How Long Do Poetry Magazines Take to Respond?
Quick answer: How long do poetry magazines take to respond? Expect one to six months on average, with three months typical. What the wait means and when to query.
Most poetry magazines take between one and six months to respond to a submission, and around three months is a sensible average to plan for. Small journals run by volunteers may reply within weeks; prestigious magazines with thousands of submissions can take nine months to a year, and a few are notorious for never replying at all. The wait is not a verdict on your poem, it is a queue.
The reason is arithmetic. A respected journal might receive several hundred submissions a month, each containing three to five poems, read by a handful of unpaid editors doing this around day jobs. Every poem that reaches an acceptance has usually been read more than once and argued over. Slow, in this world, often means careful.
Typical response times by venue type
Response windows cluster by the size and staffing of the venue, so you can set expectations before you submit.
When and how to query
Query when the journal has exceeded its own stated response time by a month or two, or after six months if it states none. Keep the note short and neutral: name the poems, the date submitted, and ask whether the work is still under consideration. No apology, no nudging about how long it has been. Editors answer polite queries; they remember pushy ones.
If a journal ignores a query for another month, you are entitled to withdraw the poems and send them elsewhere. A dead inbox releases you from any exclusivity you agreed to.
How to make the waiting bearable
The professional habit is simultaneous submission: sending the same poems to several journals that allow it, and withdrawing promptly when one says yes. A simple tracker with venue, date sent, and expected response time turns the wait from anxiety into admin. Then the real trick, which every working poet eventually learns, is to make the submission the last thing you think about a poem, not the first thing you think about each morning.
Some poets like mixing in venues with fixed calendars precisely because the wait has a known end. A monthly contest like Writory's, where entries close on the 25th and results land on the 30th with a score breakdown for every entrant, gives you one date to circle instead of an open-ended silence.
What poets can take from this
- Check each journal's stated response time before submitting and note it down.
- Submit simultaneously wherever guidelines allow, and withdraw fast on acceptance.
- Query politely once the stated window is exceeded by four to eight weeks.
- Track submissions in a spreadsheet or a tool like Duotrope or Chill Subs.
- Keep at least ten poems in circulation so no single reply carries all your hope.
- Start the next poem the day you submit the last one.
Try it yourself
Write a poem set entirely in a waiting room, where what is being waited for never arrives but something better does.
Questions
Does a long wait mean my poem made the shortlist?
Sometimes. Poems that survive the first read often sit longer while editors debate them, so a slow reply can be a good sign. But delays just as often mean a backlog, so do not read too much into silence either way.
What is a simultaneous submission?
Sending the same poem to more than one journal at the same time. Most magazines allow it as long as you withdraw the poem immediately if it is accepted elsewhere. Always check, because a few venues still forbid it.
Is no response after a year a rejection?
Treat it as one. Send a brief withdrawal note for your own records, release the poems to other venues, and think twice before submitting to that journal again.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working poets. Updated July 2026.
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