Full Submission Guidelines
POET OF THE WEEK (Pay: $77)
ALWAYS OPEN: 2-Week Fast Response (Fee: $10)
FREE READING PERIODS:
Winter: January 15-31 (Response in April) ✦ Summer: July 15-31 (Response in October)
POEM OF THE MONTH (Pay: $33)
First week of every month with a different theme/form ✦ Free to enter.
ONLY POEMS DAILY (Pay: $22) | CLOSED for now
We're currently reading for three categories: Short Poems, Ekphrasis, and Poets Howl. ✦ Free to enter.
$5000 POET OF THE YEAR PRIZE ✦ March 1 - April 30
Winner: $3000 ✦ x4 Finalists: $500 each
$2000 BOB HICOK FELLOWSHIP FOR POETS ✦ June 1 - August 30
Award: $1000 Stipend + $1000 in Workshop Credits + lifetime ONLY POEMS "Friend" Membership
x 4 Finalists: $200 in Workshop Credits + 1-year ONLY POEMS "Friend" Membership
$3500 LEONARD COHEN POETRY PRIZE ✦ September 21 - November 7
Winner: $1000 ✦ x10 Finalists: $250 each
Send us up to 10 pages of poetry.
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 encourage simultaneous submissions. Feel free to submit your work to all the wonderful places you think will be a good home for your poems. Do not withdraw your poems if they get accepted elsewhere — if we like your work, we’ll find a way to work with you.
If we have previously declined your submission, you can submit again whenever (we get it, we're unhinged poets too lol).
Though our general response time is 3-4 months, in this category we'll respond within 2 weeks. Sometimes, if we are considering your work for publication, this might take 3 weeks in total. We might also email you separately in this event to request more poems.
We offer $77 to all our published poets. This is per contribution and not per piece.