Fee-Free Mainstream Poems

Rituals: Our summer anthology focuses on themes of nostaliga and memory, and the things that connect us across time, space and history. We want your summertime vacation memories. A first kiss at sunset. The existential musings as you stare up at a midsummer meteor shower. Tidings: Our winter anthology focuses on themes of tradition, cycles of life – the light and the dark, and the need for human connection. We want your cozy holiday memories. The power of a winter storm…
Genres: General.
Lengths: Poem.
Payment: No monetary payment.
Avg. Response: Faster than average responder. 33.9 days.
Acceptances: Approachable. 58.8% of poetry submissions accepted.

Our goal is to bring compelling, meaningful, insightful fiction and poetry to you on a regular basis. Something you can ponder and gnaw on. Something to bring light, or at least, growth and understanding to our readers on a regular basis. No frivolous pieces here. Your time is too valuable. We're serious about our words, and are selective in what we present to you, sifting through the mountains of words to pull out the diamonds…
Genres: General.
Lengths: Poem.
Payment: No monetary payment.
Avg. Response: Slower than average responder. 162.8 days.
Acceptances: Approachable. 14.3% of poetry submissions accepted.

Carolina Muse Literary & Arts Magazine is a multimedia arts magazine primarily showcasing young adult creators in the Carolinas. Our mission is to provide a multi-sensory, immersive platform for all types of creatives that reveals the way various art forms can work together to tell the stories of our human experience. The work we publish is diverse by its nature…
Genres: General.
Lengths: Poem.
Payment: No monetary payment.
Avg. Response: Faster than average responder. 40.0 days.
Acceptances: Approachable. 16.5% of poetry submissions accepted.

Hedge Apple is a literary magazine published more or less once a year by the students and faculty of Hagerstown Community College in Maryland. How the heck did you come up with the name Hedge Apple? Well, I’ll tell you… On a grassy hillock between the classroom building and the library, stretches a stately row of Osage orange trees (Maclura pomifera), also known as bowwood, yellowwood, bois d’arc, and locally, hedge apples. The trees have thorny branches and dark-yellow tinged bark…
Genres:   Open to all/most genres, including: General.
Lengths: Poem.
Payment: No monetary payment. Free copy(ies). Details: Print copies are only available to contributors in the US.
Avg. Response: Slower than average responder. 94.7 days.
Acceptances: Approachable. 36.8% of poetry submissions accepted.

Randy & Shirley Brooks started Mayfly in 1986. All submissions are judged competition style, reading all submissions one month before publication. We publish an issue every summer and winter. We feel it is the duty of the editors and writers to make careful selection and proper presentation of only the very best, the most evocative, the truly effective haiku. We publish only 26 haiku per issue.
Genres: General.
Lengths: Poem.
Payment: No monetary payment. Details: They pay in store credit, which Duotrope does not consider real-world currency.
Avg. Response: Faster than average responder. 37.1 days.
Acceptances: Approachable. 30.8% of poetry submissions accepted.

The Meadow is the literary and arts journal of Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada. The Meadow publishes work from beginning and experienced writers and artists each spring. We accept poetry, fiction, nonfiction, artwork, photography, comics, graphic design work and other literary and artistic forms.
Genres: General.
Lengths: Poem.
Payment: No monetary payment.
Avg. Response: Average responder. 65.8 days.
Acceptances: Unknown. None reported yet in poetry.

PHQ explores the myriad ways writers manifest their relationship to the botanical world – from heavily researched pieces, to keen observation, to less systematic, intuitive ways of knowing and interacting – that attempt to communicate across boundaries and possibly approach a plant’s-eye-view of the world.
Genres: General.
Lengths: Poem.
Payment: No monetary payment.
Avg. Response: Faster than average responder. 37.5 days.
Acceptances: Approachable. 16.7% of poetry submissions accepted.