Submission Guideline

delicate emissions poetry zine is a very specific kind of publication. We have a strong online presence, and our poets will always see their poems in our online issues and blog as well as some social media posts. But we exist in physical form, too, and that form is as a brochure. Previously, the brochure was six panels, three of which were dedicated to text other than poems (the cover, the bios, the masthead/colophon). We are now moving to an eight-panel format — still narrow.

So your poems need to fit this format for us to consider.

Some people write long poems, prose poems (Dusti is a prose-poem lover and writer!), poems in shape that are dependent upon having a larger page on which to live. Please don’t send us those poems. We can’t and won’t consider them. There are hundreds — thousands? — of publications that can give those poems a home! We are not one of them.

Here’s what to do:

  1. Look for our submissions to open. We’ve always used Google Forms for ease. If that changes, we’ll make it very clear on the submissions announcement! We’ll announce the opening of submissions here, on ChillSubs, on our BlueSky account, on our Tumblr blog and — for as long as we choose to maintain it — our Instagram account. The best place to find links to our entire online presence is at our LinkTree!
  2. Generally, we open submissions in January, April, July, and October. Sometimes life takes over and we have to play with the dates. They open for about a month, and submitters are generally notified within two weeks of the closing date.
  3. Due to our format, we can generally only accept between six and nine poems per issue.
  4. Follow the prompts on the submission form.
  5. You may submit up to THREE POEMS. Please do not try submitting four or five poems by completing the form twice.
  6. Poems must be in PDF or .docx format for now, in a 12 point standard font, single spaced.
  7. Poems must be 15 or fewer lines, including spaces between stanzas.
  8. Poems with long lines, prose poems, poems depending upon shape or specialized spacing are not appropriate for delicate emissions.
  9. Your bio should be brief. You can be serious or funny or mysterious, but you can’t be long-winded. Or even medium-winded.
  10. Take a few minutes to read what we’ve published! It’s all on our LinkTree. (This is a good idea before submitting to pretty much anywhere!)