Poetry is Alive & Magic is Afoot
Wake up to a new poem every day & enjoy the slower life of poets
Welcome, dear lovers of poetry!
Now that we’ve been running our little poetry magazine independently and to gratifying success for almost 20 months, 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 (until you part ways with us, when we’ll send you off with all the virtual sunflowers we can pick). 🌻
Below, we’ll outline 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.
We also welcome you to introduce yourself in the comments. As ever, we love to hear from our readers. ↓
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 but 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.
I have never felt more empowered and cherished and understood than stumbling upon the existence of Only Poems. And realizing we have a space that is ours and we are not alone!
O think this trip is going to be wonderful. I write poetryfrom a psychotherapist point of view