Submissions are now closed for issue 6.
GUIDELINES:
Volume! Volume!
Send me a bunch of stuff.
With exceptions, most contributors will get a fair amount of space (between 3 and 8 pages), so I'm happiest when I get a hefty batch of poems to read through.
Send your submission as a Word or OpenOffice document or Rich Text file (we prefer these to "in the body of the email" submissions) to cantexist@gmail.com, or send by snail mail, with your contact information, to:
CANNOT EXIST
c/o Andy Gricevich
4454-D Hillcrest Dr.
Madison, WI 53705
Include a SASE (if you'd like your submission returned, include one big enough to contain it).
It's likely that I'll take about 6 weeks to reply, which makes me feel bad about keeping people waiting, but gives me time to reread everything and try to put together the best possible issue.
Feel free to introduce yourself. I like that. You shouldn't feel obligated, though, to give me your credentials, publication history, etc. It won't affect whether I publish your work, and if I like it enough to pursue it I can probably figure out where to find it, or ask you.
What I Like:
Urgency.
This is a vague term, not much of a guideline.
I like writing in which it seems like something is at stake. I'm especially interested in poetry that engages with social and political issues, defined as broadly as possible--but "urgency" can also reside in the sonic texture of language, in disruptions of discourse, in the specificity of observation... and can characterize writing without aboutness and writing about nature, love, and so on. Antifascist writing is a particular interest, though.
We also welcome writing
...that makes strange, or ruptures the foundations of one's very existence
...that does philosophical work
...written by people I've never heard of
...that cracks me up (I really hunger for more good funny poetry)
...in translation
...that is really a performance text, but could be snuck into a poetry magazine anyway
...but that list is merely informational. Whether your work can be described in any of those ways or not, it's likely that I'll be delighted to receive and read it.
Though our means are limited (we don't have software that can deal with really complicated formatting, and our page size is relatively small, making it hard for us to publish a lot of visual/concrete poetry), we are most sympathetic to variable margins, and will do our damndest to preserve formatting.
Simultaneous submissions are just fine--but let me know if somebody else is going to publish what you've sent.
CANNOT EXIST prefers not to print previously published work, but we might do so--especially if:
(a) we really like it
(b) its previous publication was on a private blog, or in a print or online magazine now unavailable, or with extremely limited circulation unlikely to overlap with that of this magazine.
In other words, we're not dogmatic about it. Go ahead and ask.
We personally hate writing bios when we submit our work, but you're welcome to send a bit of information about yourself; we are curious about persons. However, your publication history will have no bearing on whether we decide to print your work. Nor will the degree to which you're widely known in the poetry world. Nor will your status as editor of another publication. So don't feel any pressure in that regard. If you like, send work under a pseudonym!
Payment is one copy of the magazine.
All rights revert to the author upon publication.
NOTE: Statistically speaking, we're probably going to end up with significantly more writing from men than from women, or from people who don't identify as men or women. Only you can alter this imbalance!
