ABOUT BORDERLANDS: TEXAS POETRY REVIEW

Founded in 1992, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review was created as a response to the Gulf War and is a literary journal based in Austin, Texas. We publish poetry, visual art, book reviews, and essays. Our journal continues to garner a national readership, distributed across the US, with contributors from all over the world. 

Our journal seeks outwardly-directed poetry that exhibits social, political, geographical, historical, or spiritual awareness. 

We are open to traditional and experimental forms, including visual forms. We encourage people from all backgrounds to submit work to Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, but aim to highlight historically unrepresented voices including people of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, women, nonbinary or trans individuals, and people with disabilities. 

Contributors to our journal are nominated for national contests including the Pushcart Prize, Best New Poets, and Best of Net. Previous contributors to our journal have included: Cyrus Cassells, sam sax, Oliver de la Paz, Naomi Shihab-Nye, Jeffrey Bahr, Shara Lessley, Rosebud Ben-Oni, Kelle Groom, Khaled Mattawa, Siaraa Freeman, Alex Lemon and more. 

We do NOT publish work from current editorial staff members or board members. 

CURRENT PROMOTIONS

Tip Jar Submissions

Submitters now have the option to submit through our Tip Jar Submission for $3. People who submit through this option will receive notification of their submission status within 6-8 weeks.

Editorial Feedback

Submitters will now have the option to choose an editor to receive in-depth feedback from their submission packet.  Feedback includes commentary on poem titles, form, ordering, lineation, and suggestions on alternative places to submit. Please review this submission link for more details.

CURRENT ISSUE THEME

The theme for Issue 53 is: PROMISE

From Saúl Hernández, Managing Editor :

"In the early 2000s, the iconic all-girl group 3LW sang, "I’m getting a little tired of your broken promises, promises...” from their single “No More (Baby I’ma Do Right).” We ventured into 2020, making political, societal, and self-promises, only for COVID-19 to hit. Truth is--we are tired.

As we move forward into this year, the commitments we have made to ourselves, society, and the world have been redefined by this global pandemic. For Issue 53, we want your best poems. Poems that speak to broken promises. Promises redefined by the absence of freedom of movement. Promises as complex as the shape of our borders. The promises that we've made to ourselves and to our families, the boundaries we hoped to never have to cross--why do they matter?

No matter what truce we made with one another or with ourselves, one thing is certain: our words will always have an impact. Above all, we are interested in great poetry that moves us!

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

• Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please notify us if your poem(s) is accepted elsewhere.
• We do not accept previously published work.                                           
• Poetry submissions should be typed in Times Roman or Times New Roman 12pt font, single-spaced. (Note that bold-faced type cannot be reproduced. With rare exceptions, we do not double-space poems.)
• Submit a maximum of three poems (3) that total no more than five (5) pages. 
• All poems should be submitted in a single .pdf or .docx document of no more than five pages (5) and should NOT include the submitter's name/address/phone number.
• Please only submit once per submission period. All submitters, whether chosen for the current issue or not, may apply again to the next issue. 

Please include a cover letter in the Submittable form with your name, address, e-mail address, phone number, and a brief (one-paragraph) bio. 

Please do not include your cover letter in the uploaded document.

Payment for having a poem(s) accepted is one contributor's copy of the issue in which your work will appear.

Editors have two reading cycles. Check submission periods below for our next cycle:

Fall/Winter issue: March 30 – June 30 

Spring/Summer issue: September 15 – December 15