P – Poetry Northwest Seeking Submissions for: “Presenting” featuring poets whose work has never before been featured in a nationally distributed print journal

Thank you for your interest in Poetry Northwest, the region’s oldest literary magazine. After more than 60 years, we remain committed to publishing the best in contemporary poetry, especially work willing to take risks and push readers to the emotional and intellectual edge of what poetry makes possible. Our editor, Keetje Kuipers, recently spoke with Poets & Writers about her editorial vision for the magazine:

I’m interested in accepting poems that I struggle with, that I don’t understand, that I might even fundamentally disagree with in terms of either their craft or simply the argument that they’re making about the state of the world. I’m excited to take those chances and to make myself uncomfortable and make readers a little uncomfortable.

We are also staunch advocates for our writers, and poems published in our magazine often appear later in the pages of the Pushcart Prize and Best American anthologies.

We strive to go beyond encouraging submissions from diverse voices. Our mission to employ equitable editorial practices runs parallel to our mission to publish the most exciting poetry we can find. Take a look at a recent issue and you’ll see that we stand behind both these commitments.

Presenting: Featuring Emerging Writers

If you are an emerging writer, please consider submitting poems to Presenting, a print feature in which Senior Editor Xavier Cavazos introduces readers to a poet whose work has never before been featured in a nationally distributed print journal. All work submitted in this category will be considered for general publication even if not selected for the Presenting feature.

We accept submissions online via Submittable only; work sent via mail will be recycled. Emailed submissions will go unread.

• Please submit no more than four poems at a time. Combine all poems into a single document and upload as a Word file. If you wish to submit a PDF, please include it as a second file.
• Out of respect for our volunteer readers, we request that you include a content warning if your work references or depicts personal or historical trauma (including violence, genocide, assault, abuse, etcetera). Please use the format “CW: ______” at the bottom of your cover letter.