Poet Lore Submission Manager

We appreciate your interest in Poet Lore. Below you'll find a brief description of our work:

Poet Lore is a biannual print journal of poetry and translations. Published with the conviction that poetry provides a record of human experience as valuable as history, Poet Lore’s intended audience is broadly inclusive.

Established by Charlotte Porter and Helen Clarke in 1889, Poet Lore is the nation’s oldest poetry journal. Poet Lore publishes a range of established and award winning poets such as Erika Meitner, Jose Hernandez Diaz, Sharon Olds, Kim Addonizio, Terrance Hayes, Linda Pastan, Mary Oliver & Carl Philips, who share the space with emerging poets. Someone’s first published poem may stand alongside another author’s 100th.

We are committed to diversity and inclusivity and highly encourage submissions from marginalized voices. We do not tolerate racism, bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, ableism, or any work that promotes harmful stereotypes and viewpoints.

In support of all of our contributors, we nominate select works each year for both The Pushcart Prize and Best New Poets.

Poet Lore pays contributors $50 per published poem. Due to the volume of poems we receive, our current response time is roughly 6-8 months.

We accept general submissions twice a year: April 1 - May 31 and October 1 - November 30.

We are open to translation submissions from January 1 - June 30 and from August 1 - November 30.

The next call for submissions to our Guest Editor's folio will be open June 16 - June 30. For more info, visit our website.

By submitting to Poet Lore, submitters agree to receive periodic correspondence about new submission opportunities, events, and workshops. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Guest Edited Submissions: Pop Culture and Response

Ends on

Submit

Submissions to Hanif Abdurraqib's Guest Edited Folio on Pop Culture and Response Open June 16th - June 30th

For our Summer/Fall 2025 issue, Guest Editor Hanif Abdurraqib will curate a folio of poems centered on pop culture ekphrasis.

From Hanif Abdurraqib: I spend a lot of time thinking on the John Murillo poem "Upon Reading That Eric Dolphy Transcribed Even the Calls of Certain Species of Birds," which is firmly a work of ekphrasis, of taking an existing artwork, and then repurposing it to serve the self, the heart, the mind. So much ekphrasis is rooted in visual art, but many poems are, like Murillo's, poems of witness and consumption and re-formatting that which has been witnessed. I am eager to build a portfolio of poems inspired by and drawing from songs, and films, sounds, old magazine photos, moments from sports, anything from under the broad umbrella of popular culture.

Poet Lore pays contributors $50 per published poem. Contributors also receive one copy of their issue, plus a copy of the following printed issue of Poet Lore.

You may submit up to 3 poems (maximum of 8 pages). If you currently have an open submission in our general submission queue, you are welcome to submit a separate submission to this themed call.

Submissions should be typed in Times New Roman, 12pt font, single-spaced, and include a cover page with the poet’s name, contact information, and title of the poem.

Include all poems in 1 single document and please only submit once.
Include the titles of all poems in your cover letter (bullet points or numbers are easiest).
We accept simultaneous submissions, however, let us know in your cover letter if poems are simultaneously submitted, and please inform us immediately if a poem is accepted elsewhere.
We do not accept work that has been previously published. This includes on personal blogs and social media.
Upon acceptance, we ask for first serial rights, with rights reverting back to the author upon publication.

Translation Submissions

Ends on

Submit

We have a mission of discovery at Poet Lore. Therefore, every submission is read without regard to reputation by our team of readers and editors.

We are open to translation submissions from January 1 - June 30 and from August 1 - November 30.

Poet Lore publishes a range of established and award winning poets such as Erika Meitner, Jose Hernandez Diaz, Sharon Olds, Kim Addonizio, Terrance Hayes, Linda Pastan, Mary Oliver & Carl Philips, who share the space with emerging poets. Someone's first published poem may stand alongside another author's 100th. We nominate select published poems for both the Pushcart Prize and Best New Poets.

Before submitting translations of works that are not in the public domain, please identify the rights holder and obtain a statement that the rights to publish an English translation are available. Include the original text if possible, as well as a short biography of the writer and the translator, and a short introduction of the work. If there are extenuating circumstances that prevent you from including a copy of the original text at the time of your submission, please note that in the cover letter.

Poet Lore pays contributors $50 per published poem.

We accept translations on a rolling basis, but hope to return responses within 6-8 months of submission.

You may submit up to 5 English translations of poems. This category is for translation submissions ONLY. Submissions that are original poems and not translations will not be evaluated. Please note that we do not accept self-translations.

Include all poems in 1 single document and please only submit once per submission period.
Include the titles of all poems in your cover letter (bullet points or numbers are easiest).
If a poem is more than one page, please indicate if the second page begins with a new stanza.
We accept simultaneous submissions, however, let us know in your cover letter if poems are simultaneously submitted, and please inform us immediately if a poem is accepted elsewhere.
We do not accept work that has been previously published. This includes on personal blogs and social media.
Upon acceptance, we ask for first serial rights, with rights reverting back to the author upon publication.

Poet Lore