We are looking for fantastical poetry of literary and emotional depth from a diversity of voices and perspectives. Our definition of fantastical is quite fluid, encompassing fantasy, magic realism, myth, folklore, surrealism and slipstream. We desire poetry that is atypically beautiful, unconventionally imaginative, and boundary-crossing. We are not interested in work that is strictly science fiction or mainstream, but poetry that blurs the lines between such genres and the fantastical is welcome.
We place no limitations on what we will consider in regards to form or style. Try us with anything from prose and visual poetry to sonnets and villanelles. We wish to see everything: divergent, traditional, curious, and otherwise.
As we are a publication working to diversify what the fantastical offers, we strive to present a multiplicity of voices and seek to celebrate work by poets who identify as women, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, neurodiverse, and any other marginalized identity. In particular, we are interested in work that explores race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability, and identity in original and meaningful ways.
It should go without saying, but do not send us work appropriating experiences and/or identities that are not your own. We do not tolerate this nor any other form of bigotry. This means no racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, transmisogyny, ableism, fatphobia, exoticizing/fetishizing of cultures, communities, and peoples, Islamophobia, etc.
We follow a biweekly publishing schedule, meaning we publish one poem every other week, except in the months of February, May, August, and November, during which we publish one poem every week.
We are OPEN to submissions.
SUBMISSION DETAILS::
Our editorial email address is poetry at throughthegate dot net.
You may submit up to THREE (3) poems per submission.
Please use 'SUBMISSION: Author's Name' as the subject line of your email. If you do not follow this simple request, your submission will not be read.
Please paste all poetry in the body of your email in plain text. If your work has special formatting, you may attach it as a PDF, Word, Pages, or RTF file. We prefer PDFs.
While we enjoy a hello, cover letters are unnecessary. But do include a bio.
We accept simultaneous submissions. We do not accept unsolicited reprints.
We endeavor to respond to every submission within sixty days. If you have not heard from us after sixty days have passed, please send us a query with 'QUERY: Author's Name' in the subject line.
PAYMENT AND RIGHTS:
Payment is $20 (USD) per unpublished poem by PayPal. We purchase First North American Serial Right and First World Electronic Rights, as well as Non-Exclusive Anthology Rights and Non-Exclusive Archival Rights.