Gulf Stream Magazine, a literary journal with a history of engaging contemporary themes, is currently soliciting poetry for its thirty-eighth issue. The theme, 'Pop,' as articulated in the call, encourages work that interrogates the aesthetics and ethos of pop culture—its iconography, its sharp edges, its sticky residues. The magazine seeks to subvert expectations, asking poets to consider what happens when bubbles burst, when the world ends, when the familiar dissolves into something messy and new. This is not a call for mere celebration of pop; it is an invitation to dissect, to splatter, to take big swings. The curatorial vision for Issue 38 appears to favor writing that resists easy categorization. The call explicitly welcomes lyric essays, contrapuntals, prosimetrums—forms that blur boundaries and refuse to fit into any one bubble. Poets are encouraged to think loud, obnoxious, and to embrace the visceral: burst blood vessels, popping pimples, gum stuck to the bottom of a desk. The editors are looking for work that pops out of its form, that shifts into something messy and new. This suggests a preference for risk-taking, for poems that are formally inventive and thematically daring. What poets receive: publication in Gulf Stream Magazine's Issue 38, a literary journal with a national presence. There is no monetary prize listed, but the exposure and editorial affiliation are the primary offerings. The submission process requires a $3.00 fee, which is standard for many literary magazines and helps support the journal's operations. The deadline is fixed: November 4, 2026. Submitters should be aware that the fee is non-negotiable and that the magazine does not indicate any fee waivers in the provided information.