A Journal of Short Verse

Every world
in three lines.

Celebrating 15 years of publishing the finest short-form poems in the world

The dove carries the olive
branch but leaders restrict
a runway for safe landing.

Tom Husson

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Recently Accepted

From Some of the World's Finest Poets

The latest poems to earn a place in our pages.

I have seen snow on the sand
In the desert of Nevada
Where footprints never appear

Dean Miller

tracers weave red threads in the quilt
of night. bodybag makers wear thin--
they can’t keep up with the figures.

Kerry Rawlinson

every laugh an abandonment, every bite
a betrayal, leaving my son alone
his body blue, so blue

Claire Scott

ant volcanoes
on sidewalk cracks—
you never call.

Dave Earnhardt

Sunday wheels hum along pastoral roads,
white-fleeced sheep gather under the sun
We arrive, fold into the familiar flock

Christa Planko

Cinnamon hots & a single food stamp
Sweating cha-ching & a tilted smile
Yield: 80 cents or paper on a roll

Deirdre Fagan

The shortest poems
carry the longest shadows.

Three Line Poetry is a journal devoted to the art of the compressed image — poems that arrive complete in three lines, that hold their breath and say everything in the space of a moment.

We draw on the tradition of the haiku and the senryū, of Bashō and Issa and Buson, and we carry that spirit into the present: contemporary voices, global perspectives, the full weight of human experience in the fewest possible words.

We believe the short poem is not a lesser poem. It is a harder one. We publish the poets who understand that.

3 Lines. That's all.

Every word earns its place or it goes
The image does the work the statement cannot
Silence between lines is part of the poem
Short is not simple — it is ruthless
The best three-line poem leaves a fourth line unwritten

Read

Every issue is free to read online — a full gathering of voices from poets around the world. Browse the archive going back to our first issue. No subscription, no paywall.

Browse all issues →

II.

Submit

We welcome original three-line poems from all writers, anywhere in the world. Read our guidelines, check your line lengths, and send us your best work. We read everything.

Submission guidelines →

III.

Collect

Each issue is also available in a beautifully printed paperback edition — a physical object made to last. Take the poems off the screen and put them on your shelf.

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Highly Competitive

Publication in Three Line Poetry is earned, not given. With an acceptance rate of just 6%, every poem in our pages has survived a rigorous editorial process. Settle in for a reading experience that is unmatched anywhere.

2,923 Accepted

45,855 Declined

48,778 Submissions

6% Acceptance Rate