We want to read your best, weird & wild!
Submission Guidelines
Poet of the Week
FAST RESPONSE: ALWAYS OPEN
UPCOMING FREE READING PERIODS
WINTER: January 15-31, 2025 (Response by April)
SUMMER: July 15-31, 2025 (Response by October)
We publish poets (as opposed to poems). We would like to spend time with your voice and see your range.
We welcome poets from all over the world.
We love prose poems, traditional forms (ghazals, villanelles, sestinas), love poems, sex poems, speculative poems, and all sorts of experimentations, but we are not married to a style or genre. Send us your most exciting work. We want poems that make us go: “God, I wish I had written this!”
Some poets we love are Kaveh Akbar, Agha Shahid Ali, Jorge Luis Borges, Anne Carson, Victoria Chang, Heather Christle, Tracy Fuad, Bob Hicok, Kim Hyesoon, Ilya Kaminsky, Luke Kennard, Li-Young Lee, Fran Lock, Bert Meyers, Kei Miller, Octavio Paz, Fernando Pessoa, Alejandra Pizarnik, Mary Ruefle, Tim Seibles, Tanya Shirley, Ocean Vuong, Jenny Xie, Yanyi, Jane Yeh…
Send us up to 10 pages of poetry.
We only accept previously uncurated work. This means that yes — you can submit poems that have previously appeared across social media, blog posts, Discord channels, scribbled on your foggy bathroom mirror, etc. But if a poem has been published in a magazine or anthology edited by someone who’s not your mom, then no.
We love cover letters and would prefer knowing whose work we are reading. You are welcome to share your publication history, if any, though that would not influence our decision. Though please make sure that the document of your poems is stripped of any biographical information—use the cover note field for this.
We encourage simultaneous submissions. Feel free to submit your work to all the wonderful places you think will be a good home for your poems. Do not withdraw your poems if they get accepted elsewhere — if we like your work, we’ll find a way to work with you.
We generally respond within 3-4 months. If you submit through our fast response category, we’ll respond within 2 weeks.
We offer $77* to all our poets. This is per contribution and not per piece. We are committed to putting poets first, so increasing this fee is of utmost importance to us! If you want to help us in our efforts, please consider signing up for a membership!
We nominate for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, Best New Poets, & Best Spiritual Poetry
*All poets accepted after January 15 will be offered $77 for publication. This is up from our previous pay rate at $55.
Every month, we hold a free themed contest. The winner is our Poem of the Month, accompanied by both a contributor’s and an editor’s note, as well as a custom piece of artwork created by Derek Mueller.
Submission Period: First 7 days of every month
Beyond creating more exciting ways for poetry to shine through in the world, we wish to make the editorial process more transparent.
Why do some poems stand out?
Each month has a new form or theme.
The winner will be offered $33 for this contribution.
You may submit only one poem.
While the submissions for the Poem of the Month category are free, there are also tip-jar option and paid feedback options. These help us sustain the magazine.
We will respond to all submissions within 3 weeks.
Introducing
A poem a day keeps the devil away!
SHORT POEMS
CURRENTLY OPEN
FREE TO SUBMIT. WE PAY $22
Submit one poem, max 10 lines
Selected poems will be published on ONLY POEMS DAILY, our brand new Substack and shared on our socials, where over 50K+ readers will experience your work.
Submissions are free. We pay $22 per accepted poem.
There's an optional $5 Tip Jar. As a fully volunteer-run publication, we’re always grateful for your support.
If you’d like insight into your work, we offer editorial feedback for a fee.
You may have one active submission in the “Short Poem” category at a time. Once you’ve received a response, you’re welcome to submit again.
You’re free to submit to other categories alongside this one.
For example: Anna submits one poem under “Short Poem,” one under “Ekphrasis,” one under “Poets Howl,” and a packet of 10 pages under “Fast Response” — all at once. Totally fine.
Simultaneous submissions are welcome. Please withdraw your submission immediately if accepted elsewhere.
You'll hear back within three months.
EKPHRASIS
CURRENTLY OPEN
FREE TO SUBMIT. WE PAY $22
Submit one poem responding to a piece of visual art (painting, sculpture, photography, etc.)
Ensure that you have the rights to use the artist's work for this purpose OR that the piece is in the public domain. Give credit in both cases. Please include either a link to the artwork (or upload a picture) that you're responding to in the same document as the poem.
Selected poems will be published on ONLY POEMS DAILY, our brand new Substack and shared on our socials, where over 50K+ readers will experience your work.
Submissions are free. We pay $22 per accepted poem.
There's an optional $5 Tip Jar. As a fully volunteer-run publication, we’re always grateful for your support.
If you’d like insight into your work, we offer editorial feedback for a fee.
You may have one active submission in the “Ekphrasis" category at a time. Once you’ve received a response, you’re welcome to submit again.
You’re free to submit to other categories alongside this one.
For example: Anna submits one poem under “Short Poem,” one under “Ekphrasis,” one under “Poets Howl,” and a packet of 10 pages under “Fast Response” — all at once. Totally fine.
Simultaneous submissions are welcome. Please withdraw your submission immediately if accepted elsewhere.
You'll hear back within three months.
POETS HOWL
CURRENTLY OPEN
FREE TO SUBMIT. WE PAY $22
Submit one poem responding to anything in the news.
This need not be a political event, just something in the last month or so. The more recent the better. Please include a link to the news you're responding to in the same document as the poem.
Selected poems will be published on ONLY POEMS DAILY, our brand new Substack and shared on our socials, where over 50K+ readers will experience your work.
Submissions are free. We pay $22 per accepted poem.
There's an optional $5 Tip Jar. As a fully volunteer-run publication, we’re always grateful for your support.
If you’d like insight into your work, we offer editorial feedback for a fee.
You may have one active submission in the “Poets Howl" category at a time. Once you’ve received a response, you’re welcome to submit again.
You’re free to submit to other categories alongside this one.
For example: Anna submits one poem under “Short Poem,” one under “Ekphrasis,” one under “Poets Howl,” and a packet of 10 pages under “Fast Response” — all at once. Totally fine.
Simultaneous submissions are welcome. Please withdraw your submission immediately if accepted elsewhere.
You'll hear back within three months.
PLEASE ALSO NOTE:
This category owes its inspiration to the phenomenal Poets Respond feature that Rattle does every week. Tim Green's been running that series for as long as we can remember. Needless to say we're big fans of that column.