Marc Beaudin

Read the First 10 Tips Here.

11.
If you have a submission that is pending a response from a journal, don’t send more pieces until you receive a reply. If the stated response time has passed (for Poets’ Basement this is one month), it’s appropriate to send a polite note to inquire as to its status. As far as stated response times, give them some leeway: they may be swamped with more submissions than usual or your poems may be “on deck” for a later publication. But if it’s been a month or two after what’s listed, by all means send a query. If you don’t hear back from them after this, I would write them off as being unprofessional jerks and send my work elsewhere (but still send a still polite note letting them know you’re pulling your work from their consideration).

12.
Don’t send me your first draft. Don’t send me your second draft. Or your third, fourth, or fifth. Send me your final draft.

13.
Separate revision from editing. Editing is technical: proofread; make specific and meaningful decisions about punctuation, line breaks, capitalization, tense and style; cut the superfluous; etc. But revision should be literally “Re-Visioning.” See the work again from that original mind. Return to the heart of your creative spark and make sure that every word serves that vision.

14.
Find and read Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg and Pig Notes & Dumb Music by William Heyen. Re-read them both many times.

15.
Don’t resubmit a piece to a journal that’s already rejected it, even if you think current events make the piece more timely, or you’ve made a couple of minor changes. If the editors wanted it, they would have taken it the first time. If you’ve made a complete revision you might try sending it with an explanatory note, although this may merely give the editors the idea that you should have done the revisions before asking them to consider it the first time.

16.
Make good use of rejection notices. Most editors don’t have the time to send a personal note with your rejections, but when one does, take any comments or advice to heart. They wouldn’t spend the time unless they liked your writing and you were getting close. Honestly ask yourself if their suggestions could help your poem. If the answer is “possibly” or above, go back to work. See #13.

17.
Regarding political or “agenda-driven” verse: If your poem only exists to carry your message, it most likely will fail as a poem. You may be making the most vital and revolutionary point ever made, but that doesn’t in any way excuse a bad poem. Your poem must not be merely a subservient vehicle to your message, it must stand on its own. “No ideas but in things,” said W.C. Williams. Make sure your “thing” is authentic, vibrant and compelling, and then your idea will have the impact it deserves.

18.
If your poem includes an intentional misspelling or similar choice that could easily be considered a typo, include a note specifying your intent.

19.
In his book on directing, Creating Life on Stage, Marshall Mason quotes Jeff Daniels on how he views auditions: “The way I see it, the director has a problem, and I’m there to see if I can help him solve it.” Well, poetry editors have a problem. They need to find and publish the work that best matches their publication’s artistic vision. Help them out by first asking yourself if your work fits that vision, and then by sending them (in the required format) work that is at its best.

20.
Notice in that last tip I said, “work that is at its best” rather than “your best work.” Many journals will tell you to, “send us your best work,” which always bothers me because it implies that your less-than-best poems should be sent somewhere else. It’s not a question of a poem being your best, but its best. Until a poem has been crafted, revised, meditated on, listened to, etc. to the point that you’re sincerely positive (don’t lie to yourself here) that it has reached its full authenticity and music, you shouldn’t send it anywhere.

Poets’ Basement on CounterPunch Guidelines & Call for Submissions
CounterPunch.org

1.
Read the Submission Guidelines and actually follow them. Poetry editors don’t set up guidelines just for kicks: there are specific reasons for each guideline. We receive a lot of submissions and having them formatted a certain way or delivered a certain way means less time making sense of things and more time reading your work. There’s a lot of great poets out there all trying to get published. Why blow your chances of being considered one of them by failing to take some simple steps that are clearly laid out for you? The guidelines are there to help you: use them!

2.
Use standard formatting. Basically this means Times New Roman 12pt. Font (maybe you can get away with Arial or Courier, but why test me?). You can put the title in 14 pt. and/or bold if you like. Single space your poem with one blank space between stanzas. And for gods’ sake, don’t center it!

3.
Proofread, proofread, proofread. Have your friend proofread. Have your mom proofread. Have strangers on the bus proofread. Have your dog proofread! Typos tell an editor one thing (whether or not it’s justified): you don’t take your work very seriously. If you don’t, why should anyone else? A couple techniques that might help: Read your work backwards. This will help you actually see each word rather than seeing what you think is there. Put your poem in a ridiculously big font. Previously hidden typos will jump out at you. (Just be sure to restore it to 12pt. before you send it.)

4.
This goes back to #2, but

that you think looks “poetic.”

5.
This goes for using colors as well.

6.
Don’t tell me to Google you so I can be amazed with your online publishing credits. (Yes, someone did this.) I ask for a short bio. That’s where you can tell me your credentials. I don’t have time to Google you. I’d rather use my time to read your poem. Wouldn’t you?

7.
Read your poem out loud and have others read it to you. Listen to the music of it. Are there “off notes”? Does it flow when it should flow and jar when it should jar?

8.
Read poetry. Read contemporary poetry. Read the classics. Read past installments of Poets’ Basement. Read other journals. Find poets who are better than you and learn from them. Read my poetry (this won’t help you get published anywhere, but it will help me buy my next beer).

9.
Be specific. Your experience and insight is something that no other poet in the world can give me. Stanislavski wrote, “generality is the enemy of all art,” and he was right. The universal is found in the particular.

10.
Beware of adjectives. They are almost always large, unwieldy children.

Read Tips 11 – 20 Here.