THE INNISFREE POETRY JOURNAL

Submission Guidelines 

The Innisfree Poetry Journal welcomes submissions of original, previously unpublished poems year round. We accept poems for consideration only via email from both established writers and new writers whose work is excellent. We publish well-crafted poems, whether in free verse or in traditional forms, poems grounded in the specific, which speak in fresh language and telling images. And we admire musicality: we welcome those who, like the late Lorenzo Thomas, "write poems because I can't sing."

Deadlines:

February 1 for the spring issue
August 1 for the fall issue

Submissions received after these dates will be considered for the following issue.

Details:

1. In ONE Word document, submit a brief bio and up to five poems attached to an email addressed to editor@innisfreepoetry.org. (If you do not have Word, please use rich text format.)

2. Include your name, as you would like it to appear in Innisfree, in the subject line of your submission.

3. Simultaneous submissions are welcome, even encouraged. If a poem is accepted elsewhere, however, please be sure to notify us immediately at editor@innisfreepoetry.org.

4. Please submit only once per issue.

5. In this age of digital publishing, it is also helpful if you

(a) attach one document that includes the bio and all submitted poems,

(b) format poems flush left (except for indentations intrinsic to the form of the poem),

(c)state in the email the number of poems being submitted, and

(d) cast your bio in 3rd person.

Assurances:

In making your submission, you assure The Innisfree Poetry Journal that the work is your own original creation; that it has not been published, electronically or in print; that it has not been accepted for publication elsewhere; and that you are 18 years of age or older.

Rights:

By accepting a poem, Innisfree acquires first publication rights, including the right to publish it online and maintain it there as part of the issue in which it appears, to make it available in a printer-friendly format, to make the issue of Innisfree in which it appears downloadable as a PDF document and available as a printed volume.  All other rights revert to the poet after online publication of the poem in The Innisfree Poetry Journal.

Previously Published Work:

While Innisfree is primarily "a journal of contemporary poetry," an offering of work being written today, we do on occasion reprint previously published work.  This practice is featured most prominently in our "Closer Look" series, in which especially accomplished contemporary poets with a significant body of work are presented at some length, including prose and links to other resources and commentary relating to the poet.  The intention is to bring the work of these poets to the attention of a larger readership.  The choice of these poets depends entirely on the taste of the Editor.  In addition, the Editor may also occasionally solicit previously published work from selected poets so as to release especially fine work from the confines of bookshelf-bound volumes.  

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

Hear Yeats read: