Poems for regular issues of Light
Thanks for your interest in Light. We welcome submissions year-round for our two biannual issues, which come out in spring and fall.
As much as possible, Light has a blind submissions policy. Managing and contributing editors won't see authors' identifying info (restricted to cover letters only) until an editorial decision has been made.
Before sending work, please read at least one issue of the magazine, along with the following guidelines:
SUBMISSIONS FOR REGULAR ISSUES OF LIGHT
● We're looking for funny, well-crafted poems. Most of the time, this means work that rhymes and/or scans—but we are also open to comic free verse. (No prose poems, please.)
● Please submit only poems that have never been published online. (Posting a poem in a blog or on a public social-media page counts as publication. Workshopping a poem in a forum not visible to the public does not.) It’s fine if the poems have appeared in print (paper) books you wrote—as long as they aren't available on the web, and haven't appeared in a print journal or anthology within the previous two years. You must own the copyright to the submitted work. (If the work has been published before, please tell us where and when.)
● We do not consider simultaneous submissions.
● Please wait to hear back about each of your submissions before sending another.
● For now, we are accepting poetry submissions only--no prose, drawings, or photographs.
● Submit up to five poems, all in one electronic file, with a page break after each one--but don't put your name in the title of your submission or in the file containing your poems. Instead, please share identifying info in your cover letter only. The cover letter should include your name, e-mail address, snail-mail address and phone number, anything else you'd like us to know, and a third-person paragraph about yourself that will run on the site if your work is accepted (most are under 100 words). Our online method of submitting is secure, easy, and greatly preferred; you'll receive an automatic message letting you know your work has been received. Just click on "Submit" at the bottom of this page and take it from there... If you absolutely must send work by snail mail, however, please use the postal address below. Your poems need to be submitted in one of the following formats:
Word document (.doc or .docx) files
Rich Text Format (.rtf) files
● We try to respond to submissions within five months, though it may occasionally take a bit longer, especially for snail-mail submissions. Please let us respond to your submission before you send additional poems.
SUBMISSIONS FOR LIGHT'S "POEM OF THE WEEK" FEATURE
See separate guidelines page.
ACCEPTED POEMS
Like most poetry magazines, Light is a nonpaying market—at least for now. We seek non-exclusive rights to your work. (See below.)
Accepted poems will usually be published within six to 18 months, Multiple acceptances may be published in more than one issue.
When submitting work to Light, you agree that:
● It's original work, by you, and you hold the copyright.
● It has never appeared online before, outside of a workshop or private social-media page.
● It hasn't been published in a print (paper) journal or anthology within the previous two years. (If it has appeared in a print book you wrote, though, that's fine.)
● If the work is accepted by Light, you will not publish it elsewhere before it appears in Light, except in a print (paper) collection of your own work. After the work appears in Light, you are free to reprint it wherever you like, but please include a credit line saying it was first published in Light and, when possible, include a link to our home page.
● While you retain all rights to your poem/s, we have non-exclusive electronic permission to post accepted work in our online archives and share it through social media.
● We have your permission to include your published poem/s in a printed anthology. If possible, you will receive compensation for such an inclusion, either in dollars or copies.
If you have questions not answered here, feel free to contact Light’s editors at lightpoetrymagazine@gmail.com
Again, online submissions are strongly preferred. But if you must submit work by snail-mail, send it to:
Light
500 Joseph C. Wilson Blvd.
CPU Box 274499
Rochester, NY 14627
*Please include an email address in your cover letter. We prefer to respond to submissions via email.
SUBMITTING BOOKS FOR REVIEW
If you have a book you’d like considered for a possible review in Light—one that includes a large helping of light verse and was published within the previous 12 months, or that will be published in the next six—please send a copy to:
Barbara Loots
4741 Central St.
Ste. 601
Kansas City, MO 64112
(Pre-print-run electronic copies may be sent to lightpoetryreviews@gmail.com)