Erase HB#229

Call for erasure poetry in response to Texas HB#229

"Erasure, like any form, arrests the poet’s access to unlimited language, birthing new opportunities for invention and innovation."

-- Chase Berggrun

Bundle Press invites submissions of erasure poetry or other creative erasure compositions that response to Texas house bill 229, legislation that attempts to define "sex" based on reproductive organs.

Why Erasure?

We are invite erasure compositions specifically because we encourage creative responses that engage directly with the text of original source matter, such as policy and legislation, which often takes risks so casually, even maliciously, with language. As we learn from Chase Berggrun's essay in Poetry (May 2025), 

"When we erase a text that was created by another we are enacting a violence upon it. This can be acceptable: perhaps the text is so abhorrent that it deserves such treatment! But this should never be a comfortable process. When well done, an erasure poem can turn the knife around. It can be a violence against violence. It can move across time. When we cut away the present of a document, we are allowing something new to be born out of absence: a process full of both possibility and risk."

Bundle Press holds faith with the power of creative expression, the arts, and poetry specifically. We call for erasure responses that take risks and imagine possibilities.

To Submit: 

Please send 1–3 poems attached as separate PDFs without identifying information
to contact@bundlepress.org with the subject line “Erase HB#229 Submission.” Please include a 1–3 sentence author bio in the body of the email.

We will review submissions on a rolling basis.

Submissions for Erase HB#229 will close on 1 June 2026.