elementia

elementia is a literary arts magazine published to represent and uplift young adults. We accept original poetry, fiction, nonfiction, graphic stories, photography and illustrations.

Issue xx theme: Cycles

From the biological life cycle to seemingly unbreakable habits, we are surrounded by cycles.

We are told that everything has a beginning and an end, but what about everything in between? From growth cycles to menstrual cycles to thought cycles, our lives are impacted by endless hoops. Is it possible to escape a cycle? Describe the cycles that should have been broken by now. Search for loopholes and travel through them. Which cycles are you trying to break and why?

Cycles go beyond the individual and into greater society as cycles of oppression, and into the natural world as the migration cycles of animals and the phases of the moon. What cycles do we see perpetuate for generations? How do events cycle through history as it “repeats itself”? Where do we see cycles within cycles?

Everything starts somewhere. Cycles are found in the start button of washing machines and tales of origin. Speak on the origins of things that have not been questioned. Where have the beliefs that you hold as an individual originated? What about the beliefs held as a society? Explore the cycles your identity was born of.

Predict what the ending will be or choose your own finale. Does death mean the end of a cycle? What beginnings can the end provide for us? Discover what propels these cycles to continue. Explore unfathomable cycles and perpetual cycles, like the Ouroboros and its tail.

Admire the visual cycles and illusions we see in daily life. From the Fibonacci sequence to Penrose Stairs to a nautilus shell, there’s beauty in numerical cycles. With the Krebs cycle, acceleration of wheels, and the law of Conservation of Mass, explore the greater impact of an individual cycle. Understand what the cycles in your life mean to you.

Submit your original poetry, short stories, essays, comics, or artwork through February 1 every year.

Read a sample of the latest issue

unrefined.

By Arden Pryor

like the exuberance of bangs cut too short and stacks of bracelets that never match. 
gold is for the good days only. 
most days are silver. they are plentiful and lacking variation. 
endless hours and constantly runny eyes. 


Tuesday Reflections

By Elena Unger

Today I saw that a girl I used to know
shaved her head. I wanted to believe
she looked fierce and fiercely free,
but instead she looked small and vulnerable.
She looked strange and startling,
and I pitied her. Just because
you have found the grace of God


Previous issues

the cover of elementia issue 18
issue 18
Issue 17 cover
issue 17
elementia xvi
issue 16
best of elementia 1-15
best of elementia 1-15
elementia issue xv
issue 15
elementia xiv
issue 14
elementia xiii
issue 13
elementia xii
issue 12
elementia xi
issue 11
elementia x
issue 10
elementia ix
issue 9
elementia viii
issue 8
elementia vii
issue 7
elementia vi
issue 6
elementia v
issue 5
elementia iv
issue 4
elementia iii
issue 3
elementia issue ii
issue 2
elementia issue i
issue 1