Submissions

Submissions Are Currently Open

Theme: Immigration Enforcement / Immigration Enforcement Brutality
Submission Deadline: May 2026 (or whenever we have enough submissions)
Publication Date: Fall 2026

Our first publication, Record of Dissent: Poems of Protest in an Authoritarian Age, focused on protest, resistance, survival, and hope in response to the rising authoritarianism of the Trump era in America.

Our second, What We Hold On To: Poems of Coping, Connection, and Carrying On, centered on grief, uncertainty, love, resistance, and the daily work of staying human.

For our next collection, the theme is Immigration Enforcement – which will absolutely include poetry addressing brutality under the Trump administration. We have seen Immigration and Customs Enforcement brutality in many forms and in many places. This is often directed toward immigrants, those who simply have skin that isn’t white, or anyone daring to take a stand through protest and civil disobedience.

Many people have been hurt or killed. We want this collection to honor each of them, even if not specifically named in the publication. We do want to name them as often as possible, however, and we would love to publish immigrant voices in this issue alongside non-immigrants. As a poetry collection, we also want to give a special highlight in this call to fellow poet Renée Nicole Good, who was fatally shot in Minneapolis, Minnesota by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent on January 7, 2026.

Your work might be satirical, grief-filled, meditative, furious, hopeful, or all of these at once. Take the theme and run with it in whatever direction it leads you. If it’s personal, let it be personal. If it’s loud, let it be loud. If it’s experimental or unconventional, bring it. If it surprises us, even better. Above all, if it feels urgent, human, and honest and speaks in some way to Immigration Enforcement under the Trump Administration, we want to read it.

How to Submit

Send your submission to:
chaossectionpoetry [at] gmail [dot] com

Please include:

1–3 poems as a single .docx or PDF file
A short third-person bio (50–150 words)
Your name, exactly as you’d like it published
A quick note if any of the poems have been previously published

We prefer .docx files but will also accept PDF if needed to preserve your formatting.

Publication Timeline

Submission deadline will be in May 2026, or when we receive enough submissions. We expect a huge turnout for this one! We’re aiming for a release in Fall 2026, most likely before midterm voting.

Like the previous two chapbooks, this collection will be free to read, share, and download in its digital form, and will likely also be released as a paperback print edition for those who want a physical copy.

We read everything. If your work feels like a fit, we’ll follow up to finalize. If it doesn’t fit this round, we’ll still try to respond personally.

This is a passion project. At this time, we can’t offer payment for poetry – just a platform, some readers, and a little space to say what needs saying. Like most indie journals, we operate at a loss… and that’s okay. Nobody gets into the poetry publishing business to get rich.

A Note on Editing and Rights

We won’t edit your poem beyond basic formatting adjustments (fonts, spacing, layout). If anything else comes up, we’ll always check with you first.

You retain full rights to your work. After publication, you’re free to share or republish your poem wherever you like. If the poem was first published with us, we simply ask that you credit The Chaos Section Poetry Project (or the title of the new chapbook once it’s decided) as the original publisher.

Previously Published and Simultaneous Submissions

We will consider previously published work. If the poem appeared elsewhere first, no problem, just include prior publication credits when you submit, and we’ll make sure acknowledgments are listed in the chapbook. Quick note: be sure it is okay with that publisher that you publish elsewhere.

Simultaneous submissions are fine, but we try to work quickly and not leave you hanging in limbo for months. If you submit elsewhere, please just give us a heads-up if your work is accepted and let us know if we need to take your poem out of consideration due to that publisher’s rules.

To stay in the loop, you can follow us on our Bluesky page, where we’ll post updates and project news.

— The Chaos Section Poetry Project