Our literary magazine was founded on Leonard Cohen’s 89th birth anniversary on September 21, 2023. We are poets obsessed with the ways in which poetry can both break you and build you up. Though we’re based in Canada, we’d like to hope that we can reach across borders and generations alike. Welcome to this little corner of the internet where we sing into the void and remember that poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.
Our literary magazine was founded on Leonard Cohen’s birth anniversary on September 21, 2023. We are poets obsessed with the ways in which poetry can both break you and build you up. Welcome to this little corner of the internet where we can sing into the void and remember that poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.
Our literary magazine was founded on Leonard Cohen’s birth anniversary on September 21, 2023. We are poets obsessed with the ways in which poetry can both break you and build you up. Welcome to this little corner of the internet where we can sing into the void and remember that poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.
ONLY POEMS was borne without any kind of a business plan, university funding, government grants or rich patronage. To be very honest, we came up with the idea for a different kind of literary magazine overnight. But the seeds were planted far before then, and much of it has to do with the fact that we felt trapped in a cycle of complaining. As writers and serial submitters ourselves, we often felt frustrated with the way a lot of the standard publishing industry functions. The endless wait times, feedback deserts, the cliquey mystifying editorial energy...that slow drain of joy from something that was once supposed to feel alive...and so much more. So we asked ourselves:
If we think so many of these systems are broken…
why don’t we try making something better?
why don’t we try making something better?
And we made a promise to ourselves—if we can’t do better, we’ll just shut up and be grateful for those who are at least doing something!
Now, we’re not saying we are anywhere near where we’d love for ONLY POEMS to ultimately be, but we do feel damn proud of what we’ve managed to create. In large part we are indebted and grateful for the love of the community. Like us fools, you all really do love poetry!
And indeed, there are so many ways to delight in poetry. We are a bit obsessive—when we like a poem, we immediately want to see more of the poet’s work. Most literary magazines we love follow a poem-a-day model, focusing on the singular poetic spark.
We invite poets to lay before us a small galaxy—show us the blackholes and supernovas, the many moons and solar flares of their work. We are committed to fostering a platform that showcases intellectual exploration, artistic innovation, and sociocultural inclusivity.
We publish emerging poets alongside established poets.
We believe all poets should be paid for their work.
We are invested in developing and providing more valuable resources to positively contribute to the poetry community and literary world at large. Please see below and explore our website to discover more of what we’re doing towards this goal.
We are an independently funded, ad-free literary magazine. If you are in a position to do so, please consider supporting us. Here are 11 ways you can do that!
Now, we’re not saying we are anywhere near where we’d love for ONLY POEMS to ultimately be, but we do feel damn proud of what we’ve managed to create. In large part we are indebted and grateful for the love of the community. Like us fools, you all really do love poetry!
And indeed, there are so many ways to delight in poetry. We are a bit obsessive—when we like a poem, we immediately want to see more of the poet’s work. Most literary magazines we love follow a poem-a-day model, focusing on the singular poetic spark.
We invite poets to lay before us a small galaxy—show us the blackholes and supernovas, the many moons and solar flares of their work. We are committed to fostering a platform that showcases intellectual exploration, artistic innovation, and sociocultural inclusivity.
We publish emerging poets alongside established poets.
We believe all poets should be paid for their work.
We are invested in developing and providing more valuable resources to positively contribute to the poetry community and literary world at large. Please see below and explore our website to discover more of what we’re doing towards this goal.
We are an independently funded, ad-free literary magazine. If you are in a position to do so, please consider supporting us. Here are 11 ways you can do that!
