HAD

Poetry rejections

Standard

2026 (TACOMA call)

Dear —,

Thanks for sending this to HAD. Sorry to say, I'm going to pass.

You know how it goes... taste is subjective, I'm just some guy, I'm reading through these quickly and so, probably even more than with other journals, this is an incredibly subjective (and often mysterious, even to myself) kneejerk response.

This is ALWAYS the case, but this call got 364 submission, and they all seem especially good, and so these decisions are even a little extra kneejerk and mysterious.

Thank you again!

—Aaron, HAD

p.s. If you follow us on Twitter and/or bsky, we'll probably put together a list of other great, fave journals open right now who we bet would love to read some of these!

2025

Dear —,

Thanks for sending this to HAD. Sorry to say, I'm going to pass on it.

We read and respond as fast as possible, and taste is pretty arbitrary/circumstantial (I'm just some dude, reading submissions instead of doing other work), so definitely keep sending us new work whenever you see us open!

—Aaron / HAD

Prose rejections

2026

Dear —,

Thanks so much for submitting! It came close, but I'm sorry to say I'm going to pass on this one.

I appreciate you trusting me with your work and I'm sure you'll find it a perfect home!

Until we meet again<3

-Sarp / HAD