Do You Submit to Literary Magazines?

Plus a Poetic Example

I wanted to talk a little bit about submissions! Do you submit your work to literary magazines and journals?

We have been talking a lot about submissions on my Instagram (maggie.writes). I learned a lot of poets don’t know where to start or how to submit. I always suggest using submittables free submissions to get a feel for submitting! You can find other calls for submissions on social media, chillsubs.com, and more.

The second biggest thing I suggest is to read a little bit from the journal before you submit, that way you can tailor your work to what the editors enjoy reading.

Lastly, remember that there are lots of reasons literary magazines reject work! Sometimes it just doesn't fit the theme or the tone. Don’t take rejections personally.

Here is a poem that was originally published in Issue 1 of The Abbey Review (2022).

This Started as an Apology
When we skipped pennies on the lake
Did you expect it to end up this way?
With me skipping through memories,
Forever incomplete?
I am looking for the pieces
To the long forgotten
Puzzle that was my childhood;
Forgive me for crawling beneath
The couch when I know I can’t get out -
I was afraid of the raised voices,
One passing moment you didn’t witness;
You don’t understand the urgency -
I must find the pieces before anyone knows
They went missing — it will be
The death of me.
Oh, you don’t know what death
Feels like when it’s entering a…