Call for Submissions: Only Poems

 

Only Poems 

GENERAL GUIDELINES

These guidelines are not specific to any one category (you’ll find those below), but overall submission guidelines for what we expect from the work we receive. Please ensure that you follow these when submitting to any of our open categories.

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, it's not eligible. (We run a special category on ONLY POEMS DAILY for previously published poems — it's called Best New Poems.)

We love cover letters and enjoy getting to learn more about you. You're welcome to share publication history, if any, however it does not influence our decision. Though please make sure that the document of your poems is stripped of any biographical information—use the cover note field for this.

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. Except for the Leonard Cohen Poetry Prize, we do not require you to withdraw your poems should they find a home elsewhere — if we like your work, we'll find a way to work with you.

We nominate for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, Best New Poets, Best Spiritual Poetry, Monarch Queer, and Nina Riggs Poetry Awards.

PUBLISHING ETHOS

We publish poets (as opposed to just poems). We like to spend time with your voice and see your range.

We welcome poets from all over the world.

We love prose poems, traditional forms (ghazals, villanelles, sestinas, etc), love poems, sex poems, speculative poems, and all sorts of experimentations, but we are not married to a style or genre.

Send us your most exciting work. We want poems that make us go: “God, I wish I had written this!”

Short Poems

What
This category is part of ONLY POEMS DAILY, where we publish one short poem every month.
Send us
You may submit only one poem.
When
Submission Period: March 15 - March 31 & October 15 - October 31
Payment
We pay $22 for this contribution. While the submissions for the Short Poem category are free, there are also tip-jar options and paid editorial feedback options. These help us sustain the magazine.
Response
We generally respond to all submissions within 3 months.

Essays

What
We are always looking for stirring and beautiful essays of all styles. You’ll find specific themed and unthemed categories on our submission portal.
Send us
You may submit one piece in any open nonfiction category.
When
Submission Period: Always Open
Payment
We pay $50 for this contribution.
Response
We generally respond to all submissions within 3-4 months.

Book Reviews

What
We are open to reviews of new poetry collections as well as older ones that might have slipped past the radar back in their day! Flash Reviews are under 300 words & Long Reviews can be as long as your heart desires.
Send us
You may submit one book review at a time.
When
Submission Period: Always Open
Payment
At this time, we're unable to offer payment for book reviews.
Response
We generally respond to all submissions within 3 months.

Book Lists

What
We love reading book recommendations. Before submitting, please take a look at what we’ve recently published so your selections don’t overlap too much with previous lists.
Send us
You may submit one book list at a time.
When
Submission Period: Always Open
Payment
At this time, we're unable to offer payment for book lists.
Response
We generally respond to all submissions within 6 weeks.

Submit your work here. 

Call for Submissions: Variant Literature

 

Variant Literature 

To be considered for our Winter 2027 issue please submit between October 10th and November 20th 2026.

General

• Please submit only once per submission period unless otherwise invited.

• We do not accept e-mail submissions; all work must be submitted through Submittable.

• Please send all work in one file.

• We aim to respond to your work within two months; our average response time is closer to one month.

• Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.

• We do not accept previously published works.

• We do not accept any AI-assisted or AI-generated work.

Poetry

• Limit your submission to 5 poems totaling no more than 10 pages.

Flash Prose or Micro Series

— 750 to 1200 words Submit one piece of flash prose, 750–1,200 words, or a connected series of exactly three micros, 250–400 words each.

We welcome literary fiction, speculative fiction, and nonfiction in this category.

Literary Fiction

— 1200 to 5500 words Submit one literary fiction piece of 1,200–5,500 words.

Speculative Fiction

— 1200 to 5500 words Submit one speculative fiction piece of 1,200–5,500 words.

What happened to the nonfiction genre?

We are not looking for longer nonfiction. If your nonfiction is 750–1,200 words, submit it to the Flash Prose genre.
Payment

We pay $15 per accepted poem, flash piece, or micro series.
We pay $25 per accepted longform story.
We pay through PayPal.  

Tips Tip jar offerings go to support payment and promotion of writers. All editors at Variant Lit are volunteers.

We appreciate your support!

Call for Submissions on Theme of "City": WayWords

 

WayWords 

Issue 25: City

Editors' advice:

Bright lights, people, and entertainment—cities are full of life, and everything that includes.

Deadline: Nov. 20, 2026 

Submissions Guidelines

Submissions must be in English. Send each piece in a separate file.

Limits:

up to 5,000 words of fiction

two poems up to 15 lines each

Formatting

No identifying info inside your file

Include your piece title at top of your doc

If previously published, include credit below your title

TNR or Arial, 10/12, single spaced

Indent paragraphs

Empty margins on all sides

Empty line for scene breaks

How To Submit

File name: Piece Title - WayWords

Each piece in a separate file

Submissions accepted by email:

submissions [at] writersworkout.net  (Change [at] to @ )

or Duosuma 

Include your piece title and WayWords in your subject

Include your name/pseudonym and short bio in the body of your email

Attach your file in .doc/x or .odt OR paste the live, unlocked link to your GDoc or Word file

We must be able to download your file. We will not request access and we are not responsible for locked files.

You can find these settings on the Submissions page. 

Call for Submissions on Theme of: "Burning the Candle at Both Ends": Hot Flash Literary

 

Hot Flash Literary 

We are open for submissions for Issue 5 from October 1 through November 12, 2026.

Issue 5 theme: Burning the candle at both ends

Please follow the submissions guidelines listed below.

Hot Flash Literary accepts previously unpublished flash, both fiction and creative nonfiction, including prose poetry (no lined poetry!), from writers who identify as women. Writers can submit up to three (3) pieces at one time. Each individual piece must be fewer than 500 words.

No reprints.

Human-generated content only (no AI).

To submit, send up to three (3) pieces pasted into the body of an email. We won’t open attachments. Email us at:

hotflasheditor@gmail.com

The subject of the email should include the word “submission” and your name. Example: Submission—Jane Smith.

Please include a 40-word (maximum) bio written in third person.

Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know promptly if accepted elsewhere.

We will not publish pieces that are hateful or bigoted.

Call for Submissions: IHRAM Press

IHRAM Press provide the platform for creative activists at risk to speak up about urgent social-justice issues in their environments, providing readers with their unique perspectives on issues of human rights.

IHRAM Press pays $50 per accepted written piece and $25 per accepted artist.

Magazine edition Quarter Two 2027: Indigenous Voices and Cultural Myths for Resistance

Submissions open from October 1st - December 1st 2026.

Our editorial team will begin reviewing submissions on October 1st.

WHAT ARE WE SEEKING TO DO?

We are seeking firsthand experiences from original thinkers and land stewards, factual retellings, and personal reflections that shaped the writer’s adulthood, valuing the native voice and Indigenous history. This magazine will also explore the relationship between spirituality, myth, dreams, memory, culture, identity, resistance, and Indigenous voices. We welcome submissions from writers around the world, regardless of gender or identity.

We are particularly interested in how creativity becomes a form of resistance and generational memory. How can storytelling preserve what has been suppressed? How do myths and inherited stories reflect the way we understand ourselves and the world? What does it mean to reclaim a tradition, history, or narrative that has been marginalised or erased?

We encourage writers to approach these questions through their own lived experiences and perspectives.

We especially welcome submissions from Indigenous writers and communities whose histories, traditions, or cultural identities have experienced marginalisation, suppression, or erasure. We also welcome anyone with a meaningful personal connection to the themes of myth, cultural memory, storytelling, identity, and resistance.

WHAT ARE WE LOOKING TO PUBLISH (AND NOT LIMITED TO):

• Indigenous communities and cultural traditions

• Traditions that have been suppressed or threatened with erasure

• Myths, histories, and ideologies that have been marginalised or erased

• Cultural identity and its preservation through art and literature

• Myths and stories that form the basis of traditions, beliefs, and worldviews

• How myths shape cultural identity and collective memory

• The influence of myths on contemporary perceptions

• Oral traditions and the transmission of cultural knowledge

• Storytelling, art, and literature as forms of resistance and reclamation

• The loss, preservation, or rediscovery of cultural stories

IMPORTANT SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

Poetry: you can submit up to FIVE poems in one submission. We will not accept different emails with multiple submissions.

Short-stories / Essays: prose writing should not exceed 2,500 words. You can submit up to TWO prose pieces in one submission. We will not different accept emails with multiple submissions.

Visual Art: Accepted Visual Art includes: mixed media, acrylics, oil paintings, drawings, photographs, collages, sculptures, or any forms that fit our publication’s themes. Please note, your published artwork might be presented in black-and-white and therefore should be suitable for “print”. We WILL NOT accept any AI-Generated art. Ensure your artwork is submitted as .JPG, .PDFs, or .PNGs.

Please note: if your piece is accepted, we will request a high-resolution author photograph. However, authors are not required to provide photographs of themselves and are always welcome to decline, should they wish to remain anonymous.‍

Compensation for Accepted Submission:

Writers whose submissions are accepted will receive payment of $50. 

Accepted artists will receive $25.

Please send your FULL submission to:

submit@humanrightsartmovement.org

Your submission should include the following supplemental information:

Your full name / pen name

Your country of residence

The type of submission: whether you are sending us poetry, short-stories, personal essays, and/or visual art, etc.

Your poetry and/or prose submission should be sent as WORD DOCUMENTS or PDF files, and your visual art as PNGs/JPEGs/PDFs.

An author / artist bio: a brief third-person bio (roughly 100 words). If your bio includes references of your past work, feel free to provide links!

A foreword: a brief foreword to your piece (between 300-500 words), explaining your inspiration for creating it, background information, explanation of key characters, and any other key insight for the reader.

AI Declaration: Please confirm that your writing and application have not been written, assisted, or edited. If our team suspects that you have used AI in your writing or application, it will result in an immediate rejection.

A declaration that your work has not been previously published elsewhere.

Please note that: incomplete submissions that do not include the required supplemental information will not be considered.

Call for Submissions: Lake Effect

Manuscripts submitted to Lake Effect must be original typescript or clear photocopies, and must be accompanied by a SASE with sufficient postage or they will not be returned. Internet submissions are not accepted. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please notify the appropriate editor should the manuscript, in whole or in part, be accepted elsewhere. Stories, poems, and essays will generally be returned or accepted within four months of their receipt (possibly longer over the summer).  

Currently, contributing writers receive two complimentary copies of the issue their work appears in as payment. All rights revert to the author upon publication. Lake Effect does not consider work that has previously appeared elsewhere.

Correspondence (but not submissions) may be emailed to the appropriate editor through the staff page.

Submissions (with SASE) and other correspondence should be sent to the editors at:

Lake Effect
School of Humanities & Social Sciences
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
4951 College Drive
Erie, PA 16563-1501

We also accept ONLINE SUBMISSIONS.

Fiction: Lake Effect is looking for stories that emerge from character and language as much as from plot. Lake Effect does not, in general, publish genre fiction, but literary fiction. For stories of longer than fifteen pages or so, query first. Lake Effect seeks work from both established and new and emerging writers.

Poetry: Lake Effect is looking for poems that demonstrate an original voice and that use multi-layered, evocative images presented in a language shaped by an awareness of how words sound and mean. Each line should help to carry the poem. There is no length limit per poem, but send no more than four poems at a time. Lake Effect seeks poems from both established poets and from new and emerging voices.

Creative Nonfiction: Lake Effect is looking for well-crafted and lively literary or personal essays. We are not looking for literary criticism, but essays that engage literature in the context of a lived life are certainly welcome. If your essay is longer than fifteen pages or so, please query first. Lake Effect seeks essays from both established and new and emerging voices.

Sample copies may be ordered. Refer to the ordering page.

Writing Competition: River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize

River Teeth‘s editors conduct a yearly national contest for a book-length manuscript of literary nonfiction in English. All manuscripts are screened by the co-editors of River Teeth. The contest winner receives $1,000 and publication by The University of New Mexico Press.

Entries must be submitted online through Submittable.

Online submission fee is $27. 

Submissions open September 1

Deadline for Submissions: October 31

 Final Judge: Sue William Silverman

Complete Guidelines:

• Entries must be submitted online through Submittable. Manuscripts must be in English, double-spaced, and between 35K-85K words long (approximately 150-350 pages).

• The winner will receive book publication with The University of New Mexico Press and a $1,000 honorarium.

• The reading fee is $27 (which includes a one-year subscription to River Teeth to begin in the spring). While our contest is open to entries outside of the U.S., we cannot offer free subscriptions to international submissions because of high mailing rates.

• The deadline for submissions is October 31. The contest winner and finalists will be announced by April.

• Submissions should be previously unpublished as a complete book; if excerpts or individual essays have appeared in literary journals or magazines, that is acceptable. Any literary nonfiction (including memoir, personal essays, investigative reporting, et cetera) is eligible.

• Simultaneous submissions are fine, but as ever, be sure to withdraw your manuscript immediately if it is accepted elsewhere for publication before the conclusion of the contest.

• The editors make every effort to screen manuscripts without bias of identifying author details; however, because the contest is nonfiction, it is not always possible to eliminate identifying characteristics about the author from the manuscript. Do not include your name on the title page or in the header or footer of the manuscript, but otherwise do not fret too much over anonymity. Please include a brief bio in the cover letter section of Submittable.

• River Teeth encourages underrepresented voices to submit their work for consideration, including but not limited to: BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and disabled writers.

• Close friends, family members, and former students of the judge may not submit during the year of the judge’s service. (Writers who have had short-term interactions with the judge at residencies, conferences, or fellowships do not count as students.) Current Ball State University faculty and students (including interns) are ineligible.

• Please direct all questions to:

riverteeth@bsu.edu