on persistence

i have two poems out in the newest issue of POETRY Magazine, & it only took nine years!

May 09, 2026

I have two poems in the newest issue of POETRY, and I love these poems, so I wanted to share them with you here! Read them by clicking on the photos below:

POETRY Magazine is one of the most well-known literary journals and one of the first I encountered, so this publication feels very special to me. It also made me think about just how long I’ve been trying to get a poem into POETRY—about as long as I’ve been submitting my poems. Over nine years ago. Look!

Anyways, I really do think there’s value in talking openly about The Process of publishing—much like there’s value in talking about pay rates, and royalties, and talking about your salary and bonus with your coworkers. The Process™ of publishing can feel painful and painfully slow: My Submittable account lists 2,099 submissions and, of those, only 11% were accepted. Of those acceptances, sometimes, I had to submit to a journal many times before an acceptance came—like with POETRY, or like with Split Lip Magazine, which I’ve been submitting to since 2020, and whose next issue I have a poem in (finally—after six years!). Other journals, I’m still trying.

Relatedly, I’ve been trying to place two poetry collections for the last five years without success, which is demoralizing / kinda devastating / deeply upsetting / apparently quite noticeable1 / which is wow humiliating and makes me feel like this:

It’s hard to be a writer and it’s hard to find your readers. Even more, it’s hard to find journals where you’re offered both a readership and payment for your work2. It’s also just so painfully slow. And, of course, I’m sure that some journal editors and some presses will simply never think my work is a good fit for them, and that’s fine, but persisting in spite of rejection—and almost sort of gamifying The Process™—really does help me continue forward and, for the most part, not take it personally. I highly recommend it.

For whatever it’s worth, I really do believe in the power of persistence: you do the work, you trust your skills, you hone your craft, you send your writing out to the journals you love, and you keep trying until something clicks.

With that in mind, here are some journals I love that you should try submitting to this May:

AGNI
What: Poetry and prose
Payment: $10 per printed (or printed-out) page for accepted prose, and $20 per page for accepted poetry, up to a maximum of $150
Deadline: May 31, 2026

Contemporary Verse 2
What: Poetry and critical writing about poetry
Payment: $35 - $150 (Note: Free submissions for Canadians only)
Deadline: May 31, 2026

The Offing
What: Translation, poetry, and creative nonfiction
Payment: $25-$100
Deadline: May 31, 2026

Qwerty Magazine: Post and Beam (The Architecture Issue)
What: “In this special issue commemorating our 30th anniversary, we want your stories, poems, and otherwise artistic interpretations on the theme of dark architecture and pseudoarchaeology. […] We want your weird little crawlspaces. We want your five-and-a-half-minute hallways and backrooms. We want your unknowable ancient monuments that might be instruments for giants. Send us your doors found ajar, dwelling and liminality, flash fiction found on street signs and graffiti, and literal concrete poetry. Over the last 30 years, we have built a lasting little nook behind the cracks of the Poets' Corner—our own typeface Fraggle Rock. Let this issue be a testament to the weird: an architecture you don't so much digest as suck it down.”
Pay: $15
Deadline: May 31, 2026

And here are my new poems linked via Twitter, if you’re still on there, in case you want to give them any love.3