How to Write a Cover Letter for Poetry Submissions
Quick answer: How to write a cover letter for poetry submissions: keep it to 3 or 4 sentences, name your poems, add a two-line bio, and never explain the work.
A poetry cover letter should be three or four sentences: a greeting to the editors, the titles of the poems you are submitting, a two-line biography mentioning a credit or two if you have them, and thanks for their time. That is all. The letter's job is to be professional and invisible; the poems do every bit of the persuading.
Editors are unanimous on this to a degree rare in publishing. A cover letter has never talked a weak poem into a magazine, but overlong, boastful, or explanatory letters have soured readings of good ones. Think of it as a handshake before a performance: brief, warm, then out of the way.
The four sentences, with a template
Here is a complete, usable letter. 'Dear Editors, / Please consider the following three poems for [Magazine]: "Salt Map", "The Allotment in February", and "Notes on My Father's Handwriting". My poems have appeared in [Journal] and placed in [Contest]; I live in Leeds, where I work as a nurse. Thank you for reading, and for the work you do with the magazine. / Warm regards, [Name]'. Adjust the middle sentence to your actual life and the letter is done.
If you have no credits yet, say something true and brief instead: where you live, what you do, one human detail. 'This would be my first publication' is honest and perfectly acceptable; editors enjoy discovering people.
What to leave out
Do not summarise, interpret, or introduce the poems; a poem needing an explanation has failed at its job, and editors bristle at being told what they are about to feel. Do not list every publication you have ever had; two or three recent or notable credits beat fifteen. Do not flatter at length, apologise for inexperience, mention how long you have written, or note that your family loves your work.
Also skip rhetorical positioning: no 'my style has been compared to', no manifesto about your poetics. The single exception worth making is a genuine one-line connection to the magazine, 'I admired the elegies in your spring issue', if it is true.
Housekeeping lines that belong in the letter
Two pieces of administration do belong. If the magazine allows simultaneous submissions and yours is one, say so plainly: 'This is a simultaneous submission; I will withdraw any poem accepted elsewhere immediately.' And if any poem has a relevant history, a contest placement, for example, one factual clause covers it. Contest and prize mentions work best as plain facts: 'a winner in Writory's monthly contest' tells an editor someone else has already rated the work, and needs no elaboration.
Match the greeting to the masthead where you can; 'Dear Editors' is always safe, a named editor is slightly better, and 'To whom it may concern' is slightly worse everywhere.
What poets can take from this
- Hold the letter to four sentences; if it fills a screen, cut it in half twice.
- Name your poems in the letter so partial withdrawals are easy later.
- Keep your bio to two lines and your credits to the best two or three.
- Declare simultaneous submissions plainly when the magazine allows them.
- Never explain a poem; if it needs a preface, revise the poem instead.
- Reuse one template and change only the magazine, titles, and one detail.
Try it yourself
As an exercise in restraint, write a cover letter for your favourite poem in exactly three sentences, then cut five more words from it. Notice which words survived; those are the ones editors actually read.
Questions
What should a poetry cover letter include?
A greeting, the poem titles, a two-line bio with a credit or two, and thanks. Add a simultaneous submission note if applicable. Everything else is optional at best and harmful at worst.
What if I have no publication credits?
Say something brief and human instead: your city, your work, one true detail. Editors publish unknown poets constantly, and 'this would be my first publication' reads as honest, not weak.
Do contest entries need a cover letter?
Usually no. Most contests judge anonymously and forbid identifying information with the poem; the entry form collects your details separately. Read the contest rules rather than importing journal habits.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working poets. Updated July 2026.
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