Submissions to Haiku for Soulmates are now closed. Heartfelt thanks to each of you for sharing your beautiful haiku and your creative spirit with us. Literary Revelations is deeply grateful for your participation. In mid-March, we will send out letters of acceptance or gentle rejections. We will do our best to honor as many voices as possible. Our tentative publication date is the end of March or the beginning of April, and we can’t wait to share this collection with you.
Gabriela Marie Milton Author, founder, editor in chief
Neurological studies using MRI scans have shown that individuals with high artistic ability often have distinct structural differences in their brains.
โข Grey Matter Density: Research published in NeuroImage found that artists tend to have more grey matter in the cerebellum and the supplementary motor area. These regions are responsible for fine motor control and procedural memory (the โhow-toโ of drawing).
โข The Precuneus: This area of the parietal lobe, involved in visual imagery and combining sensory input, is often more developed in artists. It allows them to โseeโ a finished work in their mind before the brush touches the canvas.
2. Visual Perception: โThe Artistโs Eyeโ
A major part of artistic โtalentโ is actually a cognitive trick. Most people suffer from โconstancy scalingโโthe brainโs tendency to see what it expects to see rather than what is actually there (e.g., drawing an eye as a symbol rather than the specific shapes of light and shadow).
โข Bottom-Up Processing: Scientific tests show that talented artists are better at โde-contexualizingโ objects. They can ignore the meaning of an object and focus purely on its geometric properties, edges, and shadows.
โข Gaze Stability: Eye-tracking studies reveal that trained artists shift their gaze between the subject and their paper more frequently but with more stability than novices, allowing for more accurate information transfer.
3. The Genetic Component of Creativity While specific โdrawing genesโ havenโt been isolated, the personality traits that drive artistic talent are highly heritable.
โข Openness to Experience: This is one of the โBig Fiveโ personality traits and has a strong genetic link. It is the single best predictor of creative achievement.
โข Dopamine Pathways: Creativity is often linked to how the brain processes dopamine. Some researchers suggest that artists have fewer D2 receptors in the thalamus, which may allow for less โfilteringโ of informationโleading to the unconventional associations we call โoriginality.โ
Is talent genetically given?
Science generally agrees that what we call โtalentโ is a cocktail of genetics and environment. While you canโt point to a single โNBA Player Geneโ or โGrammy Winner Gene,โ researchers have identified specific ways our DNA sets the stage for high-level performance.
Here is how the science breaks down the โnature vs. nurtureโ debate.
1. Heritability Estimates Scientists use heritability coefficients to measure how much of the variation in a trait within a population is due to genetics. โข General Intelligence (IQ): Studies on twins suggests that IQ has a heritability of about 50% to 80%. This influences how quickly someone can process information or recognize patternsโkey components of many โtalents.โ
โข Physical Traits: In athletics, genetics play a massive role. Traits like height, lung capacity, and muscle fiber composition (fast-twitch vs. slow-twitch) are highly heritable.
โข Musicality: Research indicates that โpitch productionโ and rhythm perception have significant genetic roots, often estimated around 50%.
2. Specific Genetic Markers We have moved past guesswork and can now see specific genes that correlate with high performance:
โข ACTN3 (The โSprint Geneโ): This gene codes for a protein in fast-twitch muscle fibers. Almost every Olympic-level power athlete has a specific functional version of this gene.
โข COMT Gene: This affects how the brain processes dopamine. Some variants help people stay calm under extreme pressure (the โwarriorโ vs. โworrierโ genotypes), which is a massive component of competitive talent.
3. The โGene-Environment Interactionโ This is the most crucial part: Genes are not a blueprint; they are a potential.
A person might have the genetic predisposition for incredible spatial reasoning (a โtalentโ for architecture or chess), but if they never see a chessboard or a drafting table, that talent remains dormant. This is known as epigenetics, where the environment essentially โflips the switchโ on certain genes.
Gabriela Marie Milton, Founder and Editor-in-Chief.
Maria Carvalhoโs love for words has always been as fervent as her fear of math. Her multi-genre short fiction has appeared in a smorgasbord of anthologies and literary magazinesโmost recently, Roi Fainรฉant, MetaStellar, Free Flash Fiction, and 101 Wordsโand her latest poetry can be found in several #1 best-selling books published by Literary Revelations, where she is the writer in residence. Her popular children’s book Hamster in Space! was praised by Kirkus Reviews for its “sharp understanding of kids’ wacky sense of humor”โa testament to the fact that sheโs still a kid at heart.
A 2025 Pushcart Prize nominee, Maria lives in Connecticut, where she enjoys the outdoors, photography, reading, and subjecting her family to her puns. Find her on Twitter and Bluesky: @immcarvalho.
The Search for Starlight
The lonely Earth drifts helplessly on a vast cosmic sea. There is no one to remember its azure skies and verdant lands; All traces of the past are buried far beneath the bitter ice, And in the perpetual darkness, time itself is frozen.
Long ago, mankind fought desperately to save their dying starโ But they could not escape the numbing certainty of their fate.The merciless cold grew stronger as the meager light ebbed away, And in the end, humanity yielded to the crystalline night.
Now, the bereft planet mourns the ashen sun that let it go. Sailing through sable heavens, it yearns for a beacon of starlightโ A sign that it will be held in a warm embrace once more; A glittering hope that life will one day rise from Earth again.
Thank you to everyone who submitted to Haiku for Soulmates. I am deeply grateful for the beautiful haiku I received.
This is the last call for submissions. The submission period closes on February 26.
Guidelines for submission:
We invite you to keep submitting to Literary Revelationsโ upcoming anthology, Haiku for Soulmates. We hope this collection will also find its place in esteemed museums, as any collection of haiku we have published.
To participate, please submit five haiku to literaryrevelations@pm.me with the email subject clearly labeled as โHaiku for Soulmates.โ Please be aware that unlabeled submissions may be misplaced and not read. The deadline for submissions is February 26. Kindly note that your five haiku will be reviewed as a set and accepted or rejected as a whole.
Thank you for your continued support and inspiration. ๐
Gabriela Marie Milton
Our Awards
Best Publisher in the USA (Best of Best Review)
Best Poetry Publisher in the US (Evergreen Award)
Best Publisher for Artistic Excellence (BizWeekly)
Petals of Haiku, Tranquility: An Anthology of Haiku, Haiku and Tanka: Lull, Harmony and Power in Japanese Art; Full Moon Confessions – books published by Literary Revelations, officially accepted in the Museum of Contemporary Japanese Poetry, Tanka and Haiku (Japan)
My Dearest Subscribers and Followers,
I am thrilled to share some exciting news: Literary Revelations Anthologies of Haiku and Tanka have officially been included in the prestigious Museum of Contemporary Japanese Poetry, Tanka and Haiku, which boasts one of the world’s most remarkable poetry collections.
The following are now part of this prestigious museum.
Petals of Haiku: An Anthology
Tranquility: An Anthology of Haiku
Haiku and Tanka: Lull, Harmony, and Power in Japanese Art By Hikari and Gabriela Marie Milton
Full Moon Confessions by Tracey Anne
We are honored that these volumes, including the moving Full Moon Confessions by Tracey Anne, will be showcased among such prestigious literary treasures.
Hikari, our fabulous Artist in Residence send us from Japan the following message:
“I am absolutely thrilled to share that I had the honor of meeting Director of the museum Mr. Mutsuo Takano (้ซ้ใ ใใชๆฐ) in person today.
Meeting such a master of the Haiku world was an unforgettable and deeply moving experience for me.
โRegarding your publisher’s poetry books, the museum has officially accepted them into their permanent collection.
Mr. Takano and Deputy Director Toyoizumi shared some very profound words with me that I would like to pass on to you:
โ”Since poetry books are often published in limited numbers, they are at high risk of being forgotten over time if not properly preserved. However, by being housed here in this museum, your books will be preserved and will remain for generations to come.
Please give our best regards to Ms Gabriela Marie Milton and haiku poets from around the worldโ.
Mr. Takano said, โIt is especially gratifying to see haiku spreading overseas.
I sincerely hope all of you will continue to share haiku with the world.โ
As he leafed through “Petals of Haiku: An Anthology” and “Tranquility: An Anthology of Haiku”โboth collections featuring contributions from more than two hundred writersโhe seemed genuinely moved by the growing presence of haiku abroad.
He was also surprised to learn that “Full Moon Confessions”(by Tracey Anne) had become a bestseller in Japan.
In particular, he showed a strong interest in “Lull, Harmony, and Power in Japanese Art.”
โIt is truly fascinating,โ he remarked, โto see an attempt to create a collaboration between tanka and haiku inspired by a single painting. I very much hope that, through such cooperative efforts, more haiku, tanka, and poetry will be created. I wholeheartedly support all those overseas who are dedicated to this kind of work.โ
โKnowing that the books we created together will now live on forever in the “holy place” of Japanese poetry is the greatest reward I could imagine.
Thank you so much for giving me this wonderful opportunity.
Hikari
โปIntroduction of Mr Takano Mutsuo-้ซ้ใ ใใชๆฐ-
Takano Mutsuo (born 1947 in Miyagi Prefecture) is one of the leading voices in contemporary Japanese haiku.
Today, Mr.Takano serves as President of the Modern Haiku Association and Director of “the Museum of Contemporary Japanese Poetry, Tanka and Haiku”.
His work is widely regarded for its emotional depth, imagistic intensity, and its ability to transform personal and regional experience into universal poetic expression.
After experiencing the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake firsthand, Mr Takano composed a series of powerful โdisaster haikuโ that confronted loss, trauma, and resilience with unflinching clarity.
These poems were collected in his acclaimed volume “Yorozu no Hane -่ฌใฎ็ฟ -“(Ten Thousand Wings), which received major literary honors including the Yomiuri Prize for Literature and the Dakotsu Prize-่็ฌ่ณ-.
—————
All the photographs I am sending have been approved for posting on your website by the museum director.
Hikari
Mr. Takano is looking through our books.
Mr. Takano and Hikari.
Please remember that Petals of Haiku and Tranquility: An Anthology of Haiku are also included in the Museum of Haiku Literature in Tokyo.
Literary Revelations promised you that we would create legacies. We are doing it.
Thank you to our fabulous Artist in Residence Hikari!
Video optimized for IG
Please continue to submit to Haiku for Soulmates
We invite you to keep submitting to Literary Revelationsโ upcoming anthology, Haiku for Soulmates. We hope this collection will also find its place in esteemed museums.
To participate, please submit five haiku to literaryrevelations@pm.me with the email subject clearly labeled as โHaiku for Soulmates.โ Please be aware that unlabeled submissions may be misplaced and not read. The deadline for submissions is February 26. Kindly note that your five haiku will be reviewed as a set and accepted or rejected as a whole.
Thank you for your continued support and inspiration. ๐
Gabriela Marie Milton Author, Founder, and Editor-in -Chief at Literary Revelations
Our Awards
Best Publisher in the USA (Best of Best Review)
Best Poetry Publisher in the US (Evergreen Award)
Best Publisher for Artistic Excellence (BizWeekly)
Dr. Weiner has over 40 yearsโ experience as a clinical psychologist who specializes in trauma recovery and anxiety disorders. He enjoys using stories to help readers harness their resilience to aid them on their healing journey. He has been published in a variety of professional journals and literary fiction in over thirty magazines. His psychology books include Shattered Innocence and the Curio Shop. Non-psychology publications are Across the Borderline and The Art of Fine Whining. He has a monthly advice column in a Portland Newspaper, Ask Dr.Neil. nweiner@usa.net
The Chicken Summit
I know tonight is going to be a disaster the moment we step onto the porch and hear our parents arguing through the kitchen window. Their voices rise and fall like two angry geese in a windstorm. This time the fight is about the roast chicken.
When we walk in, Tina, my mother, is slicing the chicken. My other mother, Roberta, is hovering behind her, opening and slamming cupboards like sheโs sending Morse code distress signals.
We sit. Dinner begins in that familiar uneasy silence. Ryan and Sommer exchange the same weary glances Iโve been trading with them since childhood. Here we go again.
The sparks comes fast.
โItโs dry,โ Tina announces.
โItโs perfectly fine,โ Roberta snickers back.
Tina shoots her a glare sharp enough to debone the chicken without touching it. Roberta twirls her fork like sheโs contemplating plunging it into Tina, then abruptly stabs a carrot as if to demonstrate restraint.
The meal rolls on like that, tiny barbs and utensils clattering with the force of a small earthquake. Itโs the slow drip of water torture.
By the time dinner ends, I feel ten years older.
Weโre clearing plates when they slip right into their usual loop. Tina wipes the counter. Roberta wipes it again.
โYou donโt need to redo everything I do.โ
โIโm not redoing it.โ
โItโs clean.โ
โA matter of opinion.โ
A wooden spoon slams on the counter All three of us jump like someone fired a starter pistol.
โThatโs it.โ I stand. โWeโre going.โ
Both parents speak in unison. โGoing where, Brittany?โ
โHome,โ Ryan says. โOrโฆ anywhere else.โ
Sommer grabs her coat. โWe love you. But thisโโ she gestures between themโโis impossible to be around.โ
Roberta looks offended. โWeโre just talking.โ
โNo, Youโre bickering about everything.โ
Tinaโs face tightens. โWe donโt mean anything by it.โ
We stand there, exhausted.
โWait,โ Tina says. โStay. Weโwe can stop.โ
Roberta nods like a bobble head. โWe can. Right, Tina?โ
โYes. We can.โ
The tension loosens for a second
โWe were thinking of a movie tonight,โ Tina offers.
โIโd like to go bowling,โ Roberta counters.
โBowling will be crowded with leagues.โ
โYou never want to go to the movies.โ
There it is. An instant replay of their worst hits. My stomach drops.
โIโm done!โ
Ryan stands. โMe too.โ
Sommer grabs her keys. โWeโre leaving. While we still have functioning nervous systems.โ
Roberta sputters, โWe didnโt even argue!โ
Tina insists, โWeโre trying! That was affectionate!โ
I turn back. โWe love you. But you two can weaponize any activity. Bowling, movies, chicken, anything. We canโt keep doing this.โ
Ryan nods. โWeโre taking a month off. Minimum. Text us only if someone is physically on fire.โ
We walk out.
Through the window I hear Roberta. โWell. That went well.โ
โThis is what happens when children are raised without proper discipline.โ
โOh, now thatโs my fault?โ
As we walk to our cars, a sudden downpour hits. We huddle in the rain, drenched.
I am genuinely moved by the beauty of your haiku submitted to Haiku for Soulmates. Your creativity and passion shine through your words, and I encourage you to continue sharing your work. ๐
Both Tranquility: An Anthology of Haiku and Petals of Haiku, published by Literary Revelations (@lr_publisher), are now part of the Museum of Haiku Literature in Japan, thanks to our talented artist in residence, Hikari (@hikari2162554).
The Museum of Haiku Literature is distinguished as the worldโs only library solely dedicated to collecting and preserving haiku works for the enrichment of future generations. Literary Revelations promised to create legacies. We are doing it.
We invite you to keep submitting to Literary Revelationsโ upcoming anthology, Haiku for Soulmates. We hope this collection will also find its place in esteemed museums.
To participate, please submit five haiku to literaryrevelations@pm.me with the email subject clearly labeled as โHaiku for Soulmates.โ Please be aware that unlabeled submissions may be misplaced and not read. The deadline for submissions is February 26. Kindly note that your five haiku will be reviewed as a set and accepted or rejected as a whole.
Thank you for your continued support and inspiration. ๐
Gabriela Marie Milton Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Our Awards
Best Publisher in the USA (Best of Best Review)
Best Poetry Publisher in the US (Evergreen Award)
Best Publisher for Artistic Excellence (BizWeekly)
Happy February from Literary Revelations. May this month bring you happiness and success. Stay safe!
Haiku for Soulmates – Front Cover Reveal
Literary Revelations is thrilled to reveal the front cover of Haiku for Soulmates. I hope you like it. Please let us know.
The art on the cover belongs to our Artist-in-Residence, the Japanese painter Hikari. Cover design: Iuliana Irimia.
Meantime please continue to submit. The deadline for Submission is February 25. Send 5 haiku to literaryrevelations@pm.me. Please make sure you label your submission Haiku for Soulmates. We will have an answer for you around March 1. If you have any questions, please let us know.
Gabriela Marie Milton Editor in Chief
Our Awards
Best Publisher in the USA (Best of Best Review)
Best Poetry Publisher in the US (Evergreen Award)
Best Publisher for Artistic Excellence (BizWeekly)
Literary Revelations is thrilled to let you know that Haiku and Tanka: Lull, Harmony and Power in Japanese art by Hikari and Gabriela Marie Milton has gone back to #1 Amazon bestseller in Japan. We are elated, and we thank everyone who bought the book.
You can get the book here:
A painting by Hikari from the book:
Reminder:
Please do not forget to submit to our upcoming anthology, Haiku for Soulmates. 5 Haiku by February 26.
Email: literaryrevelations@pm.me
Please label your email: Haiku for Soulmates.
Our first two anthologies, Petals of Haiku and Tranquility: An Anthology of Haiku, were both included in the Museum of Haiku Literature in Tokyo, the most prestigious institution in the world for haiku. We hope we will make it this time, too.
Thank you!
Gabriela Marie Milton Founder and Editor in Chief
Our Awards
Best Publisher in the USA (Best of Best Review)
Best Poetry Publisher in the US (Evergreen Award)
Best Publisher for Artistic Excellence (BizWeekly)
Literary Revelations is thrilled bring you today “The Portrait of a Poet: PS Conway
My cherished followers and subscribers, we are thrilled to showcase PS Conway, a poet of profound depth and immeasurable worth, whose extraordinary contributions to Literary Revelations are nothing short of inspiring!
To those of you who are under snow please stay warm and safe.
Bio:
PS Conway is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and the author of two books, Echoes Lost in Stars (2024) and Life Sucks (2025). Over the last five years, his work has appeared in The Belfast Review, Spectral Realms, and more than twenty-five other journals and anthologies, several of which were Amazon best sellers. PS recently finished serving two years as the 2024-25 Poet-in-Residence for the online literary journal, The Fictional Cafรฉ.
He lives in Upstate New York with his best friend and wife, Susan, dodging snowflakes with their curmudgeonly dog, Mr. Hairold โHairyโ Kerry. PS finds fascination in language birthed from emotionally charged, literate spaces where beauty and darkness coexist. In his free time, he fancies himself a rockstar, jamming on his drum kit; and a wannabe sommelier, savoring succulent reds with his wife and (adult) daughters.
I asked PS several questions to which he graciously replied
What inspires you?
Iโm deeply inspired by language, be it pretty or ribald. How words play off one another. The spaces intentionally held silent. All of it as an amalgam of noise and meaning. When it comes together, and a reader tells me how it moved them emotionally or touched their heart or even offended them? I am in nirvana.
Why poetry?
Poetry is not a choice for me. Itโs a compulsion. I cannot NOT write poetry, hehe. There are plenty of times I tell myself, today is the day you start on the great American novel. But that day has yet to arrive. You see, in 2021 I freed my Muses from 25 years of captivity, trapped in a subconscious walk-in closet of skeletons and repressed creativity. I had not written in so many years that, when the door was finally unlocked, my Muses tore it off the hinges, never to be sealed again. And they have A LOT to say. Constantly.
Future Writing Plans?
In the immortal words of Timbuk 3, โThe futureโs so bright, I gotta wear shades.โ Writing is my second full-time job. Letโs go from small to big picture.
Every day I write poetry and post on social media. Not even because I necessarily want to, I have to. Remember those Muses I referenced? They are loud and persistent, and (for now) in the driverโs seat. Each weekend, I submit poetry to one or two lit journals, reminding myself, โremember thou art mortal.โ What a humbling experience to think youโre such a great poet and to keep getting rejected so oftenโฆa walking definition of masochism. Call me Elpis.
I also have two distinct books in development and several others in ideation.
Views from the Bottom of a Pool is a novel-in-verse under development. It wrestles with the drowning of my high school best friend, the fallout in the years that followed, and the existential coincidence of my youngest daughter being born on the exact date he died.
Where the White Moths Swarm is a growing collection of poems rejected by the pinky-up literati through 2025-26. This collection of written and yet-to-be-written poems explores our never ending compulsion with being seen (guilty as charged) and finding meaning in a world gone mad.
Favorite poets and/or novelists?
In terms of poets, I adore the Romantics, especially Keats and the Shelleys. Yeats has been a lifelong companion. In contemporary poetry, Iโm drawn to writers who carry emotional and existential weight. Louise Glรผck, Seamus Heaney, Christian Wiman, and Mark Strand are all familiars who haunt my heart and soul.
My list of favorite novelists is too long, but I can name a few. JRR Tolkien for being the first to deeply engage my imagination. James Joyce for being the first to truly make me think deeply and embrace the art in language. William Faulkner for his deep sense of culture, time, and place. Toni Morrison for her mythic treatment of race.
Gabriela Marie Milton – Thank you, PS, for your wonderful insights into your poetry world
Gabriela Marie Milton Founder and Editor in Chief
Our Awards
Best Publisher in the USA (Best of Best Review)
Best Poetry Publisher in the US (Evergreen Award)
Best Publisher for Artistic Excellence (BizWeekly)
David Anson Lee is a physician, philosopher, and poet whose work explores memory, mortality, landscape, and moral attention at the threshold between loss and revelation. His poems often draw on nature, medicine, and lived experience to suggest rather than define, favoring lyric restraint over declaration. He has been published in numerous literary journals, and his work seeks to honor silence as much as speech: listening for what endures after absence has spoken.
The Year Teaches Its Last Lesson
The year loosens its grip without apology: calendar pages thinning like breath on cold glass.
I walk the orchard after harvest. Nothing argues with the ground. The trees stand emptied, their patience perfected.
What was taken was not stolen: it was finished. What fell did not vanish; it entered the grammar of soil.
Even the light practices restraint, arriving later, leaving earlier, a mercy learned by repetition.
I touch the bark, count rings I cannot see, and understand at last: time does not erase – it ripens what remains.
Somewhere beneath my feet, spring is already rehearsing its first word.
Elegy with Sakura Still Breathing
At winterโs edge the cherry tree remembers how to blush.
Petals fall like questions no one answers aloud. Each chooses the earth over the air: a decision older than language.
I think of the voices that no longer call my name, how absence sharpens attention. Even grief, when listened to, becomes a teacher.
The wind moves through the branches without taking anything. This, too, is love.
When the last blossom releases, the tree does not mourn. It opens its hands to green.
What dies does not disappear: it changes assignments. Beauty is never late; it arrives when we are finally quiet enough to see.
Reminder:
Literary Revelations is thrilled to announce an open call for submissions for our upcoming anthology, Haiku for Soulmates. Whether you have a soulmate and wish to celebrate your connection, or you dream of finding one, we invite you to share your poetic voice. If you have a soulmate, please compose five haiku for him or her. If you do not, let your imagination shape five haiku that describe the soulmate you hope to meet.
To participate, please submit your five haiku to literaryrevelations@pm.me and clearly label your email subject as Haiku for Soulmates. Please note that unlabeled submissions may be misplaced and not read. The submission deadline is February 25. Your five haiku will be accepted or rejected as a block.
Gabriela Marie Milton Founder and Editor in Chief
Our Awards
Best Publisher in the USA (Best of Best Review)
Best Poetry Publisher in the US (Evergreen Award)
Best Publisher for Artistic Excellence (BizWeekly)
Best Publisher in the USA (Best of Best Review)
