Pom Pom is an online literary journal based in New England, publishing poetry and prose.
We want to publish writing we like. We’re not beholden to anyone’s clique, and we’re not interested in forming a new one. We want our journal to be diverse, with many different voices, but cohesive, like a playlist.
We want to be intrigued. We want to see something old in a new way. We want to be surprised by your writing. We want it to make us feel something. It needs to stick out in some way, and that may not just be because it’s formally “beautiful.” What you show us matters more, in the end, than how you show it.
We don’t believe in publishing someone solely because of their identity. And we don’t think any editor really does. At the same time, in a fundamentally imbalanced society, we think it’s not only unfair but probably impossible to judge a piece on its “literary merit” alone, as if the identity of the person who wrote it isn’t deeply connected to it.
We have no house style, but we’re not going to publish hateful shit. We reserve the right to decide for ourselves what is hateful shit. If you send us hateful shit you will not be called out publicly. You will just be ignored like you deserve to be. Go up to your room and think about what you’ve said, and whether or not you really want it to be associated with your name.
Poetry is generally, but not always, writing split into lines on the page. It has something musical to it, something rhythmic, and may be more about how words sound together than what words mean together. It is more like singing than talking.
Prose is usually more direct and declarative than poetry. It is generally not split into lines and not as concerned with musicality. It could be a story, or an essay, or a series of tweets, fictional or non-fictional. It can really be anything. It is more like talking than singing.
In the end maybe there’s no truly meaningful difference between these two types of writing.
To submit, email 1-3 poems or up to 3,000 words of prose to pompomlitmag@gmail.com. Identify your work as either prose or poetry in the subject line, as well as the name you wish to be published under. You can attach a text file or just throw your piece in the body of the email, as long as it’s formatted how you want. Include a short bio written in third person. Simultaneous submissions accepted; however, kindly inform us ASAP if your work is accepted for publication elsewhere. No previously published pieces, please.