This market is now permanently closed to submissions. Do not attempt to submit.
Ditch poetry is a Canadian online literary journal that publishes poetry. They tend to publish works by Canadian authors, although they are open to publishing work by authors of all nationalities.
Ditch is open to reprints and simultaneous submissions. Sometimes when I have a poem I particularly like that was first published by a respected print journal I submit it to Ditch as a reprint so that it can receive a larger readership online. It is just so much easier to get people to read something for free than to pay for something they have to order online.
Ditch publishes well crafted non linear, avant-garde work by emerging and established authors. They try to avoid the straight ahead traditional narrative approach.
Each time Ditch publishes work by a new poet, which happens regularly, they add the poet’s picture and bio to the front page of the site where they list all the poets that they have recently published. From there you can easily click on their names and read their work.
This focus on the author, presenting the biography and picture first and then the poem is very unusual. When I read poetry on Ditch I am much more likely to remember the name of the author then when I read poetry on other sites.
Ditch has published all of the most prominent experimental Canadian poets. Because of this and other factors they have received a lot of critical praise. Author and editor Paul Vermeersh included Ditch in his article “Four Online Canadian Literary Journals You Should Know About” and Mark McCrawly called ditch, one of the “online magazines presently pushing back against the literary status quo in Canada.”
Ditch accepts submissions via email. When you submit to Ditch you must include a picture, a bio, as well as several poems. They have no strict limit on how many poems you can include. They also have a very handy guideline to writing a biography that is worth checking out even if you don’t submit.
Ditch responds to submissions within a month. Ditch accepts around 35% of the work submitted to them. If they really like your work there is a good chance it will be anthologized at a later date.
In Conclusion Ditch is a great place to submit to because they are open to experimental work, they are respected and still have a fairly high acceptance rate, and they like to place focus on the author of the work. If you want to learn more about them or submit visit: http://www.ditchpoetry.com/submissions.htm
