Editor Interview: The Marbled Sigh

poetry by emerging poets

Poetry, AGNI, Wildness, Lean & Loafe, Up the Staircase Quarterly, Arteidolia-Swifts & Slows, Amsterdam Review, Apple Valley Review, Bombay Literary Magazine, The Florida Review, DIAGRAM, The Dodge, The Pinch, sin cesar, Indicia, The Los Angeles Review, Rise Up Review, VIDA, The Westchester Review, Heavy Feather Review, Kartika Review, TAB Journal, Sixth Finch and more.

Our favorite writers are Toni Morrison, Allison Joseph, Oliver de la Paz, Diane Seuss, Jennifer Franklin, Terrance Hayes, Danez Smith, Franny Choi, Fatimah Asghar, David Groff, Yoko Ogawa, Sandra Cisneros, Warsan Shire, Kim Addonizio, Ada Limón, Ilya Kaminski, William Shakespeare, Eve Ensler, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, Yusef Komunyakaa, Ross Gay, Jodi Picoult, Naomi Shihab Nye, Ellen Bass, Marilyn Chin, Marilyn Nelson, Rainer Maria Rilke, Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, Charles Bukowski, Cynthia Cruz, Jane Hirshfield, Louis Glück, Tracy K. Smith, Patricia Smith, Sharon Olds, Natasha Trethewey, Eileen Myles, Carolyn Forche, Nicole Dennis Benn, Jericho Brown, Eduardo C. Corral etc.

Our mission is to publish and elevate emerging poets (writers who have no more than one full-length book). To that end, we only publish emerging writers.

I feel like this is a cliché but it's true: please read the full submission guidelines. The submission guidelines contain when we are open for submissions, what we are looking for (general/theme issues), how we want you to title your submission, and even a sample cover letter.

For general submissions: You are an emerging writer (have no more than one full length book) and you submit a RANGE of 3-5 poems per submission. The title of your submission is your name and the first poem's title. You have a third-person bio at the end.
For theme submissions: You are an emerging writer (have no more than one full length book) and you submit 1-4 poems that fit the theme. The title of your submission is your name and the first poem's title. You have a third-person bio at the end.

1) You are NOT an emerging writer (have 2 or more full length books)
and/or
2) You submit less than 3 poems for general issues or submit poems that don't fit the theme for theme issues.

We prefer a cover letter that addresses the editors and includes a list of poems that are being submitted. Publication credits don't matter to us UNLESS you have 2 more full-length books. We only publish emerging writers (anyone who has no more than one full length book).

We genuinely read every piece to the end. All submissions are read numerous times by Jonathan and I (Nidhi) and we have Zoom meetings where we discuss the craft behind every poem.

1) Is the submission written by an emerging writer (anyone who has no more than one full length collection)?
2) What is the craft like in terms of language, imagery, vividness, form, etc.

Jonathan and I (Nidhi) will both read a submission and log it into an Excel sheet to keep all submissions organized. Then we will write preliminary notes about the poems, and we will meet on Zoom at least twice to read all the submissions together and make final decisions.

We tend to accept poems as they are, however, we provide basic proofreading and will sometimes ask an author about a specific line/word/phrase to clarify what they meant to say and brainstorm if there are more effective ways to get their point across.

Yes, we nominate for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize.