PLEASE NOTE: If you are seeing a banner that says "There are presently no open calls for submissions" anytime between March 1-June 30 or between August 1-September 30, we have reached our monthly cap. Please see below for more information. 

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Our Aesthetic:

Our diverse group of editors looks for the best unpublished poems, translations, and short lyric prose pieces by local, national, and international writers. We welcome all styles of writing, particularly that which is well-crafted, uses language lovingly and surprisingly, and feels daring or quietly powerful.

How and When to Submit:

While we do accept submissions via mail, we strongly encourage you to submit via Submittable. Please submit only once during each reading period.

· General Submissions: March 1 – June 30 or until monthly caps are reached

· Founders’ Prize: August 1 – September 30 or until monthly caps are reached

In order to allow our team of editors to read each submission with care, we cap our submissions every month. Once we’ve reached our cap, the window will remain closed until the first day of the following month, or until the next reading window opens.

All submissions are automatically considered for our Editors’ Prize; Founders' Prize submissions are considered for the Founders' Prize as well as the Editors' Prize. We often award a Translation Prize as well.

How does Rhino work?

Every submission is reviewed by at least three editors, any of whom can nominate a poem to be brought to our editorial table; there the poem is read aloud, discussed, and voted on by all the editors in attendance. Majority votes win; no editor has any more or less decision-making power than any other.

Our tastes are deliberately eclectic, and we value the dynamic discussions we have around our editorial table. We take a “step forward, step back” approach to our discussions, making sure that all editors’ voices are heard. 

We build our journal poem by poem, organizing it alphabetically by author’s last name, letting the poems speak to each other as they wish to. That is, we don’t seek out poems by theme or kind. We select poems on their own merits, not by the reputation of the poet who submitted it to us. Every poem is a new beginning. Every poem is a fresh start.

We are curious about who submits to us, and we hope everyone feels welcome and encouraged to submit. We are looking for ways to reflect more deeply on our editorial practices, to stretch our own ideas of what excellence is, and to challenge ourselves to read beyond our comfort zones.

None of our editors are paid for their work. We create this journal because we believe in it, we believe in the work we publish, and we believe in the importance of collaboration and artistic community.