like a field

Part of the problem of the Midwest is that it doesn't exist. The Missouri-Arkansas border that delineates two sides of the northernmost Ozarks goes unrecognized by the flora and fauna that live and play on either side. What does it mean, then, to be a Midwestern art publication? Inspired by the landscape, like a field is less interested in the twelve formally recognized midwestern states and more interested in the idea that being and living in the middle embodies. like a field welcomes submissions about any topic from writers and artists worldwide, with a preference for work with strong geographical and seasonal ties. We want art that exists in the in-between, work that morphs the romanticized flyover states and their vast fields of corn and soy (or what have you) into surprising new images or ideas.

The name like a field derives from the infamous John Ashbery poem, “What is Poetry?” like a field desires art full of “beautiful flowers” that have started to wilt, are full of thorns, or are actually, a bouquet of mice. We believe in the determinative, though mutable, aspect of geography – so give us your best midwestern sensibility, smudged.