Submit a poem
Writing Guidelines
Every Day Poets is looking for short poems, of up to 60 lines/500 words or fewer. There’s no such thing as too short.
All genres are acceptable, and poems that don’t fit neatly into any genre are welcome too. We hope to reflect a wide diversity of cultures and cross cultures; although all poems must be in English, this need not be restrictive (as in, for example, “Search for my Tongue” by Sujata Bhatt, or John Agard’s “Half Caste”). We encourage contributors to ensure that all capitalization is a matter of your artistic choice and not a default function of your word processing software, and that punctuation is similarly deliberate.
Our readership is adult, so poems intended for children are unlikely to be accepted unless they are relevant to adults as well. On the other hand, we are not impressed by gratuitous sex and violence, or pointlessly foul language; edgy content should be necessary to the purpose of the poem and appropriate to this venue.
It ought to go without saying that any poem submitted to Every Day Poets must be your own unpublished original creation. If you publish a poem on a blog, even your own personal blog, it is considered published and therefore inappropriate for our market.
Submission Process
All poems must be submitted through our online form–we cannot accept poems via email or snail mail.
Our target response time is two months, and we will do our best to give you an acceptance or refusal within that time period, or at least provide an update if our decision is delayed.
Multiple Submissions & Simultaneous Submissions
Multiple submissions are acceptable; you may have up to three poems in our submission process at any one time. However, please don’t try to paste more than one poem at a time into the submission form–each poem must be submitted separately.
Unfortunately, simultaneous submissions are not possible: when you submit using our online form, you must grant us the right to publish your poem if we select it for Every Day Poets, which you cannot do if you have offered that same right elsewhere.
Compensation
We believe in the importance of being paid for your writing, even if it’s only a token amount. At this time, we are able to offer one dollar for each published poem, to be paid via PayPal, with the option to donate it back to Every Day Poets if you are so inclined. In addition, if requested we will set up a free Author Forum for you right here at EDP where you will be able promote your own writing.
More importantly, publication also includes an opportunity to promote your writing beyond Every Day Poets. We will gladly provide a link to your blog or website, and if you have a book on Amazon, we can link to that as well.
Finally, the author whose poem is the most read in a given month will be featured in Every Day Poets’ monthly Author Interview–a chance for our readers to get to know you, and a further opportunity for you to promote your blog or website and any books or other publications you may have out there.
Terms and Agreements
Due to our aggressive publication schedule, you must agree to our terms and agreements as part of the submission process. When you submit your poem, a dialog box will pop up containing our contract. You’ll notice that it’s very similar to the standard boilerplate contract available at SFWA.org (that’s where we got it), but we still recommend that you read it carefully. You are then given the option to accept or decline our terms, just as you would when you install software. If you accept, you will be e-mailed to confirm that we’ve received your submission.
We ask for First Rights and specifically First Internet Publication, with an option on First Anthology Rights for 18 months (which, if exercised, nets you another dollar). After publication, the poem will remain in our searchable archives unless the author asks us to remove it.
**Though the submission contract asks for your mailing address, we will never send you anything without your permission, nor will we distribute that information to any third-party.
==>> Submission system <<==
or
No login Submission system (No poem tracking)
If you have any problems submitting to the new submission system please contact us.
August 31st, 2008 at 8:03 pm
[...] If you’ve read this far, you’re already aware of the launch of our sister magazine, Every Day Poets. Of course, most of you have probably already gone to the site and subbed three of your best poems, but just in case you’re still waking up, do so now! [...]
January 31st, 2010 at 12:06 am
[...] And now for our selections…..as always, enjoy. Share. And, if you write, consider submitting your very best poetry under 500 words to Every Day Poets. [...]
June 7th, 2010 at 12:04 am
[...] and run with them. If you end up with some wonderful poetry as a result, we are open to submissions that fall within our [...]
April 1st, 2011 at 12:03 am
[...] on your submission and designate your piece as “explosives week entry”. Standard Every Day Poets submission guidelines still apply. We will send acceptances/rejections for these targeted submissions all at once in May, [...]
April 12th, 2011 at 12:03 am
[...] remember, standard EDP guidelines still [...]
November 15th, 2011 at 4:41 pm
The day I sang with my heart.
Well that day, my heart sang
and so did I.
But what if hearts really did
have mouths,
and when we opened them
blood fell out.
Red, staining the carpet, which
is rather similar
to what actually did happen
that Thursday.
And I never really got around
to cleaning it up.
Thank goodness it was paint,
and my clumsy
singing and dancing,
will never
have serious consequences.
November 15th, 2011 at 4:43 pm
Sorry, I’m just driving through.
She’s standing outside her home,
a plastic bag at her feet, a cigarette in her hand.
Her left thumb thrust questioningly in the air.
I’m sorry, I’m just driving through.
The expectancy fades from her eyes,
And floats away with the unabsorbed pollution
of her cigarette.
I’m sorry,
I’m afraid to slow the momentum under my feet I’m just driving through.
With a tight apologetic smile
I leave her standing in a cloud of her own smoke, and mine.
Sorry.
November 15th, 2011 at 4:45 pm
We all begin
in different places.
And to meet in a
shared destination
someone must
venture out alone.
If you’re stranded,
then to rescue you
I must first leave
my home.
November 15th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Doesn’t she know she’s fat?
Proudly she walks along,
a swing of satisfaction
behind her.
Double D’s,
gloriously
introduce her
to the world.
In heels and tights;
her legs, like sausages
squashed tightly
inside intestines.
Why has she not yet noticed,
my figure, completely
free of excess?
My subtle parade
on un-dimpled thighs must not
go unenvied.
Doesn’t she know
she’s fat?
December 3rd, 2011 at 7:21 am
I could not open the submission page. Are all my poems I have on my Blog disqualified? I have many others that remain unpublished and would like to verify acceptability.
http://velomuseii.wordpress.com
Thank you
December 3rd, 2011 at 9:01 am
This is good, will copy and send to all my members at http://www.loudthotz.com and on facebook. Just to know are Nigerians Eligible.