, make sure that you read the submission guidelines carefully.

David: I would say be confident in your own abilities. See if there are any other poets or writers that you yourself aspire to be like and write with them in mind as your inspiration. You will only find your own unique voice by writing often and being true to yourself. Be sure to edit your work thoroughly and read it aloud to your family and friends. Get their feedback, make any necessary adjustments to improve the flow of your poems and then be proud to submit your work to help inspire other young people like yourself.


SQF: What one question on this topic do you wish I'd asked that I didn't? And how would you answer it?

Cendrine: “Is Auroras & Blossoms Poetry Journal the only project that David and you have been working on together?”

David and I have a great working relationship and friendship. We support and push each other out of our comfort zone all the time. We also exchange ideas daily.

Our constant conversations have led us to create our own show (Poetry Really Matters) and co-author a series of guides for authors and writers of all levels. We have other plans, so we are far from done!  

David: Thank you Cendrine, we have so much to offer the world when it comes to inspirational material! My question would be this:- “What is one of the most important pieces of advice that you can give poets right now who want to submit to literary magazines?” For me, this would be to make sure that you purchase and read at least one issue (but preferably more!) of the magazines you are looking to send submissions to, as you will gain valuable insight into their submission processes. Do not copy what the other poets have written but make sure to appreciate the qualities that make their entries stand out, in terms of overall message and style. Ensure that these same qualities are present in the pieces that you choose to submit to the magazines that you want to be featured in.

Thank you, Cendrine and David. We all appreciate your taking time from your busy schedule to participate in this project.

Cendrine: Thank you for this wonderful opportunity!

David: We’ve both had tremendous fun being here and we hope that your readers will submit to us with new found confidence! Thank you for your time Jim, we sincerely appreciate it :)