What to read and how to read it closely, what editors are publishing now, how to make a poem good, and how to send your own work out.
Free PDF · 8 pagesPoetry Submission GuidelinesA Handbook for New PoetsDownload PDF ↓
Writing a poem and sending it out are two different kinds of work. The first is private. The second is mostly clerical: reading guidelines, formatting files, keeping records. Neither is beneath a poet.
For those seeking their first print or digital credits, the publishing world can be hard to read. This guide tries to make it clearer: how editors read, which poets reward study, what a good poem does on the page, and where a new writer can reasonably send work.
Read it in any order, and use the index below to go straight to your question. Keep a notebook or a spreadsheet open beside you. Mark deadlines, note the poets who make you jealous, and come back to the guide as you need it.
There are no shortcuts and no secret handshakes. There is only the poem, the reading that sharpens it, and the persistence that finally sends it out. — James F. Mulhern, Silver Current Press
James F. Mulhern
Philadelphia ◆ Silver Current Press
The complete Poetry Submission Guidelines — an eight-page handbook with five journals to know, how to prepare a submission, a model cover letter, where to find more journals, and a short glossary — is available as a PDF to print or keep on your desk.
8 pages · PDF · James F. Mulhern · Silver Current Press
Open any heading to see its sections. Each one links straight to the passage.
No one writes a good poem who has not read a thousand of them slowly. The poets on the reading page are your true teachers. Steal from them honestly.
A poem is built from concrete images and deliberate line breaks, not from feelings announced. Master those two units and the rest follows.
Rejection is routine, not a verdict on your worth. Track your work, keep it moving, and send it back out the same day.