Submit up to three poems (you have a better chance of being chosen if we have multiple poems to choose from).
Poem title does not count toward your character count.
🎨 ILLUSTRATORS: If you're not submitting a poem please jump to the ART SUBMISSION SECTION after filling out your personal information.
🖊 One poem *must* be a haiku or tanka. If you choose to submit more, you may submit an additional short poem and/or a longer poem of any type. We love variety in poem type!
🖊 The short poem has a limit of 250 characters (characters, not words).
🖊 The longer poem has a limit of 500 characters.
👍 WHAT WE WANT: Poems about legendary mythical creatures (cryptids) from around the WORLD (think whimsical, not terrifying--this is for children!) Some common examples of Euro-or-American-based cryptids are Unicorns, Bigfoot, Mermaids, Dragons, Loch Ness Monster, etc. We want your creative/poetic take on cryptozoology (crypto=hidden, zoology = study of animals). Can you make the Chupacabra not terrifying? Sure, submit it.
If you have a connection to a specific culture, we'd love to see a poem about mythical creatures from there. After all, there can only be so many Sasquatch poems.
👎 WHAT WE DO NOT WANT: We're not looking for poems about Deities (Gods & Goddesses, angels, etc) and no ghosts, please.
If you're unsure whether your cryptid creature qualifies, please email us
wlpressbooks@gmail.com.
We want your best work with interesting line breaks, new perspectives, and different poetic types. We want to hear the music of the words. These can be cute, funny, informative, and just plain fun! Keep in mind it doesn’t have to rhyme. We are looking for beautiful sounds in the poems that connect the reader to its subject and evoke strong feelings. See our past anthologies, AN ASSORTMENT OF ANIMALS and FRIENDS & ANEMONES to get an idea of the range we're looking for.
