The Smalls Too

Welcome to The Smalls Too, the California Writers Club publication from the 2026 “Big Contest for Small Poems and Prose.” Shakespeare wrote “Brevity is the soul of Wit” and Churchill said, “If I had more time I would have written a shorter book.” Hopefully, you will find brevity is not the enemy of depth, more often it is its precondition. The selected entries in this anthology share a quality of compression and deliberate economy. The writers come from different traditions and temperaments. Their poems and short prose burst with lived experience... grief, wonder, the absurdity of the human condition and so much more. It is a miraculous feat that all of this can fit inside 8 lines of poetry and 75 words. There is a certain stamina, discipline and particular courage required to write briefly. Read more