April is National Poetry Month in the US. Here is a list of magazines and outlets that accept poetry of all kinds: traditional and non-traditional forms, found poetry, collage + poetry, poetry in audio and video, and poetry comics. Many accept other genres too, like fiction, nonfiction, and drama. A few are themed. Most, but not all, of them are open for submissions now. Apart from these, there are also some contests which accept poetry. Also, here’s the National Poetry Month page from the Academy of American Poets, which has several wonderful resources.
JOURNALS/OUTLETS
Poet Lore
This is a biannual print journal of poetry, and their tagline is ‘America’s Oldest Poetry Journal’. They publish both established and emerging poets. They also welcome all types of poems, including long poems and sequences. Send up to 5 poems. They accept translations, as well. Starting with the Summer/Fall 2022 issue, they will pay poets $50/poem. The deadline is 31 May 2022. Details here and here.
Class Collective
This annual literary magazine was launched in 2022; it “illuminates the class struggle(s) hidden in the shadows of our culture.” They say, “we’re proud to publish writing that has a class based perspective on politics and culture. However, we encourage writers to interpret this prompt as creatively as they’d like—the sky’s the limit!” They want poetry, including visual poetry (up to 5 poems), short fiction, essays, and commentary. Submissions are accepted on an ongoing basis for online publication. Pay is CAD10 for poetry and CAD20 for prose. Details here.
Off Topic Publishing
They want poetry (up to 60 lines) and flash fiction on two themes, as well as unthemed poems (up to 15 lines) for their Poetry Postcard series. The deadline is April 30th for Home: What Is It and How Do I Get There?, and it is May 31st, 2022 for Exhaustion: Limited Reserves. For the Poetry Postcard series, send 1-3 poem submissions by the 25th of each month – one poem will be chosen for their subscribers each month. Pay is CAD15 for the themed pieces, and CAD40 for Poetry Postcards. Details here.
Palette Poetry
They publish poems from writers at all stages of their careers, and especially encourage emerging poets to submit. Send up to 5 poems. Pay is $50/poem, up to $150. Details here.
Angime
This journal is published by faculty of Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan, and independent editors. They publish poetry (4-6 poems), fiction, nonfiction, hybrid, and visual arts; they also accept translations, and Kazakh submissions. “While we are particularly interested in works that engage with Central Asia and the post-Soviet sphere, we also welcome submissions that frame a conversation between multicultural, multilingual, and multidisciplinary perspectives.” Details here.
Bennington Review
Apart from poetry (send 3-5 poems), this literary magazine publishes fiction, creative nonfiction, film (and TV) writing and cross-genre work; “we are particularly taken with writing that is simultaneously graceful and reckless.” They publish translations, too. Pay is $20/poem, and $100-200 for prose. The deadline is 8 May 2022. Details here.
Azonal
The magazine was started in early 2020. They only publish poetry in translation. They also seek to champion under-served poets – do not send translations of work that has already been spread significantly to English readers. Details here.
Lucent Dreaming: For a Friend anthology
This is a themed poetry (up to 72 lines) and prose anthology. They want “pieces that range from words of encouragement to life advice-styled poetry and prose, to love letters you might send to a friend, i.e. writing that is a source of comfort, inspiration, learning and escape. We are looking especially for work from writers of colour and working class writers living in the UK.” Pay is £100 and the deadline is 15 May 2022. Details here.
No Contact
Though this online literary magazine was founded in 2020, at the time of writing, they already had 29 issues published; you can read about them here. They accept poetry, art, fiction, creative nonfiction, humor, and hybrid works – works up to 1,200 words. Details here.
Haiku in Action
They publish haiku/senryu weekly. “Poems can be based off of our prompts, but can also be general submissions. We don’t believe in finger counting haiku, and accept poems that are shorter than the traditional 5/7/5 form without having to be associated with nature.” Send up to 3 poems. Details here.
The Willowherb Review
This UK-based magazine only publishes nature writing by writers of color, including BAME or BIPOC writers anywhere in the world. They want nonfiction especially, but they do consider fiction and poetry as well — on nature, place, and environment. They pay. They will open for submissions on 16 May 2022. Details here.
Contemporary Verse 2
This quarterly literary journal publishes poetry (up to 6 pages) and critical writing about poetry, including interviews, articles, essays, and reviews. They also welcome poetry submissions in French, as well as translation projects, including both French to English and English to French. Pay is $30/poem, $50-$100 for interviews and articles, $40-$150 for essays, and $50-$80 for reviews. The deadline is 31 May 2022. Details here.
Bayou Magazine
This is a biannual, international literary magazine published by The University of New Orleans. They publish poetry (up to 5 poems), fiction, and nonfiction. Submissions close on 1 May 2022. Details here.
hex
They want flash literary fiction and prose poetry (up to 1,000 words) with speculative elements. “We welcome the surreal, the weird, and the uncanny.” Details here.
Poetry Magazine
This magazine, from the Poetry Foundation, publishes poetry (send up to 4 poems), translated poetry, audio and video poems, and poetry-related prose – essays, reviews, etc. They have a special submissions call by their guest editor: “I am interested in work that reframes relationships: self/community, proximity/natal connections, contrived/mythical/positionality systems of power. I am interested in poems that link genres and mediums, and that challenge form and function. Another of my interests is to deepen the translation projects that previous guest editors have presented. I hope to highlight writing in Indigenous languages in particular, and am open to “translations” in a wide sense. This can include different approaches to how multiple languages correlate or complement each other, self-translations, collaborative translations, and other approaches.” For text poems, pay is $10/line with a minimum honorarium of $300/poem. For visual poems, audio poems, and video poems, they pay $300/poem. For prose, they pay $150/page. Details here and here.
Arc Poetry Magazine
They publish poetry in English, or translations of poetry into English, on any subject and in any form. For spoken word pieces, poetry uploaded to a submitter’s personal channel is eligible for submission. Send up to 3 poems. They also publish reviews, interviews, and articles on poetry and poetry-related subjects (query first). Pay is $50/page for poetry or prose published in the magazine; $50/webpage for online reprints on the website; $50/column for How Poems Work (see guidelines). The deadline is 31 July 2022. Details here and here.
[sub]liminal
Their website says, the magazine derives its name “from the subconscious and concealed. Liminal refers to the threshold of transition between two stages, but subliminal is what is below that threshold, unbeknownst to us. … we’re interested in the subtle messages hiding in plain sight, and we’re dedicated to exploring the intricacies of our everyday realities and uncovering the beauty behind them.” They accept all forms and styles, including but not limited to poetry (up to 5 poems), fiction, creative nonfiction, photography, art, and mixed media. Hybrid forms, such as prose poetry, are welcome and appreciated. Details here.
The Journal of Undiscovered Poets
Their guidelines say, “While undiscovered does not necessarily mean unpublished, and previously published poems will be considered, the journal is interested in poems by writers striving to enter the world of published poets. All ages, levels of education and life experience are welcome.” Send up to 5 poems in any length or style. Details here.
Frontier Poetry
For New Voices, submissions are free, and open year-round; they want work from new and emerging poets, who have not published a full-length collection. They also have fast free response for BIPOC writers. Send up to 5 poems. Pay is $50/poem, up to $150. (They’re also open for fee-based projects, a poetry lab and a contest.) Details here.
Afternoon Visitor
This online quarterly magazine was founded in the spring of 2020 in Iowa City – you can read about them here. They publish poetry (3-8 poems), hybrid text, visual poetry, and visual art. They publish all kinds of poetry, and welcome “experimental work, long form poetry, and sequences.” Details here.
Fourteen Poems
This UK-based journal publishes LGBTQ+ poets. Each issue publishes 14 queer poems. Send up to 5 poems. Pay is £25/poem. They publish thrice yearly, but take submissions throughout the year. The deadline for submissions for their next issue is 15 June 2022. Details here.
Bodega
They release digital issues on the first Monday of every month (except January) featuring poetry (up to 3 poems), fiction, creative nonfiction, and occasional interviews by established and emerging writers. Their aim is “to give you a handful of essential pieces you can digest in one sitting.” Details here.
Lammergeier
Their website says, “We are here for work that confounds taxonomy and welcome experimentation with form and genre. We are also open to speculative elements in work so long as they are done with artistic intent. While we seek work that deals with the dirt and grit of real life … We do encourage writing that engages with trauma in a thoughtful, sensitive manner but ask that you provide trigger warnings”. For poetry, “We seek poetry of contradiction: the poetry that finds the intimacy in the grotesque, the grotesque in the intimate, the vulnerability and fist fight.” They also publish fiction, nonfiction, and hybrid works, and pay $25 to one work in each genre, in each issue. Their open reading periods are January-February, April-May, July-August, and October-November. Details here.
Kissing Dynamite
They accept only one submission, from 1st to 7th of every month. Send one poem of any form or length. Also, “When submitting found, erasure, or “after” poems, please provide references to source material.” They take previously unpublished work only, with some exceptions (see guidelines). Their poetry microchap submission window is open annually in October. Details here.
A-Minor
They publish poetry (3-5 poems) – prose poetry and found poetry, as well as fiction. The magazine is associated with A-Minor Press. Details here.
Night Coffee Lit
They publish twice a year – poetry (3-5 poems), art, and ephemera. “We like: weird stuff, dream logic, feeling feelings, thoughtful use of form.” Pay is $50. Details here.
Griffith Review: Real Cool World
They are now reading poetry submissions for their ‘Real Cool World’ (Antarctica) themed issue, published in partnership with the Australian Antarctic Division. “Real Cool World will explore Antarctica as a place and as a canvas for imagination. This vast, dry continent drives much of the Earth’s weather, part litmus test for change at the world’s extremities and part canary in the coalmine. If stories about Antarctica illuminate much of the rest of the planet’s past and future, they also create a space to play out human ideas of exploration, investigation and fantasy.” Send up to 4 poems. Please note, this is a poetry call only for this themed issue – do not submit other genres. They pay. The deadline is 13 May 2022. Details here and here.
The Cincinnati Review: miCRo
Submissions for their miCRo series are usually open on an ongoing basis, with some exceptions. This is their weekly online flash feature; poetry (up to 3 poems), fiction, nonfiction, hybrid, and drama. They take submissions for the print magazine thrice yearly (the next window for this will be in September, and will close at the end of the month, or when the submission cap is reached). Details here and here.
Alphabet Box
This magazine, launched in 2021, is a quarterly, international literary journal that publishes poetry, personal essays, flash fiction and short prose. Pay is $25. They will open submissions for Issue 4 on 22nd April 2022. Details here.
The Continental Review
They publish video poetics. “If you have work which you would like to be considered – whether it be concrete, visual, textual, antitextual, or any variation in between – you should upload your work to Vimeo with your name and The Continental Review in the video’s title, and send us the link.” They accept submissions year-round. Details here.
Biscuit Hill
They publish poetry – prose poetry, poetry comics, anything poetry, as well as hybrid forms. Send 3-6 poems. Details here.
Poetry London
This acclaimed journal publishes poetry (send up to 6 poems). They also publish reviews and interviews (query first). Pay is £30/poem, though appropriate adjustments may be made for very long poems. They’re also open for a fee-based poetry prize. Details here and here.
Acumen
This is an award-winning poetry journal. They publish new poetry and poetry translations, alongside articles, debate, comment and reviews of recent poetry publications. Send up to 6 poems, or an essay. Payment is a contributor copy. Details here.
Cōnfingō
This UK-based print-only magazine publishes poetry (up to 3 poems), fiction, and art. Pay is £20. Details here.
Not One of Us
This is a digest-sized publication, and they publish speculative fiction, poetry (up to 40 lines; can read longer poems), and art. “Not One of Us is about people (or things) out of place in their surroundings, outsiders, social misfits, aliens in the SF sense—anyone excluded from society for whatever the reason. We’d like Not One of Us to consider the problem of “otherness” from every possible fictional angle: horror, SF, fantasy, noir, slipstream, Western, mainstream, whatever.” See guidelines about tropes to avoid. They prefer poems of 40 lines or less. Pay is $5 for poems, and ¼¢ per word for fiction. Details here.
Eye to the Telescope: Veterans of Alien Wars
This is the magazine of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association. They are reading on the ‘Veterans of Alien Wars’ theme. “Conflict’s unlikely to vanish, even in the most utopian of futures. How will veterans of future wars have to adapt and adjust to civilian life once their cybernetics have been stripped from their bodies and they have no more access to their power armor? What memories will haunt them as they learn to live in a reality in which the aliens they fought are no longer their enemies?
I have a special fondness for form poetry done well—rhymes that don’t jingle, sestinas that aren’t forced—but will absolutely consider free-verse as well. Special consideration will be given to writers who have served in the armed forces, and we hope that this provides them with an artistic outlet that they may not have pursued in the past.” Pay is $0.03/word, up to $25. The deadline is 15 June 2022. Details here.
The Fantastic Other
They publish poetry (up to 3 pages), fiction, and art. They’re interested “in all things fantasy, sci-fi, paranormal, surrealist, fabulist, and magical realist.” Pay is $5. The deadline for their summer issue is 10 July 2022. Details here.
ctrl + v
This biannual magazine is a collage journal, and they publish collage + poetry (including audio and video). They have extensive guidelines, including “We are particularly interested in what happens when fragments of language move through the space of other materials. In this way, we are exploring the intersection of poetry + collage.” Details here.
Poetry Northwest
This magazine, which has been published for more than 60 years, is published semi-annually in June and December. They’re currently open for queries on Land/Form (geo-poetics); poetry submissions for Featured (where the editor introduces readers to a poet whose work has never before been featured in a nationally distributed print journal – submit up to 4 poems if your work is eligible); as well as poetry-related essays. They publish new work (poetry, reviews, interviews and poetry-related essays) on their website. They also accept poetry translations. All work will be considered for the print edition, the website, or both. They have a submission cap during their reading periods (which is usually reached in a couple of days), but they take emailed submissions from BIPOC poets during the submission period – the months of October, November, February, and March, even after the Submittable cap is reached. Details here and here.
CONTESTS
FSG Fellowship for writers of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry
This is an opportunity for a debut work (see guidelines) of poetry, fiction, or nonfiction by an emerging writer from an underrepresented community, who is a US resident or citizen. Writers have to submit work samples as part of the application: 8-12 pages for poetry, and 40-50 pages for prose. Work samples can include previously published work and need not be from a single selection of the work. The winner gets a stipend of $15,000 and mentorship. The opportunity is remote, and runs from September 2022 to August 2023. The deadline is 22 April 2022. Farrar, Straus & Giroux is part of Macmillan. Details here.
(And US-based poets aged 21-31 years should keep an eye out for Poetry Foundation’s Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships, worth $25,800 – these are usually announced in March. A note on their website says the 2022 dates will be announced soon.)
League of Canadian Poets’ Jessamy Stursberg Poetry Prize
This prize is open for poetry submissions from Canadian youth in grades 7-12, prizes are CAD300-400, the deadline is 30 April 2022. Details here.
Academy of American Poets: James Laughlin Award
This is for a second full-length poetry manuscript by a US poet (see guidelines), contracted by a publisher. Manuscripts have to be 48-100 pages long. Translations and new editions of previously published books are not eligible. Apart from a cash prize of $5,000, the poet also receives an all-expenses-paid weeklong residency at The Betsy Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. The deadline is 15 May 2022. Details here.
Keats-Shelley Prize Memorial Association Prizes
These are international contests of poems and essays on Romantic themes.
— Young Romantics Prize: For the poetry prize, poets aged 16-18 should submit poetry on the theme of ‘Elegy’, of up to 30 lines. For the Young Romantics essayist prize, writers have to choose between two themes/questions on their website, about the Romantics.
“Your response can take whatever form, mood or tone you choose: literary criticism, political commentary, personal essay, opinion piece, the script for a podcast. You can agree or disagree.” Entries must be 750-1,000 words, including quotations.
— Keats-Shelley Essay Prize: They want essays (up to 3,000 words) may be on any aspect of the writing and/or lives of the Romantics and their circles. They also have a poetry prize, which has a submission fee.
For all their prizes, the total prize purse is £5,000, and the deadline is 24 April 2022. Detail here and here.
Coastal Shelf Contests
They’re open for two international contests with cash prizes, and writers can send one fee-free submission for each contest. The FuPo Poetry Contest is for “funny and poignant” poems; and the Ceiling 250 Contest is for very short fiction or prose poetry under 250 words long. The prize is $500 for each contest, and non-winning entries will be considered for the journal, which pays $30. Also, regular submissions to this journal are usually charged, but they have some fee-free periods. The deadline for fee-free submissions for each contest is 30 April 2022. Details here.
The Orchards Poetry Journal: Grantchester Award
“While we encourage rhymed verse in traditional forms, we also accept finely wrought free verse.” Send up to 3 poems, preferably unpublished. They have announced a new award. In each issue, two poems will be eligible for The Grantchester Award ($50 and $30). The deadline is 1 May 2022 for the July issue. Details here.
Roadrunner Review High School Contest
They accept work from students, for the journal as well as their poetry and prose contests. They’re open for their international High School Student Contest, and the winner in each category gets $100 and publication. The deadline is 15 May 2022 for the contest, and 30 April 2022 for general magazine submissions. Details here and here.
Bacopa Literary Review Writing Contest
This is an international contest; writers can submit to one category. Apart from prizes in fiction, creative nonfiction, and humor, they have three poetry prizes: formal poetry, free verse poetry, and visual poetry. Please see the guidelines for submission requirements in the category you wish to submit. In each of the six categories, there’s a prize of $200, and an honourable mention of $100. The reading period is 25 April to 23 May 2022. Details here.
PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants
This international grant, of $2,000 to $4,000, is to support the translation of book-length works of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or drama that have not previously appeared in English in print or have appeared only in an outdated or otherwise flawed translation. Works should be translations-in-progress, as the grant aims to provide support for completion. The works must be translated into English. Projects may have up to two translators. There are various submission requirements, including a translation sample of 8-10 pages. The deadline is 1 June 2022. Details here and here.
Blue Mountain Arts Poetry Contest
This greeting card company runs a biannual poetry contest, which is open internationally. “Poems can be rhyming or non-rhyming, although we find that non-rhyming poetry reads better.” Also, “We suggest that you write about real emotions and feelings and that you have some special person or occasion in mind as you write.” The prizes are $350, $200, and $100. The deadline is 30 June 2022. Details here.
(They’ve also posted guidelines for their general greeting card poetry and prose submissions – see deadlines for seasonal poetry.)
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.
