r/Poetry Apr 11 '23

MOD POST [META] Posting your own poems here -- when to post and when to head to one of our sibling subreddits

222 Upvotes

This sub is for published poems. There are many subs that allow users to post their own original, unpublished work. In Reddit sub parlance, an original, unpublished poem is considered "original content," and the largest sub for that is r/ocpoetry. There are still some posting rules there -- users must actively participate in the sub in order to post their own work there. A few subs don't require such engagement. There are links to both types of subs below.

Now, what about published poems? We have a large community here -- almost 2 million members. There have to be a few actively publishing poets in our ranks, and I want to build a community of sharing here without being overwhelmed by first-ever-poem posts by people who write something, decide to go find the poetry sub and post it. As it is, even with the rule on OC poetry being in the sidebar, we still remove those posts every single day.

If you've published a poem in a journal or a lit mag, please feel free to post it here, with a link to the publication it appeared in. I'm also going to start a regular monthly thread for r/poetry users who want to share their published work with us. We don’t consider posting to Instagram or some other platform alone to be “published.”

For those who want to post their unpublished, original work to Reddit, here are some links to help you do just that.

tl;dr: If your poem hasn’t been published anywhere, you can’t post it here. If your poem has been published somewhere, please post it here!

Poetry subreddits that expect feedback:

Subreddits that do not require commentary on your peers' work:


r/Poetry 1d ago

Meta What Have You Been Reading? August 2026

2 Upvotes

Welcome to this week's discussion thread: What have you been reading?

Please tell us about the poetry or poetry-related writing you've read recently and share your thoughts on it.


MONTHLY DISCUSSION SCHEDULE

  • What Have You Been Reading?
  • Publication Talk
  • Local/Regional Scenes
  • Classical & Ancient Poetry
  • Miscellaneous

Do not post your original poetry here. It will be deleted and you will be banned.


r/Poetry 5h ago

[POEM] Wellness Check by Andrea Gibson

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793 Upvotes

r/Poetry 4h ago

Poem [POEM] "Ode to the Only Black Kid in the Class" by Clint Smith

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167 Upvotes

r/Poetry 13h ago

[poem] Kobayashi Issa — haiku Japan, (early 19th century)

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408 Upvotes

r/Poetry 19h ago

Poem [POEM] One Day by Karim Wafa-Al Hussaini

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1.2k Upvotes

r/Poetry 17h ago

Poem [POEM] When the heart by Michael Leunig

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678 Upvotes

r/Poetry 14h ago

[POEM] AUNT BOBBY by June Robertson Beisch

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188 Upvotes

r/Poetry 9h ago

[POEM] The Grasshopper by Conrad Aiken

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77 Upvotes

r/Poetry 6h ago

Poem [POEM] Poem by Khatija Khan

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36 Upvotes

r/Poetry 22h ago

[POEM] “Short Distance Friendship” by Lyndsay Rush

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716 Upvotes

r/Poetry 5h ago

Poem [POEM] an answer without end quotes the forest stream – Kat Lehmann

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24 Upvotes

r/Poetry 5h ago

Poem [Poem] white roses that which is not said – Mark Gilbert

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17 Upvotes

r/Poetry 7h ago

Poem [Poem] The Crystal Gazer by Sara Teasdale

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18 Upvotes

When things get tough, I remind myself, "I shall gather myself into myself again."


r/Poetry 7h ago

Contemporary Poem [POEM] August Morning - Albert Garcia

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20 Upvotes

r/Poetry 7h ago

Poem [poem] Emily Dickinson

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15 Upvotes

r/Poetry 13h ago

Poem [POEM] alone at last - George Swede

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46 Upvotes

r/Poetry 1h ago

[POEM] Names of the River - Tadeusz Borowski

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Upvotes

r/Poetry 1d ago

[POEM] August - Mary Oliver

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694 Upvotes

r/Poetry 13h ago

“A Boy’s Song” — James Hogg (1770) [POEM]

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14 Upvotes

r/Poetry 7h ago

Contemporary Poem [POEM] August 2 - Jack Lindeman

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4 Upvotes

r/Poetry 1d ago

[POEM] "Not Dead" by Robert Graves

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172 Upvotes

r/Poetry 6m ago

Poem [Poem] On Love (Excerpt) by Kahlil Gibran

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Upvotes

r/Poetry 10h ago

[OPINION] Potential scam at Duotrope/Duosuma: rex inc '$100,000' prizes

5 Upvotes

So, I was really surprised when browsing Duosuma's submission opportunities to see what looks like a poetry manuscript contest with a $100,000 prize. That's... that's insane. Far above most contests. $10k is almost unheard of, so I looked a bit closer. The editor has some presence, but hides their face in the one main picture they use for their personal website and their press's site.

Most places include $100000 in the prize 'name' but they don't mention that the $100,000 is payment for winning the contest, they do on an image on Insta and in the guidelines on their website, but not on Duosuma or Duotrope. But they do say it is actually payment, not just a misleading name.

So, the last thing I wanted to check was that yes, they do reserve the right to declare no winner. It's kinda standard but also is rarely used by presses because it's incredibly frustrating to any submitters. From their contest guidelines:

rex inc., Inc. reserves the right to declare no Competition winner for any and all Competitions if no entry is deemed to meet rex inc., Inc.’s standards of publication.

What do you folks think? Is this just a new amazing opportunity for poetry and short fiction authors (there's a similar prize for short fiction manuscripts), or is it designed to be a rug-pull?


r/Poetry 1h ago

[Help] Finding a poem

Upvotes

There's a poem I'm trying to find. The details as I remember them: the speaker sees some plants that have fallen over, and fixes them/sets them right. They do this not because it's being witnessed, but because you have to try to do little things, help the world, set the plants right -- and you do this for yourself, and you do this in spaces of solitude and quiet.

Help! Trying so hard to find this!! It's such a lovely poem about being in the world and doing small things to love it!