Zingara Poetry Review is celebrating National Poetry Month by publishing a poem every day of the month. Here’s how you can participate:

•  sign up for email alerts
• Follow Zingara Poetry Review on Facebook and
• on twitter at @zingarapoet

Poems for this year’s celebration have all been chosen, but submissions remain open for the weekly Zingara Poetry Pick. Guidelines are as follows:

• Send 1-3 previously unpublished poems of 40 lines of fewer in the body of an email, any style, any subject, to ZingaraPoet@gmail.com with “Poetry Pick” as the subject of your email.
• Include a cover letter and brief professional biography of 50 words or fewer, also in the body of your email.
• Submissions accepted year round.
• Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let me know immediately if submitted work is accepted elsewhere.
• Allow 12 or so months after publication before submitting more work.
• Published poets receive bragging rights and the chance to share their work with a diverse and ever-growing audience.
• Submissions which do not follow these guidelines will be disregarded.
• If accepted work is later published elsewhere, please acknowledge that the piece first appeared in Zingara Poetry Review.
• There are no fees to submit, though you will be subscribed to the Zingara Poetry Review monthly newsletter and digest.
• Check Zingara Poetry Review every week to read great poems.
•  Zingara Poetry Review retains first digital rights, though publication rights revert back to the poet upon publication.

What I look for in a poem:

Like all editors, I like to see interesting poems that do what they do well. Whether traditional, conceptual, lyrical, or formal, they should exhibit the poet’s clear understanding of craft and, just as importantly, revision. Very elemental poems that have not undergone effective revision will probably not make the cut. Likewise, poems which are contrived, sacrifice meaning for the sake of rhyme, feel incomplete, do not risk sentimentality (or are too sentimental), or lack tension when tension is needed, will also be dismissed. I am a fan of rich and vivid imagery, cohesive discursiveness, and surprising metaphors. Finally, poems which perpetuate harmful stereotypes of gender, race, or class will most certainly not be considered.

For a very good discussion on the elements of effective poetry, take a look at Slushpile Musings by James Swingle, publisher and editor of Noneucildean Cafe’

Response time is 2 days to 6 months