Poetry Submission opportunity

​

​

Following on from our six previous Christmas-winter editions, we will be publishing a new, seventh volume for Christmas 2026. The editorial team are Matthew M C Smith and new guest sub-editor, Paul Short.

​

We welcome poems on all cultural and folk traditions around this time of year and everything to do with the season (Diwali, solstice, Hannukah, Mari Lwyd, Christmas, your childhood, memories, etc.).

​​​

The submission period when we will accept your work is Wed 28th January to Sunday 1st Feb 2026. Poems before or after this date won't be read.

​​​​​

We look for imagistic, suggestive poems, following the idea of 'less is more'. We publish vivid poems that avoid cliché and have subtlety. We rarely publish rhyming poetry. 

 

Usual submission guidelines:

​​

a) Poets are invited to submit three short poems, max 120 words., each These must be previously unpublished. No cribbing, plagiarism or use of AI. On the naughty list, ten year ban.

​

If you have bought our 2025 Christmas anthology, you can submit up to five poems. Please attach a photo of your book and you can submit up to five.

​​

b) Please send poems in Garamond font, size 11, single spaced, within the submission window. We welcome bilingual versions of the same poem (eg. Welsh and English versions). 

​​

c) We prefer punctuated poems. Please embolden your titles.

​​

d) Please send  a short biography (up to 25 words) in the body of the e-mail and your poems by Microsoft Word attachment. Social media handles too.

​​

e) Special e-mail for this edition is winterbough@outlook.com This e-mail only.

​​

f) If you have a simultaneous submission to another publication, please ensure you make this clear in your e-mail as this can cause inconvenience if you suddenly withdraw your work. ​

​​

g) It is the editorial policy to offer feedback on essential or potential improvements to poems that are on the edge of acceptance. The editorial team will confer on borderline 'acceptance' poems. If you submit, this is what can be expected and it is intended to be constructive and increase acceptance rates. If you really don't like this, Black Bough may not be the right publication for you.

​​

h) Rudeness, offensive behaviour or hate speech will not be tolerated. We are trying to help poets and showcase excellent work. No sexually-explicit poetry. 

​​

i) If you are accepted for this edition, you are also consenting for your poem to be used in a print version and for your work to be publicised on social media. We are unable to fund contributor's copies at the moment as we are entirely self-funded and do not have grants, patrons, crowdfunders, membership fees. etc. Contributor copies will be priced at an affordable level (approx. £8 - £9.00). Free PDF copy for all contributors.

​​

​​j) You are welcome to tip us, if you have the means - this helps keep our projects going and keeps costs down, but only if you have the means. Our paypal username is deeptimepoetry@outlook.com 

​

k) We will be looking at award nominations next year so send your best work!

​

We look forward to hearing from you.

​

Twitter: @blackboughpoems      Fb: BlackBoughpoetry    Instagram/ Threads: Black Bough poetry

Also on Bluesky