St. Anthony Messenger is a general-interest, family-oriented Catholic magazine. It is written and edited largely for people living in family situations or the family-like situations of Church and community. We want to help our readers better understand the teachings of the gospel and Catholic Church, and how they apply to life and the full range of problems confronting us as members of families, the Church and society.

The poetry we publish attempts to reflect the philosophy stated above. Poetry is subjective, for the most part, but we do require that the poems we publish have most or all of these characteristics:

1. originality,
2. creativity in word choice, images and overall thought/idea,
3. Each section of the poem fitting together well with other sections,
4. subject matter somewhat universal in nature, or
5. a religious (in a broad sense, not theological) or family dimension.
6. We also publish poems outside of specifically religious themes, such as “nature.”

Both rhyming and non-rhyming materials are considered. We do not consider previously published poetry, or poetry submitted at the same time to other publications.

Each poetry submission should be typed, double-spaced on a separate piece of paper. Your name, address and either e-mail or work phone number should be typed at the top. Address poetry to: Poetry Editor, St. Anthony Messenger (see address below).

PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT POEMS LONGER THAN 20-25 LINES—the shorter, the better. Due to space limitations, the poetry section does not appear every month. When space is available for it, there is room for only one page of poetry (four to five poems at the most). Therefore, OUR POETRY NEEDS ARE VERY LIMITED.

Because we prefer to give as many people as possible the chance to be published poets, we do not buy “collections” of poems for publication (that is the role of poetry book publishers), nor do we usually buy more than a few works from each poet a year. And while we pay on acceptance, publication may not follow for a considerable length of time. When a poem is published, the poet receives two complimentary copies of the issue in which it appears.

WE PAY $2 (two dollars) PER LINE for each poem purchased—and no less than $20.00. We try to return poems not accepted within FOUR TO SIX WEEKS. Please do not write or phone to ask if your poem has been received until that amount of time has passed. Poetry WILL NOT BE RETURNED UNLESS ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE. We assume no responsibility for material damaged or lost, and advise poets to keep a copy of any poem submitted.

Due to the poetry editor’s time constraints, it is not possible to offer poetry critiques. Thank you very much for your interest!

THE BEST WAY TO KNOW WHAT WE PUBLISH IS TO READ AND STUDY SEVERAL RECENT ISSUES OF ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER CONTAINING POETRY.

St. Anthony Messenger Press
28 W. Liberty St.
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202