We appreciate your interest in Disquieting Muses. When preparing your submission, please do not interpret our name to imply a preference for anything other than the highest quality writing possible. While you may notice some edgier work here, our only absolute interest is in work that is well-written and interesting to read. We consider all reasonable topics. PLEASE READ THESE GUIDELINES CAREFULLY BEFORE SUBMITTING. We also request that you read an issue or two of the magazine before submitting (we can tell when you haven't!). Disquieting Muses is hungry for work possessing verve. Does your work have a certain hum to it? Will it vibrate in the reader's bones? Style and theme are not as important as clarity, quality and verve. That said, however, we'd like to especially encourage submissions of lyrical, highly imagistic poems and poems with a surrealistic slant. Narrative poems are, of course, also considered. If you can blend fresh symbolism and imagery into a narrative poem, great! We tend to stay away from very long poems unless they are absolutely brilliant. While we publish mostly free verse, we are open to formal poetry that reaches beyond the standard fare.

We prefer email submissions. Put your poems in the body of the message only -- DO NOT ATTACH them as a separate document; we will not open attachments. Please submit at least three but no more than five poems. Be sure to clip and include the permission statement below. If you do not receive a decision from us within six weeks, please feel free to send a note of inquiry. Out of respect and basic courtesy, we will never knowingly neglect to respond to a submission or inquiry, so if you don't hear from us it may mean your submission, or our response, was lost in transmission.

We do not consider previously published writing unless by invitation. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, so long as you tell us that the poem is under consideration elsewhere and let us know if it gets accepted elsewhere. Upon notification of acceptance of simultaneously submitted work, you must immediately withdraw that work from consideration elsewhere.

Please do not submit a bio with your work. Our goal is to select the very best contemporary poetry, regardless of the author's status or experience. If your work is accepted, our notification to you will include a request for your bio which you should then provide. Try to keep your list of publication credits mentioned in the bio under ten.

Work accepted for publication in Disquieting Muses may be edited before or after acceptance. In the former case, edits will be sent to the author before a final acceptance; in the latter case (usually to resolve grammar or punctuation problems) a copy of the edited piece will be sent with notification to the author prior to the issue's release date. If you are adamantly against (or sincerely interested in) editorial suggestions, please note that in your submission. This should not, however, be taken as an offer to critique or otherwise work on unfinished pieces. Editorial suggestions are made rarely, and then only if it is clear to us that the work has been well thought-through by the writer.

If you have changes you wish to submit on a piece after we've accepted it for publication, please submit those changes before its issue is released -- preferably no later than two weeks before the release date (that is, two weeks before the 15th of August, November, February, or May).

Send submissions to editors@dmqreview.com.

With regard to copyrights:

Disquieting Muses receives first serial rights to the poetry it publishes, as well as the right to publish that work in any future paper and/or CD version of the issue in which the work originally appeared, and in an anthology should we do such a project in the future. The author of a work is free to have it republished elsewhere three months after its release date in DM, provided (in the case of poetry or other writing) the other publishers do not require first-time rights AND those publishers credit the work's prior publication in Disquieting Muses.

Submissions must be made by the creator of the work. If the work is a translation, then we require something in writing stating that the original author is aware of the translation and gives permission to it. Plagiarism is a crime -- do not submit work that is not yours. Disquieting Muses will participate in investigations regarding plagiarism and this magazine.

Please be sure to include the following statement in your submission:

I guarantee that the work I am submitting is my own original poetry, artwork, photography, review, or translation.
I understand that Disquieting Muses receives first serial rights for poetry, and I give Disquieting Muses the right
to publish said work in an electronic issue. I guarantee that the work (if poetry) has never been published
electronically or in print. I agree that if Disquieting Muses publishes the work, first publication credit will be
given to Disquieting Muses in any subsequent publications. I understand and agree that poems published in Disquieting
Muses shall not be published elsewhere for a period of three months from their DM release date. Disquieting Muses is
given permission to republish said work in any future print or CD version of the issue in which my work appears,
and/or in a future anthology if such a project should occur. I understand that Disquieting Muses presents poems and
visual art together and I grant DM permission to present my work with art or poetry of DM's choosing.

Please send a working URL where we may view 1-5 samples of your work, and a second URL (if appropriate) where we may view the rest of your work in case we find the samples fitting with an upcoming issue. Mail to editors@dmqreview.com. Please check out the current and previous issues to get a feel for the kind of work we are looking for. If your work is accepted for publication we will ask you to provide a clean .jpg copy via email, approximately 3-4 inches high.

Reviews

We will also consider reviews of poetry publications (Internet and Paper, magazines and books). You must include your bio if you are submitting a review.

Articles

We will consider poetry-related articles/essays only. Because the main focus of Disquieting Muses is the poetry itself, however, appearances of articles and essays will be the exception rather than the rule. You must include your bio if you are submitting an article or essay.