In honor of our favorite holiday, Bad Poetry Day, for the months of May, June, and July we’re accepting submissions of bad poetry to publish in a special issue on August 18th.

WHAT IS BAD POETRY?

For us, the perfect bad poem hits that sweet spot between cliché and cringe, maybe has a wink and nudge or a punchline, always exhibits full commitment to the bit. It’s silly and stupid, but weirdly deep. It might have a particularly unhinged metaphor. It takes itself too seriously and knows it’s not serious at all. It would look phenomenal plastered artsy-fartsy-like over a 2010-era tumblr photo.

THE DETAILS

Poems should be no longer than 10 lines or 100 words, whichever is shorter. No minimum length.

We’re not interested in weird or complicated formatting.

Send up to 3 bad poems in a single submission, all in the body of an email. Do not send us attachments.

Your subject line should read BAD POETRY SUBMISSION: [YOUR NAME]. If you do not VERY CLEARLY mark that it is a Bad Poetry submission, it will not be judged as such.

Since we’re curating an issue, accepts will be notified at the beginning of August.

Last day for Bad Poetry submissions is July 31st.

You can submit to both the Bad Poetry call and our regular submissions simultaneously. If your Bad Poetry submission is rejected, feel free to submit again.

Please do not submit work The Lit Nerds has already rejected.

All other normal submission guidelines apply. 

WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?

Well, first and foremost, we think it’s fun. We’ve always considered Bad Poetry Day a great excuse to shake off the constraints of “good” work and just write something stupid and fun. This year we want to extend that to you, and publish some of it.

More importantly, we’ve seen some of our favorite poems come out of Bad Poetry Day prompts. When people aren’t trying to write “good” poems, they sometimes write great poems. As such, all submissions to our Bad Poetry call will be considered for regular publication as well.

So send us your stupid, your silly, your cringe. Send us the darlings you never killed even when you should have, the poems you wrote in your middle school journal that you still kind of love. Send us the best of your worst, because we want to read it. 

Come celebrate Bad Poetry Day with us.