Welcome, dear lovers of poetry!
Now that we’ve been running our little poetry magazine independently and to gratifying success for 2 full years, people sometimes ask us things like:
“So what do you think is the future of poetry and writers at large?”
Our answer, something Karan and I talk about on slower afternoons (a rare occurrence in our small apartment full of our daughter’s laughter and tears and demands and never-ending to-do sticky note vines), is that…well…poetry and writing will go on, just like it has since time immemorial. In different forms and riding different waves, perhaps, but poetry is song is art is expression is human is divine.
And until the androids take over and the earth swallows us all up, we’ll still have poems, poems of all shapes and sizes and varieties and tastes and purports and vibes and jibes and messages and propaganda and ruffled blurred edges ad infinitum.
That’s a good thing. Please don’t worry. There will always be great art and good artists. And people who can truly appreciate them.
Thank you for being a wonderful reader.
And to serve you, we’re here with a daily, simple newsletter. One beautiful poem, every day, forever (or until you part ways with us, when we’ll send you off with all the virtual sunflowers we can pick🌻)
Below is an outline of what you can expect every day, but in general, you’ll get a poem each day. That’s it. Something you can snack on for your soul instead of diving into the endless scroll.
If you’re familiar with our magazine, you know that we like to publish poets, not just poems (completely contrary to our name). Every week, we feature a Poet of the Week, wherein we publish 5-10 poems by each poet along with a detailed interview.
Poetry’s a living, breathing, infinite experience. And as the world fills up with more and more of it, sometimes wonderful work of the past can become a little buried. So, on Tuesdays we’ll share a timeless poem from both lesser known poets and those you might already be familiar with by name even if not so much by work.
We’ve published over 500 poems by now and this number continues to go up every week. So, in the spirit of keeping poetry alive, on Wednesdays, we’ll be sharing a poem from our vault for your reading pleasure.
The best poetry in the world isn’t just buried in books and drawers (I mean, sure, it’s there also, but like, not just there), it’s also in the pages of lit mags alive and being printed right now! We want to recognize that. The only authority we purport to have is being people who love to read good poems.
Poetry in languages other than English is often the most wildly poignant to experience, if we’re lucky enough to do so with the help of a trusted translator. Translation is meditation as much as it’s art. We dislike the tyranny with which American poetry, like American culture (of capitalism & consumerism), dyes the whole world in its color. We want to shine a light on beautiful poems written in other languages, belonging to cultures that are not American.
We love reading short poems. They seem easy, even as they pull you into their world and shake your life up for just a little bit, and then stick with you forever. So, it made sense to devote a new submission category to the “short poem”. Submissions are free. We pay $22 per accepted poem. Check for updated reading periods. We’re open right now!
Responding to visual art, whether that’s paintings or sculptures or mixed media has been a creative tradition for as long as words and art have existed. Submissions are free. We pay $22 per accepted poem. Check for updated reading periods. We’re open right now!
As poets, we can’t help but react and respond to everything that goes on around us. Even if we try to stay out of the stressful news cycle, somehow it wrangles its way into our lives. Or maybe you try to fill your feed with more good news, odd and beautiful local tidings! Whatever it is, in this section we’ll feature a poem responding to a piece of recent news (within the last month or so). Submissions are free. We pay $22 per accepted poem. Check for updated reading periods. We’re open right now!
Every month, we feature a Poem of the Month. The “Poem of the Month” is accompanied by both a contributor’s and an editor’s note, as well as a custom piece of artwork created by Derek Mueller.
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 is offered $33 for this contribution. We’re open the first seven days of each month.
By now, you probably know that we are pretty shamelessly unabashed about the poets and work we love. Life’s too short and its miseries too many. Let us sing from our hearts and from the rooftops and from the rooftops of our hearts about all that moves us. So, every Sunday we’ll send you a poem that sings to us and we hope will sing to you too.
GENERAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
We offer free submissions and pay all the poets we publish. Submission windows and guidelines vary by category. You can get the full breakdown of our submission guidelines on our website here, but here are some general things to note:
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.
We nominate for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, Best New Poets, & Best Spiritual Poetry
PUBLISHING PHILOSOPHY
We publish poets (as opposed to just 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 Agha Shahid Ali, Anne Carson, Victoria Chang, Heather Christle, Bob Hicok, Kim Hyesoon, Ilya Kaminsky, Luke Kennard, Li-Young Lee, Fran Lock, Bert Meyers, Kei Miller, Valzhyna Mort, Octavio Paz, Fernando Pessoa, Alejandra Pizarnik, Mary Ruefle, Tim Seibles, Tanya Shirley, Jenny Xie, Yanyi, Jane Yeh…
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any questions at all. You can reach us via email.
Yours,
