misfitmagazine.net

Above all else: Be Real. Show some grit, some grist, down in the dirt, real life experience. If that indicates a bias towards narrative work, so be it; that's the way it is. If you write formal poetry, good for you, but this is probably not the place for it. Almost all formal poetry bores me to tears. The one form that doesn't might surprise you. Hint: it doesn't start with S or P or a V. However, given that bias, that does not give you the license to send your drunken bar room ravings inspired by Bukowski or your drug fueled revelations while reading Rimbaud. I worked in a bar for 34 years, I'll know. And don't try and fake it either. I'll know. Don't send something you'd be comfortable sending your MFA thesis advisor. I won't like it and I'll know. I went to graduate school too. For English literature when they still taught actual lit. Above all, no bull, no shit, no religious, no greeting card verse, no genre, no hearts and flowers, and no rants, political or otherwise. Don't try and impress me because you won't. Just send something solid, that feels real. Otherwise, ultimately, the only person you will be fooling is yourself.