Welcome home, poet.
Frontier Poetry began with the simple mission of being a platform for emerging poets—to uplift, to prepare, and to inspire.
We are looking for poets and poems that strive to place themselves at the edge of what language can do. This does not mean we are only concerned with experimental poetry. We believe sonnets can be at the frontier, book-length poems can be at the frontier, confessional poetry can be at the frontier—as long as a piece is constructed with exceptional consideration for language, craft, and heart, that poem is a fit for us.
Work by new and underrepresented voices is one of our priorities in publication. We take our role as a mediating platform between poet and world seriously and strive to use this role as fairly and justly as we can. The frontier land of poetry, that distant landscape where all voices can be heard clearly and in abundance, where poets from all contexts feel empowered to step into their writing—we seek that place, and hope to plant ourselves in its beauty.
By submitting to Frontier Poetry, submitters agree to receive correspondence about new work and submission opportunities from Frontier Poetry. You can unsubscribe at any time.
**If you haven't already, please verify your email address with Submittable for more consistent communication.**
Unless specifically requested, we do not accept AI-generated work.
2023 Ekphrastic Poetry Prize
Ekphrasis comes from “description” in Greek. Ekphrastic poems seek to vibrantly describe, interpret, or converse with a visual scene or moment, usually a work of art. They often are about the speaker’s encounter with the art, and how viewing or experiencing it has impacted them.
Are you haunted by a painting that you encountered online, or a sculpture that you stood transfixed before in a museum? Some more contemporary interpretations of ekphrasis can allude to television, cinema, or even music. Is there a specific piece of media that has affected you profoundly? If so—
We invite you to submit to Frontier’s Ekphrastic Poetry Prize. From December 1, 2023, to January 28, 2024, submit poems that are ekphrastic in some way, that engage dynamically with the art of those around you. The winning poet will receive $3,000 as well as publication. The second- and third-place winners will receive $300 and $200 respectively, as well as publication. Finalists will also be considered for publication!
About Our Judge:
Steve Bellin-Oka’s first book of poems, Instructions for Seeing a Ghost (2020), won the Vassar Miller Prize from the University of North Texas Press. He is also the author of four chapbooks, including Tell Me Exactly What You Saw and What You Think It Means (2021), winner of the Blue Mountain Review LGBQT+ Poetry Prize. He has been awarded fellowships from the Tulsa Artist Fellowship, Yaddo, the Vermont Studio Center, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and the National Parks Arts Foundation. He has taught poetry writing and literature at the University of Mississippi, the University of Missouri–St. Louis, and Eastern New Mexico University. Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, he now lives in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he teaches at Wyoming Seminary.
Steve Bellin-Oka will select the winner from ten finalists curated by the editorial team.
Guidelines:
- Submissions are open to new and emerging writers (that is, for this contest, poets with no more than one full-length published work forthcoming at the time of submission).
- As part of our dedication to the pursuit of a more inclusive publishing world, we offer a free submission window for historically marginalized poets at the beginning of the contest cycle. The portal will close when we reach twenty-five free submissions.
- Do not include any identifying information in the body of your document.
- Send up to three poems per submission, for a total of no more than five pages. We have no aesthetic or formal requirements and consider all styles of poetry.
- Please submit unpublished poems only.
- We welcome simultaneous submissions, but please notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
- You may submit multiple times, but each submission requires a separate $20 fee.
- Please provide a brief cover letter that includes a short, third-person bio with your publication history and any applicable content warnings. Also, please tell us which work(s) of art inspired your poem(s) in this cover letter.
- Submissions are open internationally, to any poet writing in English. Inclusion of other languages is welcome, as long as the poem is primarily written in English.
- Please do not submit work if you have a personal relationship with the guest judge.
- If you haven't already, please verify your email address with Submittable for more consistent communication.
- We will not accept AI-generated work for this contest.
- If you have any questions, please visit our FAQ page first. If you don’t find the answer to your question, you can send an email to contact (at) frontierpoetry (dot) com.
Editorial Feedback Option:
This option costs $59 and will provide you with two pages of detailed and actionable feedback on a poem of your choice from your packet, including suggestions for future submissions. The $149 option will provide you with three letters from three different editors. Our guest editors are paid a significant portion of the fee and all are astute and professional poets.
2023 Ekphrastic Poetry Prize
Ekphrasis comes from “description” in Greek. Ekphrastic poems seek to vibrantly describe, interpret, or converse with a visual scene or moment, usually a work of art. They often are about the speaker’s encounter with the art, and how viewing or experiencing it has impacted them.
Are you haunted by a painting that you encountered online, or a sculpture that you stood transfixed before in a museum? Some more contemporary interpretations of ekphrasis can allude to television, cinema, or even music. Is there a specific piece of media that has affected you profoundly? If so—
We invite you to submit to Frontier’s Ekphrastic Poetry Prize. From December 1, 2023, to January 28, 2024, submit poems that are ekphrastic in some way, that engage dynamically with the art of those around you. The winning poet will receive $3,000 as well as publication. The second- and third-place winners will receive $300 and $200 respectively, as well as publication. Finalists will also be considered for publication!
About Our Judge:
Steve Bellin-Oka’s first book of poems, Instructions for Seeing a Ghost (2020), won the Vassar Miller Prize from the University of North Texas Press. He is also the author of four chapbooks, including Tell Me Exactly What You Saw and What You Think It Means (2021), winner of the Blue Mountain Review LGBQT+ Poetry Prize. He has been awarded fellowships from the Tulsa Artist Fellowship, Yaddo, the Vermont Studio Center, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and the National Parks Arts Foundation. He has taught poetry writing and literature at the University of Mississippi, the University of Missouri–St. Louis, and Eastern New Mexico University. Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, he now lives in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he teaches at Wyoming Seminary.
Steve Bellin-Oka will select the winner from ten finalists curated by the editorial team.
Guidelines:
- Submissions are open to new and emerging writers (that is, for this contest, poets with no more than one full-length published work forthcoming at the time of submission).
- As part of our dedication to the pursuit of a more inclusive publishing world, we offer a free submission window for historically marginalized poets at the beginning of the contest cycle. The portal will close when we reach twenty-five free submissions.
- Do not include any identifying information in the body of your document.
- Send up to three poems per submission, for a total of no more than five pages. We have no aesthetic or formal requirements and consider all styles of poetry.
- Please submit unpublished poems only.
- We welcome simultaneous submissions, but please notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
- You may submit multiple times, but each submission requires a separate $20 fee.
- Please provide a brief cover letter that includes a short, third-person bio with your publication history and any applicable content warnings. Also, please tell us which work(s) of art inspired your poem(s) in this cover letter.
- Submissions are open internationally, to any poet writing in English. Inclusion of other languages is welcome, as long as the poem is primarily written in English.
- Please do not submit work if you have a personal relationship with the guest judge.
- If you haven't already, please verify your email address with Submittable for more consistent communication.
- We will not accept AI-generated work for this contest.
- If you have any questions, please visit our FAQ page first. If you don’t find the answer to your question, you can send an email to contact (at) frontierpoetry (dot) com.
Editorial Feedback Option:
This option costs $59 and will provide you with two pages of detailed and actionable feedback on a poem of your choice from your packet, including suggestions for future submissions. The $149 option will provide you with three letters from three different editors. Our guest editors are paid a significant portion of the fee and all are astute and professional poets.
Submissions for our New Voices poetry category are open year round to any new and emerging poet who has not published more than one full-length collection of poetry. New Voices are published online only and will feature a number of poems from new authors each month.
We are thrilled to offer significant payment to our partner poets: $50 per poem, up to $150. We are proud to be paying for published pieces but will be highly selective in our choices for publication.
We also warmly invite under-represented and marginalized voices to submit. Our aim is to be an accurate representation of the diversity of our beautiful community. Your voice is valued here.
Guidelines
- Submissions are open to new and emerging poets only (no more than two full-length published works forthcoming at the time of submission—email us about self-published works)
- We accept simultaneous submissions—just please send us a note if your work is picked up elsewhere (We want to say congrats!)
- All submissions must be no more than 10 pages and no more than 5 poems.
- We do not accept multiple submissions. Please submit all your poems in ONE document.
- Please include a cover letter with your publication history
- Expect 8-12 weeks for a response
- Please review our FAQ page for more information. Almost all other questions are answered here: www.frontierpoetry.com/faq
Editorial Feedback Option
This option costs $59 and will provide you with two pages of detailed and actionable feedback on a poem of your choice from the submission, including suggestions for future submissions. Our guest editors are paid a significant portion of the fee (at EFA rates) and are all incredibly astute and professional poets.
We have a problem in publishing. The 2019 Diversity in Publishing survey found that on average almost 80% of people shaping the publishing industry are white. When this was published, that statistic had not shifted significantly for years. This reality perpetuates the systematic exclusion of historically marginalized writers that will not change unless those with literary platforms and thus some degree of power actively strive to change it.
Toward that end, we at Frontier are offering this space as an opportunity for Black writers, Indigenous writers, and writers of color (BIPOC) to get fast results on their submissions. We'll do our best to get you a decision on your poetry within two to four weeks. Your voice is valued here, and we welcome your work.
These submissions will be considered for our New Voices poetry category.
Guidelines
- Submissions are open internationally for historically marginalized BIPOC writers only.
- Submissions are open to new and emerging poets with no more than one full-length published work forthcoming at the time of submission—email us about self-published works)
- We accept simultaneous submissions—just please send us a note via Submittable if your work is picked up elsewhere (we want to say congrats!)
- All submissions must be no more than ten pages and no more than five poems.
- We do not accept multiple submissions. Please submit all your poems in ONE document.
- Please include a brief cover letter with your publication history, if any.
- Expect two to four weeks for a response.
- Publication in our New Voices category includes a payment of $50 per poem.
- Please review our FAQ page for more information. Almost all other questions are answered here: www.frontierpoetry.com/faq