Blue Unicorn is long-running and well-loved print poetry journal. Founded in 1977, the journal has been published for almost 50 years. And since its inception it has welcomed both free verse and formal poetry with equal enthusiasm.
Blue Unicorn especially appreciates formal poems that seem effortless (even though they require a great deal of effort to craft): “We’re impressed by poems that read as though the poet had simply thought in the form, without forced rhymes, weak words inserted to satisfy the meter, and the like.” They are also comfortable with poems that require some extra effort to understand, or that leave a bit of mystery: “Given a choice, we’ll take the puzzling piece over the flat one. The uneven poem with a few resonant lines may edge out a smoother but more conventional one.”
Blue Unicorn is published twice a year in print, and recently they’ve started offering a downloadable digital edition of the journal for sale too. Each issue contains writing from around 80 contributors.
Blue Unicorn is open to submissions year-round. Poets may submit up to five poems, and “maybe a few more if all are very short.” While most of the poems in the submission should be unpublished, Blue Unicorn welcomes one—and only one—previously published poem per submission.
Blue Unicorn also likes to receive translations. And, because of their layout, they are always looking for poems of five to ten lines to fill out their pages.
Poets published in Blue Unicorn are paid. Rates vary based on length and placement of each poem. Blue Unicorn accepts submissions in a variety of ways, but mainly using an online form, available on their website. They also accept email and postal submissions. They accept simultaneous submissions, and they aim to respond to all submitting authors within two months.
Blue Unicorn only accepts submissions that follow the guidelines they’ve posted online. Please read these guidelines in full before submitting.
If you would like to learn more or submit to Blue Unicorn, please visit their website here.
Bio: Ella Peary is the pen name for an author, editor, creative writing mentor, and submission consultant. Over the past five years, she’s written hundreds of articles for Authors Publish, and she’s also served as a copywriter and copy editor for a wide range of organizations and individuals. She is the author of The Quick Start Guide to Flash Fiction. She occasionally teaches a course on flash fiction. You can contact her at ellapeary@gmail.com.
