We are a magazine that showcases compelling, accessible, and culturally relevant work--anything the mainstream is ignoring we are likely into. We seek to offer an authentic reflection of the contemporary, and most importantly, to uplift marginalized peoples in a fascinating and brutally honest way. Bring us your pain, your strength, your passion.
Starting with Volume 10, payment to contributors is based on profits from Patreon subscriptions as well as a tip option where readers can tip their favorite writers/creatives.
We now offer EXPEDITED RESPONSES ($5) to where you can hear back in 2 weeks versus our 3-4 month response time.
Not ready to submit? We offer year round critique services for poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction where a senior editor will review your piece and provide you with in-depth feedback on how to improve it before submitting.
Things to Note:
Please note that Defunkt Magazine requires First Serial Rights on all submissions /all mediums. All published works may be considered for our annually printed anthology, Pushcart nominations, and Best of the Net.
Simultaneous submissions are acceptable but we must ask that you withdraw your piece AS SOON AS YOU ARE MADE AWARE OF THE PIECE BEING ACCEPTED ELSEWHERE.
FAILURE TO FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE REJECTION.
The Surreal Confessional is meant to embrace the weird, the uncanny, and the absurd to the ends of highlighting confessions of anger, sadness, inadequacy, insecurity, and otherwise emotions that marginalized bodies have been ridiculed for expressing. These poems can be about absolutely anything, but must possess the qualities of a confessional (admitting feelings and experiences that might be transgressive or taboo, utilizing the ‘I’.) and the surreal (dreamlike rules, childlike inspections of the world, the speculative, absurd, and the uncanny.) Think of poems like “Gaslighter” by Kirsten Bock, the work of Sabrina Orah Mark in collections like Wild Milk, or work published in publications like Taco Bell Quarterly.
We are looking for 1-3 poems by each contributor, so please submit up to 5 poems for consideration.
After the submission window closes on July 31st, please give readers and editors 3-5 months for response time, after which—if you haven’t heard back—you are welcome to reach out through submittable to inquire about the status of your submission. This is a large project with a great scope so we are anticipating it taking some time to get through all submissions with the care and thought each one deserves.
Simultaneous submissions are welcome, just withdraw the poem through Submittable if it is accepted elsewhere.
Previously published poems are accepted, just state that it is a previously published poem in your cover letter and be aware that upon acceptance you will be required to provide confirmation that all serial rights have reverted back to you.
Please see below for a full description of the Surreal Confessional as written by editor Bleah Patterson:
The Surreal Confessional is a blending of the century old surrealist and mid-century confessional form. The former, created and predominantly inhabited by white, males of privilege who sought to embody the language and rules of dreams and/or childhood. This means that their poems often had this playful quality that I’ll mention later, and that the consequences and stakes of the poem were a bit more topsy than those of realism. The latter movement was inhabited by women who are then often referred to as hysterical, melodramatic, and/or quaint by men who resemble those founding members of surrealism, the confessional is often The blend of the too is an emerging literary movement. A space for marginalized bodies who inhabit the intersections to escape their own forms and embody the intersections of metaphor to better articulate their admissions—confessions, if you will—exasperations, and also their boundless joy. The surreal confessional is an often playful yet dark rumination on humanity by employing the inhuman, the animal, and the inanimate. There’s certainly crossover here between speculative poetry, and I think that crossover is the movement’s strength rather than weakness. I think allowing something to live in that intersection is precisely the work of the Surreal Confessional.
The Surreal Confessional is meant to embrace the weird, the uncanny, and the absurd to the ends of highlighting confessions of anger, sadness, inadequacy, insecurity, and otherwise emotions that marginalized bodies have been ridiculed for expressing. These poems can be about absolutely anything, but must possess the qualities of a confessional (admitting feelings and experiences that might be transgressive or taboo, utilizing the ‘I’.) and the surreal (dreamlike rules, childlike inspections of the world, the speculative, absurd, and the uncanny.) Think of poems like “Gaslighter” by Kirsten Bock, the work of Sabrina Orah Mark in collections like Wild Milk, or work published in publications like Taco Bell Quarterly.
We are looking for 1-3 poems by each contributor, so please submit up to 5 poems for consideration.
After the submission window closes on July 31st, please give readers and editors 3-5 months for response time, after which—if you haven’t heard back—you are welcome to reach out through submittable to inquire about the status of your submission. This is a large project with a great scope so we are anticipating it taking some time to get through all submissions with the care and thought each one deserves.
Simultaneous submissions are welcome, just withdraw the poem through Submittable if it is accepted elsewhere.
Previously published poems are accepted, just state that it is a previously published poem in your cover letter and be aware that upon acceptance you will be required to provide confirmation that all serial rights have reverted back to you.