Submissions are open for the weekly Zingara Poetry Pick and Poetry Pick Extras (poems suitable for a specific season or holiday – national or otherwise. For example, poems for African American History month, Women’s History Month, LGBTQ Month, Trans Day, Culinary Month, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Anti-Columbus Day, or some holiday you know about that the rest of the world does not. You can even invent a holiday to write a poem about – I’ll consider it).

Guidelines:

• Send 1-3 previously unpublished poems of 40 lines of fewer in the body of an email, any style, any subject, to ZingaraPoet@gmail.com with “Poetry Pick” as the subject of your email.
• For poets submitting to the Poetry Extra feature (see above), please use “Poetry Extra” as the subject line.
• Include a cover letter and brief professional biography of 50 words or fewer, also in the body of your email.
• Submissions are accepted year round and there are no reading fees.
• Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let me know immediately if submitted work is accepted elsewhere.
• 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 newsletter.
• Check Zingara Poetry Review every week to read new poems. Poems are published at 9:00am Eastern Time.
•  Zingara Poetry Review retains first digital rights, though 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, 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