Experimental Poems

Call Me [Brackets] is a literary journal dedicated to you, despite what the first-person accusative pronoun suggests. This is an amalgamation of what defines you, motivates you, and (dare we say) calls to you. We publish two editions each year, filled with captivating prose and poetry from new and experienced writers.
Genres: General.
Lengths: Poem.
Payment: No monetary payment.
Avg. Response: Average responder. 76.3 days.
Acceptances: Approachable. 21.4% of poetry submissions accepted.

The Gravity of the Thing is an independent publisher of defamiliarized creative writing. Our features have been anthologized in Best Small Fictions, noted in the Best American series, and finalists in the Shirley Jackson Awards, and we are the grateful recipient of grant funding from Oregon’s Regional Arts & Culture Council. Our ongoing goal is to publish work that defamiliarizes storytelling, writing that stranges in pursuit of a renewed sense of discovery.
Genres: General.
Lengths: Poem.
Payment: No monetary payment.
Avg. Response: Average responder. 80.3 days.
Acceptances: Approachable. 15.4% of poetry submissions accepted.

Why The Itch? Some stories entertain. Some stories explain. The stories we love most do neither. They linger. They follow us into grocery stores and waiting rooms. They wake us at three in the morning. They demand another draft. Another reading. Another look. The Itch exists for writing that refuses to leave. We publish work that burrows beneath the skin—flash fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and hybrid forms that surprise, unsettle, delight, or haunt…
Genres: General.
Lengths: Poem.
Payment: No monetary payment.
Avg. Response: Average responder. 62.2 days.
Acceptances: Average. 7.9% of poetry submissions accepted.

Meridian is a literary journal produced at the University of Virginia in conjunction with the university’s M.F.A. Program in Creative Writing, whose students serve as the magazine’s editors. Founded in 1998, Meridian has featured the works of numerous Pulitzer Prize Winners, National Book Award Winners, and established writers including Charles Wright, Rita Dove, Yusef Komunyakaa, Seamus Heaney, Ann Beattie, John Casey, George Garrett, Heather McHugh, Richard Bausch, Bonnie Jo Campbell,…
Genres: General.
Lengths: Poem.
Payment: No monetary payment. Free copy(ies).
Avg. Response: Slower than average responder. 121.0 days.
Acceptances: Challenging. 6.4% of poetry submissions accepted.

Spellbinder is a literary and art magazine founded in 2020 by members of the Durham University Creative Writing Society. Now led by Co-Editors-in-Chief Effy Kousteni and Tatianna Kalb, the magazine champions experimental, original, and boundary-pushing work. While the editorial team is especially committed to supporting writers and artists at the beginning of their creative careers, submissions from previously published and exhibited contributors are also welcomed…
Genres: Open to all/most genres.
Lengths: Poem.
Payment: No monetary payment.
Avg. Response: Faster than average responder. 34.1 days.
Acceptances: Approachable. 16.7% of poetry submissions accepted.