We are currently reading for May and June 2024!
Sparks of Calliope is now accepting poetry submissions for publication. Poetry can be traditional or free verse, unpublished or previously published. Unpublished poetry is given preference and is the only poetry considered for award submission. We discourage poems with special formatting, and we don’t consider audio or video submissions at this time. If you want further insight into what we’re looking for, read our editor interview with Duotrope.
We publish about 10 talented poets per month (one every three days). You should receive a response within 90 days. We will reduce this back to 60 days once we clear the backlog.
If poems are previously published, the author must retain the copyright, and acknowledgment should be given to the first publication. Please acknowledge Sparks of Calliope if work first published here is later reprinted elsewhere. No payment is given for accepted poems, and authors retain their copyright.
By submitting your poetry to Sparks of Calliope, you are confering upon us the non-exclusive right to publish your poetry on our website as well as include accepted pieces in any potential Sparks of Calliope print anthologies, to approve the one-time inclusion of winning pieces in prize anthologies as reprints, and to keep work published on the website in the archives indefinitely.
This shouldn’t need to be said, but please do not submit poetry composed by or with the help of artificial intelligence. In addition to being unacceptable here, the use of AI in composing your poem makes it inadmissible for prestigious anthologies such as the Pushcart Prize.
*** Submit no more than five (5) poems per month in the body of an email or as a Word attachment to sparksofcalliope@gmail.com. ***
Absolutely NO simultaneous submissions UNLESS you promptly notify us when a submission has been accepted elsewhere. Seriously folks, we may have to prohibit simultaneous submissions and/or reprints altogether if we don’t stop getting the numerous “whoops, my bad” notices. Notifications of withdrawal are easiest to find when sent as a reply to the original submission, unless it is only a partial withdrawal (in which case it may inadvertently push your other poems down the queue.
Submissions are read in the order they are received as they are being reviewed, so we apologize we cannot promptly acknowledge receipt. Please do not submit again until: 1.) you have received a response to your previous submission; 2.) your poems have been published if accepted. As with most journals, we do not offer critiques or explanations for rejected submissions.
We’d prefer you not use a pseudonym, although we’ve been known to make the occasional exception for those with an established nom de plume. We absolutely will not publish your work without the editor knowing your real name. A bio of 100 words or less will be expected for inclusion with accepted poems.
If you have an Twitter X or Facebook account, share your handle with us for mentions, tags, etc. Feel free to remind me if I forget to tag/friend/follow/etc. on social media. Follow us by clicking the follow button at the top right. Links to poems are automatically posted to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter Tumbler when published. (As Twitter X no longer shares our posts automatically, it is up to you to share your favorite poems using the Twitter X button located on the page!!!)
* If you are one of our regulars who has been published several times with us, evaluation of your submission might be delayed in order to give other worthy poets the chance to appear in our publication. It doesn’t mean we don’t love you! We do strongly encourage simultaneous submissions in these cases (See note on simultaneous submissions above).
Sparks of Calliope 