We are a poetry-only journal that welcomes submissions three times per year during our open reading periods through Submittable. Any breaks, hiatuses, or interruptions to our reading period will be announced here.

Send us your most polished work. We look for the best poems, regardless of form or subject matter. Submissions are open to any poet writing in English from anywhere in the world. However, we do not accept translations at this time. We encourage submissions from writers of all backgrounds, including LGBTQIA+ writers, writers of color, unpublished writers, writers with disabilities, and international writers. All who submit work must be at least 18 years of age.

We do not accept work that exhibits racism, xenophobia, sexism, ageism, classism, religious prejudice, ableism, or hatred of any marginalized group or individual.

Send up to 5 poems for consideration, with a maximum of 2 pages per poem. Submit all poems in one document in Times New Roman 12-point font. Poems should be single-spaced, with each poem beginning on a new page. Because we have format limitations, do not submit work that requires odd spacing or shapes that can’t be easily accommodated. Do not place your name or any personal information on your submitted poems, nor in the file name of your submission. Your name and personal information should only appear in the requested sections of Submittable. In the cover letter area, include your name, poem titles, and a brief biography (100-word maximum).

We accept simultaneous submissions, but please let us know immediately if one or more of your poems are accepted elsewhere first. We do NOT accept previously published work, either in print or online (e.g. blogs, social media, websites).

Submit only once per reading period. We do not accept or read multiple submissions in the same reading period. To offer additional opportunities to more authors, we publish a poet’s work no more than once per year. By waiting one year before submitting again, we mean skipping two issues of RockPaperPoem. Since we publish three times a year, we regard this as a year’s wait. Expect a response to your submission within 30 days after the close of the open reading period.

Unfortunately, we are not able to pay contributors at this time. However, we enthusiastically nominate and publicize poems for Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize, in addition to publicizing our contributors through social media channels.

By submitting to RockPaperPoem, you confirm that all your work and submissions are yours alone and that no part of your submission has been generated by any artificial intelligence (AI) content generator. If a poem of yours is accepted, you grant RockPaperPoem First North American Serial and First Electronic Rights to your submitted work. All rights revert to you after publication. If you re-publish any accepted work at a later date, you agree to credit  RockPaperPoem as the original place of publication.