How to submit poetry, basics

Hello, sorry about the technical difficulties that resulted in "Musings" being published twice!
Today we are talking about very basic poetry submission guidelines. Your best bet is the internet since you are already reading this.

Keep in mind you should search for tabs/key words in the journal or publishing web-sites that say "guidelines" or "submissions" and read their criteria.

Next, see if you can find out the name of the Poetry Editor. If not, by all means when you write a cover sheet you can address it to Poetry Editor so that there is some semblance of trying hard.
Unless they have the capability to accept poems through e-mail, you should always type and print your poetry on clean paper, one poem per page, with your name, address, and phone number on each poem. In e-mails, be sure all your contact information is IN the e-mail.

Postage is important, too. Be sure you have enough postage on the envelope to handle the amount of poems you are sending. Also, when including a Self-Addressed-Stamped-Envelope (SASE) be sure there's enough postage for your poems to RETURN if that is what you'd like.
Biographical notes are sometimes wanted by journals and what that really means is they want to know where else you've been published, what poems they were, and your general information such as town and state you're living in.

*Cover letters are not a necessity unless specified by the journal/publisher, so you can always send your poems without one.

*If you want an incredibly detailed description of how to send out poems you should click on the Comstock Review link on the side of this web-page, they have an EXCELLENT guide for you to read, print, and refer to over and over. I re-read their guide and their submission guidelines frequently. Let's face it, if you had to edit thousands of poems you would want them to be easy to read, clean, and delivered with enough postage that you wouldn't have to pay for the poets who didn't add enough postage. Try to be the most gracious poet you can when submitting your work.