The Lake

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  • About this Magazine:

    The Lake is an online poetry magazine publishing the best contemporary poetry and reviews monthly.

  • Editor(s): John Murphy
  • Phone: +44 790-596-1683
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Submission/Subscription Information:

  • Format: Online
  • Genres: Poetry, Reviews
  • Simultaneous Submissions: yes (see website)
  • Postal Submissions: no
  • Email Submissions: yes (see website)
  • Online Submissions: no
  • Reading Period: year-round
  • Response Time: 2-3 weeks
  • Payment: no
  • Contests: no
  • Founded: 2013
  • Issues Per Year: 12

Publisher's description: Since the initial issue in August 2014, The Lake has gone from strength to strength with over 6K hits a month, gaining worldwide readership by publishing the best in contemporary poetry, including traditional forms, free verse, long poems, short poems, and insightful reviews of the best new books.

In an interview published on Jim Harrington's Six Questions For... blog, the editor describes the aesthetic behind The Lake:

I look for poems rooted in the everyday, in the observed reality that engenders how we feel about people and the things around us, with imagery we can all relate to. It would perhaps be easier for me to state what I don't like in a poem. I don't like surreal, abstract poems that wander on an on, e.g. "My soul floats in a black void of nothingness..." etc, etc. There's more implicit connective emotion in Williams' wheelbarrow than in lines and lines of abstract poetry. I'll also consider classical forms, e.g. sonnets, sestinas, etc as well as free verse and prose poems.

Unlike many journals, The Lake accepts previously published poems. Check our site for full submissions details.

Find more great literary magazines at the NewPages Guide to Lit Mags.