Call for Submissions and Submission Deadlines

Submissions for the 2025 Poetry Prompt-a-Day challenge have been trickling in nicely. Please keep sending!!

For the sake of structure, a bit of motivation, and to keep everyone engaged, here are submissions deadlines:

• Submit poems responding to prompts 1-6 by August 31, 2025
• Submit poems responding to prompts 7-12 by September 30, 2025
• Submit poems responding to prompts 13-18 by October 31, 2025
• Submit poems responding to prompts 19-24 by November 30, 2025
• Submit poems responding to prompts 25-30 by December 31, 2025

Submit poems to me at zingarapoet(at)gmail.com and REMEMBER Include the NAME OF THE PROMPT in the subject line of your email. Several emails have not. Paste your poem submission(s) into THE BODY OF YOUR EMAIL.

Also remember to Include a few sentences about your writing process (how you got from prompt to final draft) in your email. It’s not necessary to explain what your poem is about, rather I am interested in why you made the choices that you made. For instance, why did you chose couplets (or other stanza length)? How did you discover the imagery or metaphors used in your poem? How many revisions did you make? Not these exact questions, but questions like these can serve as your guide.

For a great example of a poet writing about their process, take a look at the most recent guest blog post at Marsh Hawk Press in which Ellen Bass explicates some of her work. You do not have to be anywhere as involved or detailed as this example, but it does exemplify the kind of approach I am looking for.

Poems may be overtly related to any of the prompts, or have only a thread of connection. If you wrote a poem in response to a prompt and threw out all but one line during revision, that counts. Surprising is preferred to the predictable.

Be sure to also mention if you happened to use any of the revision prompts posted during May or June in the process.

Please include a brief professional biography of 50 words or fewer, also in the body of your email.

Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let ZPR know immediately if submitted work is accepted elsewhere.

All poetry prompts from the 2025 challenge can be found under that tab 2025 POETRY PROMPTS or by clicking here: 2025 Poem-a-Day Challenge

The plan is to begin posting poems, along with their explanations of process, in early 2026.

Feel free to email or comment with questions. I look forward to reading your work!