Poetry: Call for Submissions

We will be publishing a poetry drop every month, starting with June—just in time for Pride.

Photo by Marek Studzinski on Unsplash

For each monthly poetry drop, we are aiming for 5-10 poems.

We are interested in work that focuses on questions, confusion, discovery, and revelry in your queer identity, whether that be in your professional, personal, or sexual lives; celebrates growth, even if that growth is hard-won, messy, or difficult to reckon with; delves into the sexual, the erotic, the desired, the desiring, and the pleasurable; examines hurt, pain, grief, and (hopefully) the ways you can work with and through that pain; applauds and finds queer beauty, even and especially in not-so-beautiful places.

All topics are welcome as long as all animosity and hate speech are left at the submission door. If your work includes hate speech that you encountered that you feel is necessary to tell your story, we will review and discuss.

We will consider themes and parameters with time, but at present, we would simply like to see poetry that revels in its own queer glory.

---

Length and parameters: Send up to three poems, no more than 30 lines each.

We are welcoming poetry in all forms, but be aware that the more complicated the line breaks and original spacing, the harder it will be to replicate on a prose-based platform like Substack, though they have some poetry features.

• Format: Please share all files as PDFs. If you have artwork that accompanies pieces, please send those along as well, with clear notes and descriptions. By submitting, you recognize that all poems are subject to suggestions and edits that will be discussed and finalized with your, the poet’s, consent before publication.

• Original work and first serial rights: The Queer Love Project will have exclusive rights to the piece for two years if accepted. You can publish elsewhere as long as you link to the original piece published on QueerLoveProject.substack.com.

• Excerpts and previously published work: We do publish original work that is excerpted from chapbooks, zines, books, and anthologies and will provide pre-order links and other citations to the originals if requested.

• Do you provide edits? Yes, expect to work with an editor in a collaborative way. We often give top edits (general constructive ideas) as well as line edits and copy edits to help you get your piece in shape for publishing. We see it as a generative process, and we hope you will too! That said, send us your best draft, but don’t stop yourself from submitting if you are a new or emerging writer who still needs support. We have published many first-time writers and love doing so!

• When to expect a reply: We hope to reply within 5 days from first submission. Do not follow up before that time. We hope to offer feedback and edits for your essay. If you haven’t heard back within 7 days, please feel free to reply to your original email so that it is threaded with your original pitch email.

• Email us at queerloveprojectsub@gmail.com

• You must be a subscriber to pitch! (It’s free, so go ahead and click that button if you haven’t already.)

We do not publish any content that was written by or with the assistance of generative AI.

How to Submit to The Queer Love Project