Rhizome Press

Quality Poetry since 2002
Now Featuring Extreme Formalism
Rhizome Press is a small poetry press currently focused on publishing anthologies of extreme formal poetry written in English. The press's preference includes close attention to vivid imagery, compressed language that is precise yet layered, strict rhyme and meter, musicality, and accessible meaning. Surprise, humor, modern topics, and radical content are encouraged, as are fresh takes on traditional themes
Extreme formalism is characterized by regularity that restricts exception. Extreme poetry sticks to impeccably consistent structure: pure rhyme (allowing for regional pronunciation) that adheres to a clearly defined repetition scheme, with rhymes close enough together that they register; meter that is consistent, with exceptions only for stresses, and then rarely and only when the context calls for it, but with no added or subtracted syllables (though allowing for elision, and colloquial and regional pronunciation); and when a line is broken, the parts taken together equal a line with the requisite beats and rhyme.

Nonce forms using varied meters are still consistently structured. For example, if the first stanza is five lines, two iambic pentameter followed by two iambic tetrameter followed by a final iambic pentameter, rhymed a,a,b,b,a, then the next stanza follows the same meter and rhyme pattern, though the rhyme might be b,b,c,c,b or c,c,d,d,c, and so on. Rising and falling rhymes must be used consistently within stanzas. For example, in a poem of five-line stanzas, if lines three and five end with falling rhymes and the other rhymes are rising, all the poem’s stanzas must follow the same pattern. The stanza pattern is consistent throughout. Unlike semi-formal poetry, extreme poetry’s structure is tight and precise.

Be sure to check out Rhizome Press's
Extreme Sonnets, Extreme Formal Poems,
and Extreme Sonnets II
Links to Anthology Poets

Coming Up Next:
Extreme Formal Poems II

Submission Deadline: January 15, 2027

*** Guidelines ***
Poets may submit up to ten extreme poems of at least twelve lines and no more than roughly forty-eight lines, including stanza breaks (or what will fit on two book pages). The editor welcomes the max ten poems and might invite the poet to submit additional poems for consideration during the open submission period. Poems may be previously published (please indicate where) and may be published elsewhere at any time if accepted for the anthology.

Please format your .docx file using Times New Roman 12 point font. Each poem must be titled, not numbered, and please do not use all caps for poem titles. Do not include poems with footnotes, long epigraphs, or personal epigraphs (such as 'to my wife'); if your epigraph is a quote, be sure to include name and text source (for example, artist's name and title of painting, or article's title, publication, and date). Each line of your poem must begin with a capital letter. Yes, that "extreme" is controversial; you can, of course, use caps for this anthology and edit later.

Each poem should be on a separate, unnumbered page. Please include a bio page; err on the side of too much info, which can be edited. Be sure to include your full name.

If you copied/pasted your poems from an online source or from a formatted book, please remove any hidden or visible code or other metadata including invisible characters (like zero-width spaces). Attach your submission as a single .docx. The editor no longer accepts PDFs or submissions via Google Docs or any cloud or other online service. Send your document in a single email with "[your full name], Extreme Formal II" as the subject heading.

Acceptances will be sent within a few weeks after the closing date.

For security reasons, any email with links, attachments other than your submission, images other than your email account username photo, or any potential hack demons will be discarded unread.

Thank you for your submission!
SUBMISSIONS
 rhizome.press+submission@pm.me

GENERAL EMAIL
rhizome.press+editor@pm.me
(slow to respond during non-submission periods)