I am looking for poems that are inspiring. They can be about hard things, but they should leave the soul feeling some kind of hope or direction or relief, no matter how small. Humorous poems are also a possibility.
The poems can be about mothering or being mothered, grandmothering or being grandmothered. They can be about your own life, or someone else’s. Sure, you can write about Grendel’s mother, if you want. I’m open.
That said, I’m currently only accepting submissions from previously-published collections (unless I personally solicit you for an unpublished poem).
Why?
Not enough publications open their doors to previously-published works. The end result is that so much wonderful poetry goes unappreciated and undiscovered—when it could be providing wisdom, solace, joy, challenge, hope, and bonding experiences for people who need or want that.
Additionally, the poets who put so much hard work into these collections have little hope of continued attention to their collections, which would result in purchases— something that, of course, poets do appreciate.
That is not how it should go.
Okay, so if you have a published collection with a mother-ish poem in it…
Please use this contact form to query about sending a digital copy of the collection that contains the poem (or poems) you’d like to have considered for feature here at Moms on Poetry.
The 4 Musts of the Query
No need to write a long introduction. But here are the 4 things you must send along if you’d like your poem (or poems) to be considered. You can query for up to four poems. For each poem, please include:
1. Poem title
2. The last 3 lines of the poem (please don’t send whole poems)
3. Name of your poetry collection that the poem appeared in
4. Your collection’s publisher
Thank you. I can’t wait to share your golden words with the world. 🙂
P.S.
Since I’ve let you know that I’m only accepting poems from previously-published collections, if you send me an unsolicited one that doesn’t fit the conditions set forth, please know that I will not be able to spend time reading your submission (and I won’t be able to reply either). Thanks in advance for understanding!
If your poem meets the conditions, please allow around 4 weeks for a reply. If I get too mom-busy, that might increase. We’ll see how it goes. Hopefully, you’re busy too, and you’ll hardly notice. 😉