Three Line Poetry is a literary journal that has been publishing three-line poems since 2011, edited by Glenn Lyvers. Each issue features both new and established poets. We publish online for free and offer optional paperback editions for purchase.

1. Create an account — Go to the Signup page and fill in your name, email, and a password.
2. Confirm your email — Check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link inside it.
3. Log in — Go to the Login page and sign in with your email and password.
4. Submit — Click Submit in the navigation bar, type your three-line poem (one line per row), agree to the guidelines, and click Submit a Poem.

That's it! You'll receive an email when the editors make a decision.

No. Submitting to Three Line Poetry is completely free. After submitting, you may see an optional donation prompt — this is entirely voluntary and does not affect the review of your poem. You can close it and move on.

Response times vary depending on the volume of submissions. There is no fixed timeline. You will be notified by email when the editors update the status of your submission. You can also check the status anytime by logging in and going to My Submissions.

Yes. Three Line Poetry has been publishing continuously since 2011, edited by Glenn Lyvers. We publish online for free and produce paperback editions, and we pay our contributors (modestly, but we pay). Each issue features both new and established poets. You can browse our back issues at threelinepoetry.com.

Yes. Three Line Poetry is an international journal. We welcome poets from anywhere in the world. All submissions are in English.

We publish three-line poems of any style, form, or subject. Haiku, senryu, tercets, free verse, formal verse, experimental, lyrical, narrative, humorous, serious — all are welcome, as long as the poem is exactly three lines and each line fits within 40 characters. Selection is at the editors' discretion based on what makes a strong poem — there is no single "type" we're looking for.

Acceptance is competitive — we receive far more submissions than we can publish. You can see our current acceptance rate on the homepage of the submission manager. A decline is not a reflection of your ability as a poet; it simply means that particular poem wasn't the right fit for that issue. Many fine poets are declined before being accepted.

All poems are read by our staff. Every submission receives human consideration from our editorial team.

Yes. You must sign up with your real first and last name. This is required by our terms. However, if you prefer to publish under a different name, you can set a Pen Name in your Profile after signing up. The pen name will appear in published issues instead of your real name.

Your password must be:

• At least 8 characters long (maximum 20)
• Contain at least one uppercase letter (A-Z)
• Contain at least one lowercase letter (a-z)
• Contain at least one number (0-9)

Example of a valid password: Poetry2024

You need to confirm your email address before you can log in. After signing up, check your email inbox (and spam/junk folder) for a message from Three Line Poetry with a confirmation link. Click the link to activate your account. If you never received the email, try signing up again with the same email address — the system will tell you if the account already exists and direct you to the password reset page.

1. Go to the Forgot Password page (also linked from the Login page).
2. Enter the email address you used to sign up.
3. Complete the CAPTCHA checkbox.
4. Click Send Reset Link.
5. Check your email for a reset link (valid for 1 hour).
6. Click the link and choose a new password.

Note: The reset link can only be used once. If it expires, request a new one.

No. Each poet should have only one account. Creating multiple accounts to bypass the 3-submissions-per-issue limit is not allowed. The system uses your email address to identify your account — if you try to sign up with the same email twice, it will tell you the account already exists.

The first and last name on your account cannot be changed directly through the website. You have two options:

• Set a pen name — Go to My Profile and set a pen name. This is the fastest fix and will make your poems appear under the new name in published issues. This works for typos during signup, legal name changes, or publishing under a pseudonym.
• Contact the editor — If you need the underlying name on your account changed (not just the display name), contact the editor and we can update it for you.

There is no self-service account deletion in the submission manager. If you wish to have your account and any pending submissions removed, please contact the editor directly. Note that poems already published in past issues will remain in the archive.

The CAPTCHA is provided by Google reCAPTCHA. If it's not loading or responding:

• Make sure JavaScript is enabled in your browser.
• Try a different browser (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari).
• Disable any ad-blockers or privacy extensions temporarily — they sometimes block Google's CAPTCHA scripts.
• Clear your browser cache and reload the page.
• If you're on a VPN, try disconnecting it temporarily.

You may submit up to 3 poems per issue. Each poem is a separate submission. Once you've submitted 3 poems for the current issue, the system will not allow additional submissions until a new issue opens.

Three Line Poetry is dedicated exclusively to three-line poems. Every poem in our journal is exactly three lines. This is our format — think of it as a creative constraint. Haiku, senryu, tercets, and any other poetic form that fits three lines are all welcome.

On the Submit page, you'll see three input fields labeled Line 1, Line 2, and Line 3. Type one line of your poem in each field. You can see the character count update in real time to the right of each field.

No. Poems at Three Line Poetry are untitled. A working title is generated automatically from the first line of your poem for identification purposes in your submissions list, but it won't appear in the published journal.

Yes, simultaneous submissions are allowed. You may submit the same poem to other journals while it is pending with us. However, if another journal accepts your poem first, please withdraw it from Three Line Poetry immediately by going to My Submissions and clicking [WITHDRAW] next to the pending poem. Important: Once a poem is accepted here, it is instantly published to our online journal (and later in paperback), so you must withdraw before acceptance. Check My Submissions regularly to see the current status of your pending poems.

Yes. We welcome any three-line poetic form: haiku, senryu, tercets, terza rima, free verse, formal verse, or anything else that fits three lines. What matters is that the poem is exactly three lines and each line is no longer than 40 characters. The form is up to you.

That's entirely up to you. The formatting choices in your poem — capitalization, punctuation, line breaks, spacing — are creative decisions and part of your poem. We publish poems as submitted. Just make sure each line fits within 40 characters.

No. The submission form has exactly three fields, one for each line of your poem. There is no space for a title, dedication, epigraph, or author's note. The poem stands alone — just three lines, nothing else.

Three Line Poetry operates on a rolling schedule — there is no fixed quarterly or monthly calendar. A new issue automatically opens as soon as the current issue fills up. This means submissions are accepted continuously, and you can submit whenever you have work ready. Want to be notified when a new issue opens? Go to My Profile and turn on New Issue Notifications.

By checking the box that says "I agree to the guidelines," you affirm that:

• You are the original author of the poem.
• You are using your real name (or have a pen name set in your profile).
• You have read and agree to our submission guidelines.

You must check this box before submitting. It's checked by default, but if you uncheck it, you'll get an error.

Each line of your poem can be a maximum of 40 characters (including spaces and punctuation). This limit exists because our poems are formatted for print — longer lines won't fit on the page. The character counter next to each line shows your current count (e.g., 12 / 40). If you go over 40 characters, the text will be automatically trimmed.

No. Every submission must be exactly three lines. If you submit fewer than 3 lines (leaving a row blank), or try to paste in more than 3 lines, you'll receive an error. Fill all three line fields.

No. All three lines must contain text. Blank lines are not allowed. If you want to create a visual pause, use punctuation or spacing within a line instead.

Yes. The system supports full Unicode (UTF-8), so accented characters (e, n, u), em dashes (—), curly quotes, and other special characters are all fine. Just keep in mind they still count toward the 40-character limit per line.

Yes, but be careful. If you paste into the three line fields, the text should land correctly. However, if you're pasting from Microsoft Word or Google Docs, smart quotes and special dashes may look different. The system handles most of these, but it's a good idea to review each line after pasting. Make sure each line appears in the correct field and doesn't exceed 40 characters.

After you click Submit a Poem:

1. You'll see a confirmation message: "Submission received. It is marked pending and will be reviewed shortly."
2. Your poem enters the review queue with a Pending status.
3. The editors will review it and update the status to either Accepted or Declined.
4. You'll receive an email notification when the status changes.
5. You can also check the status anytime under My Submissions.

After submitting a poem, you may see a prompt asking if you'd like to make a voluntary donation or become a patron. This is entirely optional. It does not affect your submission in any way. You can simply close it by clicking "No thanks, close" and your poem is already submitted regardless of whether you donate.

Yes! As long as you haven't reached your per-issue limit (3 poems per issue, or 6 if you are an active Patron), you can submit another poem immediately. Just go back to the Submit page and enter your next poem.

• Pending — Your poem is in the review queue. The editors haven't made a decision yet. You can still edit or withdraw it while it's pending.
• Accepted — Congratulations! Your poem has been selected for publication. It will appear in the online issue. You'll see a notification with details.
• Declined — The editors chose not to include your poem in this issue. This is not a reflection of your ability — acceptance rates are very competitive. You're welcome to submit again.

Log in and go to My Submissions in the navigation bar. You'll see a table listing all your submitted poems with their current status and the date you submitted them.

When the editors change the status of one of your poems (accepted or declined), a notification card appears on your Overview page. It shows:

• The new status (with a colored badge)
• The full text of your poem
• Any note from the editor (if they included one)
• A Dismiss button to remove the notification

Click Dismiss to clear a notification after you've read it.

Congratulations! When a poem is accepted:

1. You'll see a notification on your Overview page.
2. If the editors offer a payment option, you can choose to request payment (provide your PayPal email or mailing address) or donate the payment back to the journal.
3. Click Confirm & Remove Notice to complete the process.

Accepted poems are published to the online journal. The paperback edition is produced separately.

You can submit new poems for the current issue (up to the 3-poem limit), but we generally recommend submitting fresh work rather than resubmitting a previously declined poem. The selection process is competitive and subjective — a decline doesn't mean your poem is bad, just that it wasn't the right fit for that issue.

Yes, but only while it's still Pending. Go to My Submissions, find the poem, and click [EDIT]. This will take you back to the submission form with your poem pre-filled. Make your changes and click Edit Submission. Once a poem has been accepted or declined, it can no longer be edited.

Go to My Submissions, find the poem with a Pending status, and click [WITHDRAW]. You'll be asked to confirm. Once withdrawn, the poem is permanently removed from the system. You cannot undo a withdrawal. Withdrawing frees up one of your submission slots for the current issue (3 per issue, or 6 if you are an active Patron).

No. The edit and withdraw buttons are only available for poems with Pending status. If you need to make changes to an accepted poem or wish to withdraw it after acceptance, you'll need to contact the editors directly.

A pen name (pseudonym) lets you publish under a different name while keeping your real name on file. To set one:

1. Go to My Profile.
2. Find the Pen Name section.
3. Type your preferred pen name and click Save.

Your pen name will appear in published online issues. To remove it and go back to your real name, clear the field and click Save.

1. Go to My Profile.
2. In the Email Address section, enter your new email address.
3. Click Send Confirmation.
4. Check the new email's inbox for a confirmation link (valid for 24 hours).
5. Click the link to complete the change.

Important: Your login email won't change until you click the confirmation link. If the link expires, just request a new one.

Go to My Profile and check the box in the New Issue Notifications section, then click Save. You'll receive an email whenever a new issue opens for submissions. You can turn this off anytime by unchecking the box.

A Patron is a supporter who contributes $25/year to help keep Three Line Poetry running. Patron benefits include:

• Priority reading status for all your submissions for one full year
• Double the submission limit — submit up to 6 poems per issue instead of 3, for the duration of your patronage
• Your name appears with a ✦ patron mark in published online issues
• Listed on the Supporters page

Important: Patron status gives priority of reading, not of acceptance. Every poem is judged on its own merit. Editorial independence is non-negotiable.

Absolutely not. Submissions are free. Any donation prompts you see are optional and voluntary. Your poem receives the same consideration whether you donate or not.

Yes. Three Line Poetry offers token cash payments to contributors after the paperback edition is published. Payments are made exclusively via PayPal:

• $1.50 standard payment per poem
• $10.00 for Editor's Choice selections

Important: We only send payment to the PayPal account matching the email address you used to sign up with. Make sure your signup email is also a valid PayPal account email, or that you have a PayPal account set up for that address. When your poem is accepted, you'll have the option to request payment or donate it back to the journal.

1. Check your spam/junk folder. The email comes from editor@threelinepoetry.com with the subject "Email Confirmation."
2. Wait a few minutes. Email delivery can sometimes be delayed.
3. Check that you typed your email correctly. If you made a typo during signup, you'll need to sign up again with the correct email.
4. Add editor@threelinepoetry.com to your contacts to prevent future emails from being filtered as spam.

If you still haven't received it after 30 minutes, try signing up again. The system will tell you if an account already exists. If all else fails, consider signing up with a free Gmail account (gmail.com). Many of our users use Gmail and it works reliably with our email system.

• Check your spam/junk folder for emails from editor@threelinepoetry.com.
• Log in and check your Overview page — notifications appear there even if the email didn't arrive.
• Check My Submissions for the current status of each poem.

Email delivery is never guaranteed. Always use the website as the primary way to check your submission status.

Password reset links are valid for 1 hour only and can only be used once. If yours has expired:

1. Go back to the Forgot Password page.
2. Request a new reset link.
3. Use it within 1 hour.

Common reasons:

• Email not confirmed. You must click the confirmation link in the email sent after signup. Without confirming, you cannot log in.
• Wrong email address. Make sure you're using the exact email you signed up with. Email addresses are case-sensitive in some situations.
• Caps Lock is on. Passwords are case-sensitive. Check that Caps Lock isn't enabled.
• Browser auto-fill. Your browser may be filling in an old or incorrect password. Try typing it manually.

If none of these help, use the Forgot Password page to reset your password.

Check the following:

• "Please paste your submission" — You left all three line fields empty. Type your poem into the Line 1, Line 2, and Line 3 fields.
• "Please submit at least 3 lines" — One or more lines are blank. All three lines must have text.
• "Only N submissions are allowed per issue" — You've reached the limit for this issue (3 per issue, or 6 for active Patrons). Wait for a new issue to open, or withdraw a pending submission to make room.
• "Please agree to the terms of service" — You unchecked the guidelines checkbox. Check it and try again.
• "Invalid request" — Your session may have expired. Reload the page and try again. If it persists, log out and log back in.

The submission manager works with any modern web browser. We recommend:

• Google Chrome (most reliable)
• Mozilla Firefox
• Microsoft Edge
• Safari (on Mac and iOS)

Keep your browser updated to the latest version for the best experience. Internet Explorer is not supported.

Yes. The submission manager is designed to work on phones, tablets, and desktop computers. You can sign up, log in, submit poems, check your status, and manage your profile all from a mobile device. If you're having trouble on mobile, try rotating to landscape mode for the submission form, or switch to a desktop browser if you need to compose a longer poem.

• Clear your browser cache (Ctrl+Shift+Delete on most browsers) and reload the page.
• Try a different browser. We recommend Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Safari.
• Disable browser extensions that might interfere (ad blockers, script blockers).
• Make sure your internet connection is working.

Your session expired due to inactivity. This is normal security behavior. Simply log in again. If you were in the middle of writing a poem, it may have been lost — we recommend composing your poem in a text editor first and then pasting it into the submission form.

Use the My Drafts page to save works-in-progress before you submit them — see the question below. For extra safety, you can also compose your poem in any text editor (Notepad, Notes app, Google Docs, etc.) first and paste it into the draft when ready.

Yes. The My Drafts page lets you save works-in-progress without submitting them. Here's how it works:

1. Go to My Drafts — Click My Drafts in the navigation bar after logging in.
2. Create a draft — Type your three lines into the "Start a New Draft" form and click Save Draft. The draft is now saved to your account.
3. Edit anytime — Each saved draft has an Edit button. Click it to make changes and save again.
4. Submit when ready — When you're happy with a draft, click Submit This Draft. You'll be taken to the Submit page with the poem already filled in — just review it and click Submit Poem.
5. Automatic cleanup — Once a draft has been successfully submitted to the editors, it is automatically removed from your drafts list.
6. Delete — You can also delete any draft manually using the Delete button.

Important: Drafts are works-in-progress only — they are not submitted to the editors until you explicitly click Submit This Draft and then Submit Poem on the Submit page. Saving a draft does not use one of your submission slots for the issue. Drafts are stored on our server tied to your account, so they follow you across devices.

You can save up to 40 drafts at a time. If you reach the limit, submit or delete some drafts before adding new ones. Drafts don't count toward your per-issue submission limit — only actually submitted poems do.

Instantly. When the editors accept your poem, it is published to our online journal at threelinepoetry.com immediately. You'll see a notification on your Overview page, and the poem appears in the current online issue right away.

Accepted poems are published first to the online journal, and later collected into a paperback edition. The paperback is produced on its own schedule after the online issue fills up. Not every online issue produces a paperback at the same pace — paperback editions are assembled and published separately.

1. Log in and go to My Submissions.
2. Find the poem with Accepted status — you'll see the issue it's associated with.
3. Visit threelinepoetry.com and locate the corresponding online issue or paperback edition to see your poem in its published context.

Token payments are issued after the paperback edition for your issue is published, not at the moment of online acceptance. The paperback is produced on its own schedule, so there can be a gap between acceptance and payment. When it is time for payment, you'll be prompted in the acceptance notification on your Overview page to choose whether to receive payment or donate it back to the journal.

Editor's Choice is a special distinction awarded to a small number of exceptional poems per issue at the editor's sole discretion. Editor's Choice poems receive a higher token payment: $10.00 instead of the standard $1.50. There is no way to nominate yourself for Editor's Choice — it is chosen by the editors based on the strength of the work.

Your poem must be your own original creation (not public domain, not someone else's work). It must be available for print publication. Previously published online work may be considered — see our full guidelines for details.

No. You retain all exploitation rights to your work after publication. Three Line Poetry acquires first publication rights for the issue your poem appears in, but after that, you can do whatever you wish with your poem.

No. Issues are free to read online at threelinepoetry.com. Paperback editions are available for purchase but are not sent free to contributors. This is explained in our guidelines.

You cannot withdraw through the website after acceptance. If you need to withdraw an accepted poem, please contact the editors directly. The website only allows withdrawal of Pending submissions.