The editorial team at the Poetry Foundation is guided by the principle of compassionate rigor. We read all submissions carefully, and are open to all styles, subjects, and aesthetics. We strive to be a space where every kind of poetry can be read and received with the curiosity and wonder it deserves.

We are committed to freedom of artistic expression and to curating work that is diverse and wide-ranging in perspective; we do not censor artists or dictate the topics they might discuss while writing for, recording with, or performing at the Foundation. We want our editorial platform and the work we share to question, even as it provides respite.

We accept work (poems, prose, and archival folios) for Poetry magazine through our Submittable submissions manager from September 15 to June 15 each year. Other publication streams (including our digital features, book reviews, poem collections, samplers, and the Poetry Off the Shelf podcast) are curated through a combination of Submittable submissions, invitations, and pitches.

Writers who submit work to us can count on the following:

• Published work is carefully read and discussed by multiple readers;

• Decisions are made based on the merits of the work, with a focus on underrepresented and first-time contributors;

• Editorial decisions are made collaboratively by the editorial team;

• All accepted work is copyedited and fact-checked with care by multiple editors and experienced contractors;

• Continuous and open communication with contributors is maintained throughout the production process;

• Accepted work is published within one year of acceptance, and publication date and publication stream is at the discretion of the editors;

• All contributors are paid for newly published work.
  
   

Upcoming Developments

Based on feedback from our readers and contributors about our processes, we’ve made some additional changes to our editorial practice and offerings.

We’ve streamlined all our guidelines for submissions, to make opportunities more transparent and less burdensome on the submitters.

We’re introducing a new digital initiative, “News in Poems,” that will allow us to publish work responding to local or global events in real time without the 4–11 months from acceptance that it takes for work to appear in the print magazine.

We’ll soon be making a new call for contributing editors to help the existing editorial team expand our offerings. We are looking for new ways to share more work in translation, specifically, and for poetry by poets outside of the US, generally.

This editorial policy is an ongoing document that we will continue to expand upon in the coming months. We are in the process of bringing our print and digital editorial teams closer together, which will allow us to better articulate and communicate our processes across the board. In the meantime, you can read more about our approach to the online archive and about the magazine’s mission.

We hope that these new opportunities for engagement will continue to broaden the conversation across our editorial platform and make the space even more representative of the abundance of voices and perspectives in contemporary poetry. For questions, please contact us and mention “Editorial Policy” in your message.

 

Last updated March 26, 2024.