The following guidelines should be of assistance in deciding whether you feel Acumen would be interested in your work.
Poetry
All poetry is read carefully. Any poem that may possibly have a chance of publication is shortlisted and from this shortlist the final poems for the magazine are chosen. All other poems are returned within one to six weeks. Any unused shortlist poems are returned as soon as possible.
Due to high postage costs, however, poems which are not shortlisted, but which have accompanied a shortlisted poem, will be held along with that poem so that the s.a.e. can be used for the final decision. We receive around 10,000-15,000 poems a year and can only publish a hundred and fifty a year at the most so the chances of rejection are high. But then this applies to most magazines.
When reading poetry we look for a poem that says something which is not trivial, not obvious, doesn’t use outworn images or diction, and which works at many levels simultaneously.
To submit online:
- Please send submissions (no more than four poems) as a word doc or docx document and as an attachment. Please don’t send pdf’s as these can be difficult if sometimes impossible to open.
- All poems to be in one file, but each poem to be on a separate page.
- Each page to have your name and postal address on it.
- Please put SUBMISSION in the subject box.
- If rejected, please do not send further poems in for three months.
- Send to patriciaoxley6@gmail.com
Articles / Features
Acumen is always on the lookout for new and unusual articles etc. However, the magazine likes quality writing in its prose. It will consider articles on poetry and poetry-related subjects (eg. criticism, use of language, poetry from past-masters re-evaluated, etc.) , the main criteria being they are relevant, well-written, interesting and readable (ie. with a minimum of jargon throughout the text). Length can vary from 1,500 words up to 3,500 words.
General
All submissions should be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope of a suitable size for return of work, or for any answer required. Please put your name and address on each separate sheet; shortlisted poems especially can get separated from the return envelope, and though editors try to be efficient and check this, we are only human and errors do occur. We have several anonymous poems still awaiting collection by their authors.