OUR SUBMISSION WINDOW FOR ISSUE NO. 3 (SUMMER 2026) HAS CLOSED. Look for publication of Issue No. 3 in print & online this summer! OUR SUBMISSION WINDOW FOR ISSUE NO. 4 (WINTER 2027) WILL BE OPEN OCTOBER 1, 2026 - NOVEMBER 30, 2026.

THE PROMPT FOR ISSUE NO. 4 IS: “Ephemera: Unintended Survival.” We’re inspired by our impulse to collect ephemera, including old postcards of Prudence Island, and by the idea that, in collecting these things, we are intentionally supporting the survival of objects that were meant to be transitory. Send us your work that addresses time, memory, planned obsolescence, unplanned resilience, and whatever else you hear in our prompt.

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Thank you for considering Prudence Dispatch as a home for your work! We publish two issues a year (Winter and Summer), with submissions windows in the Fall (October and November) for the Winter issue and in the Spring (April and May) for the Summer issue.

Please submit your poems for our consideration through Submittable (link below). Submissions should be in Word format if possible, with all poems in a single document (start each poem on a new page). You are encouraged, but not required, to submit a personal statement of no more than 250 words.

Submission Guidelines:

1. Please submit only unpublished original poems (your own work; not the work of anyone else or artificial intelligence). Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but please withdraw your submissions from us if a poem is accepted elsewhere.
2. We prefer shorter poems (that will fit on a single page), but we consider longer poems (2 or 3 pages); we will publish mostly one-page poems in each issue, and a few longer poems.
3. Please submit no more than 3 poems at one time. We will endeavor to respond to all submissions within thirty (30) days of the end of the submission window.
4. Upon acceptance of your work, Prudence Dispatch would acquire only first-publication rights. You would retain all rights to re-publication, subject only to citation to Prudence Dispatch as the first publisher.
5. Prudence Dispatch does not charge for submission but cannot compensate poets for accepted work. We will provide two (2) free copies of the print version of the issue in which your accepted work appears.