It’s a real knife fight out there for poets. We’re upping the ante. One Shot Magazine gives every writer one chance to land the poem that matters. One submission. One poem. One shot. Forever.

Don’t submit to us more than once. Don’t double back with a pseudonym. We’ll know.

We have no aesthetic preference. We like whatever leaves a hole (or whatever helps patch it back up). Established or emerging, it doesn’t matter. Just send your best work.

We’re an annual publication. Each year, the poems you send duke it out for survival. Ten emerge victorious. The rest face the firing squad.

This is Issue One: your shot at being part of a magazine built on risk, guts, and whatever passes for glory these days. Accepted work will appear in our annual print issue and in our online archive.

To submit, email one poem as a .docx or PDF to oneshotmagazine.lit@gmail.com. Submissions are open November 1 through July 1 each year, with results announced shortly thereafter.

You’ve got one in the chamber. Use it wisely.