April is National Poetry Month, and the spring has a way of bringing the best out in all of us for our prose. In honor of this month of poetry, I have looked around and found five wonderful sites that are currently taking online submissions for new poets.
Poetry.com is probably the biggest of the online poetry journals, and they accept all genres of poems. Poetry.com runs a contest for poetry and they boast a daily, weekly, and monthly prize drawing for the poetry on their site. Over all its very easy to use, and the site is very easy to submit to. They offer a wide variety of tips, and hints for beginners as well, so it really is new poet friendly. They don’t offer any payment, but it is a very good place to start.
Poetryfoundation.org another great site for poets this one is a site where you really get paid if your submission is accepted, so the criteria to get published will be a little bit harder. They are accepting new poets, and do not state what kind of genre they are most looking for so you can assume it’s open. Make sure you read their rules thoroughly, as they do not accept content that has been published elsewhere, and it can take from 6-8 weeks for them to approve or deny a submission. But, if you can get in the pay for this poetry site is worth the wait.
identitytheory.com is a fun poetry website that accepts new poets as well. Their submission guidelines are pretty easy and open. Your content that you submit to them can not have been submitted anywhere else, and they do have a limit on how long the content can be as well. But over all it’s a user friendly website, who is accepting from all genres. They do not pay for accepted submissions.
Poem.org is the fourth one up on my lists of places to check out if you’re a new poet who wants to submit your work. They have been around since 1998, the site itself is a little bit hard to navigate, but once you register and get in its easier. Another open genre poetry journal they take any form of poetry from novices and up to professionals. They don’t pay for submissions but they have a very nice network of critics, and other poets who will give you support and tips on how to improve your poetry.
poemhunter.com is my final choice for novice friendly poetry journals online. You have to sign up as a member to submit, but membership is free, and much like the previous entry there is a wonderful support group of people on this website. Poem Hunter is very easy to navigate around and seems very open and friendly to new comers to the poetry world.
No matter what website you decide to go to with your poems, make sure your comfortable with who your sharing with. Poetry can be a great release and a wonderful outlet for all those creative needs. Share it with the world, not just in April for the poetry month, but every day.
