P – the engine(idling Seeking Submissions on: The Slant

Poetry Submissions are currently OPEN for Issue 2!

The theme is The Slant, as in …

“ Tell all the truth but tell it slant —”

Poems that explore the associations and connections of a unique mind. The poet’s eye. A perspective that only the individual could conjure. Worlds, experiences, thoughts, and events cast in a new and distinct light. Poems that focus on the strength of voice and personality. Poems that tinker with language, imagery, and unfamiliarity. We want a peek behind the curtain, to see how the poet sees.

The theme is very loose and open to interpretation. The poem’s subject can be anything, as long as it is told slant.

Overall, we are looking for writing that is arresting, musical and absorbing.  We champion originality, inventiveness, word-smithing, vivid imagery, and bold leaps.

To submit, please email 1 – 4 poems to the editor at engineidling@gmail.com.

You may send poems as a .docx attachment, or copy / paste them into the body of the email.

Please use a standard font.  We will not be able to accommodate specialized formatting. Tabs and indents are okay, however, lots of white space, shape poems, or poems with specific spatial needs don’t translate well on site.

Cover letters are appreciated but not necessary. At minimum, include a short third person bio, with your name (or pen name) as you would like it to appear in the issue.  Your bio can list some of your previous publications, and/or something interesting about yourself. A few lines will do. Please also include your Instagram / X handles if you want to be followed / tagged in posts, in the event of your publication. Our acceptance letter asks you for permission to post snippets of your work on social media to promote the issue.

We do not charge for submissions, and we unfortunately cannot pay our contributors.

the engine(idling is a new publication.  Depending on the number of submissions we receive, expect to hear from us within one month, but likely much sooner.  If you have not heard back from us after one month, feel free to inquire by replying back to your original email.

Simultaneous submissions are okay, but please promptly withdraw work accepted elsewhere by replying back to your original submission email.

Previously published work will not be accepted at this time.

We honor First North American Serial Rights.  We want to be your piece’s first publication but the rights to the work are always yours. Your work is your own.  If your piece is published in another journal after publication here, we ask that you include a nod to us being the first.

We will not read work that is intentionally hateful, nor will we entertain the saccharine.

We look forward to reading your work!

We love experimental work, work that pushes boundaries, work that is unexpected or plays with the unfamiliar, absurdists, humorists, hybrid forms, cut / pastes and erasures (with sources cited), rhyming poems, traditional forms, free verse, surrealists, prose poems, micro poems, works that cannot be defined…

The rules are very loose and we are always open to something new. The evidence of craft is what interests us most.