Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry
Poetry Rejections
Standard
2018
Dear poet,
The Presence staff has finally completed our selection process for the second annual issue, which will appear in April 2018. This fall, we had 300+ poets submit, many of whom sent the maximum of 5 poems. This figure represents an increase of 100 poets since the reading period for the inaugural issue.
To add to the difficulty of the process, many, many poets sent very strong work. We enjoyed reading numerous poems, for which we simply do not have space.
At this time, however, we must inform you that your work has not been selected for publication in Presence 2018.
Our next submission period will open on August 1, 2018 and run through October 1, 2018. We certainly encourage you to submit for the third issue, Presence 2019.
Just prior to submitting, please check our website, www.catholicpoetryjournal.com, for any updates to the submission guidelines.
We are extremely grateful to you for your support!
2025
Dear First Last,
The Presence staff has finally completed our selection process for Presence 2025.
This year, deciding upon the number of poems that we could accept was particularly difficult because both of our feature sections (the translation feature and also the featured poet) are unusually long.
We continue to receive submissions from approximately 500 poets each year, with many poets submitting the maximum number of poems.
We also continue to remain committed to including a balance of past and new contributors as well as emerging and well-known poets in each issue. Since we are now working on our 9th annual issue, the number of past contributors keeps growing exponentially.
Our additional commitment to including around 2 dozen book reviews in each issue is another factor that affects the amount of space we can devote to the "new poems" section.
I very much regret that at this time we will not be able to include your work in Presence 2025. It is a painful process to have to let so many inspiring poems go! I am continually reminded how privileged we are to be able to read them!
I am extremely grateful to you for the confidence you have shown toward Presence by submitting and encourage you to submit again for Presence 2026.
As usual, our next submission period will run from August 1 - October 1 in 2025. Our email "call" will go out on August 1.
Gratefully,
Mary Ann B. Miller
Editor-in-Chief
Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry
