submission guidelines (crib sheet)


Next submission/reading period for bottle rockets issue #53 is
April 1st - May 15th, 2025. IN HAND DEADLINE: May 15th.

  • Please do not send any submissions before reading the new submission guidelines. Submissions sent outside of the reading period will not be considered or returned.

  • These rules are strictly enforced to avoid any chaos. Any chaos received will not be welcomed, considered or returned to the author. It will be discarded without notice and the world will be a better place.

  • We reserve the right to close the submission reading period when we have reached the publication limit.

  • Please include a little note or cover letter. (Does not have to be elaborate.) You are writing to a poetry journal, not an automated Bank machine. Politeness goes a really long way in life.

  • Please include your name, address, phone #, and email in the top right hand corner of EVERY page.

  • One submission = up to 10 haiku/poems per reading period/issue. See below what types of poems we consider.

  • Please put 5 poems on a page. No double-sided pages please.

  • Submissions must be typed. No hand-written submissions will be considered. Nothing on napkins, toilet paper, hamburger wrappers, etc.

  • Submissions must be on 8.5”x 11” standard office/computer paper. (Nothing on napkins, toilet paper, hamburger wrappers, etc. )

  • SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope): All submissions within the USA must be accompanied by a self-addressed-stamped-envelope (SASE) that is a size #10 (4" x 9.5"). The standard size #10 is required.  Correct postage is required for the SASE. Postage is always going up. Including an e-mail does not void this requirement. Submissions without a SASE will be discarded without notification.

  • No SASE is required for poets outside the USA only. Everything else is exactly the same — minus having to include a SASE.


  • Send submissions only via snail mail to:

    • Stanford M. Forrester, Editor
      bottle rockets press
      PO Box 189
      Windsor, CT 06095 USA

    • submissions outside the USA (Same guidelines minus the SASE) should still snail mail the submission.

      No SASE is required for outside the USA.

    • The editor’s will reply via e-mail/only poets outside the USA.

  • What we are looking for: haiku, senryu, very short haiku-like poems (no more than 7 lines), tanka, and cherita. We are not looking for any other forms.

  • Please do not send unsolicited manuscripts.

  • No simultaneous, previously published material, and/or work that has "appeared" anywhere in the universe for any reason. (That means in newsletters, websites, e-zines, blogs, discussion groups, contests, programs, flyers, anything you can possible think of.) Even if it is printed somewhere and the editor of that publication doesn't consider it "published," WE DO. If it has "appeared in public" or been published, do not send it. If you have read the poem in public, it can be submitted as long as it did not "appear" in any type of print.

  • For avoidance of doubt, any submission to bottle rockets is acknowledgement that your work was created exclusively by a human, without artificial intelligence technologies or similar, and that artificial intelligence or similar was in no way utilized to generate the text or images contained in your submission in any manner whatsoever. Your work must be your own.

  • No submissions will be returned; accepted or rejected. Please make a copy of your submission for your own records

  • Payment for accepted work. We are once again paying the contributors within the USA with a token payment—a specially made wooden nickel. (This payment can't be accepted for discounts or purchase of publications from bottle rockets press.)  We wish we could pay contributors outside the USA, but we can't. US currency is generally worthless anyway and goats, sheep, and rocks are too costly to mail. We also reserve the right to change the type of token payment or no payment at all.  This all depends on the financial condition of the publication. Our staff is considering pebbles or grains of sand as possible future alternatives . . .

  • These rules are strictly enforced to avoid any chaos. Thank you!


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Please read all of the following information carefully.

bottle rockets is a publication made of poetry, ink, and paper.

We are not an e-zine.

bottle rockets leans very much away from the outdated grammar school model of 5-7-5 haiku. Therefore, please do not send any 5-7-5 "haiku." It will surely be rejected and it will be a waste of your stamps and of our time.

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Books Received Listing NEW

bottle rockets now reserves a place for poets and publishers to send in a copy of their latest book or chapbook to have listed. You can never have enough outlets! 

Requirements for entry: 

  • Fill out the online form here in its entirety. Consists of book citation details & author writes the listing info they wish (40 words to detail pertinent info on their book, such as theme and ordering info). 

  • Send one (1) copy of the book to HQ: 

    • Stanford M. Forrester, Editor
      bottle rockets press
      PO Box 189
      Windsor, CT 06095 USA

  • Unfortunately no eBooks or PDF books will be considered at this time.

The fine print: bottle rockets reserves the right to edit any author listing information provided and reserves the right, for any reason and without explanation, to not post a book. Any book sent will not be returned if it has been listed or not.  Please visit bottle rockets press website for more information.

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Call to Artists/Submission Guidelines for Haiku Art NEW

bottle rockets press will no longer be accepting haiga and haiku related art submissions.

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST IN BOTTLE ROCKETS!