This service offers the feedback described below on 3 individual poems. This is a professional evaluation offered by the Nebraska Poetry Society and performed by NPS president Charlene Pierce, MFA. This is not a contest, and your poems will not be posted or published in any way.
Submission Fee: $75 for three poems
Timeline: You can expect your feedback within 4 to 6 weeks of submission, pending resolution of any issues or payment of additional fees (see below).
Services Provided:
Each poem submitted will be evaluated for big-picture issues including voice, theme, and style and for more technical line-by-line craft elements such as line endings and structure. You will receive the following deliverables:
- Editorial Letter: A letter offering individualized, craft-based feedback on the submission as a whole. Because every poem has different strengths and needs, feedback is tailored to each submission. Depending on the work, elements addressed may include line endings, sound and rhythm, metaphor, structure, recurring themes, and titles and whether the ending feels earned.
- Comments on the Poems: Comments throughout the submission that respond to the poems at a more specific level. These notes may highlight effective diction, raise questions about clarity or movement, and suggest possibilities for line endings, stanza breaks, sound, pacing, or other craft decisions that could strengthen the work.
- Members-only Follow-up Session: Members of the Nebraska Poetry Society at the time of submission will also receive a 30-minute conversation by Zoom or phone to discuss the written feedback, answer questions, and talk through revision challenges. Sessions are scheduled for the week after feedback is delivered and may fall outside the 4–6 week window. Membership is $40/year and is open to anyone. You do not need to be a resident of Nebraska to join.
About Charlene Pierce
Charlene Pierce is a poet, teaching artist, and Founder and President of the Nebraska Poetry Society. A Pushcart Prize nominee and Best of the Net finalist, her work appears in Poetry Foundation, TriQuarterly, Whale Road Review, The Good Life Review, and 805 Lit + Art , among others, and has been anthologized in Until There Are No Words Left, Misbehaving Nebraskans, and others. The Poetry Foundation selected her to teach a poetry workshop, publish a craft essay, and give a public reading for the Forms & Features Series. She has an MFA from Pacific University, where she was a Merit Scholar, and is passionate about helping poets deepen their craft while supporting their creative and professional development.
Eligibility/Rules:
- Submissions are open to anyone. You do not need a connection to Nebraska or a membership to the Nebraska Poetry Society.
- We accept all forms of poetry. No images please, text only.
- Poems must be in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx).
- Formatting: Please use 12pt Times New Roman font, with 1-in margins on all sides. One Poem Per Page. Start each new poem on a fresh page. Include your name and page number (e.g., Page 1 of 3) on each page. See below for possible additional fees.
- On the first page of your submission, please include your bio and a brief 3–5 sentence description of your goals for the feedback. (e.g., Are you looking for help with a specific structural issue, or are you preparing this work for a specific contest or journal?)
- All poems must be in English.
- Payment is due at the time of submission. Any additional fees, as described below, are due in advance.
Additional Fees:
- Poem length will be assessed based on the formatting above. Poems that are longer than 3 pages will incur an additional fee of $5 per page over 3 pages.
- Proper formatting is required.
- Payments for additional fees will be accepted via PayPal or Venmo only.
- You will be contacted right away if additional fees are owed, and you will be given the opportunity to avoid these fees by replacing the longer poems with shorter ones or fixing the formatting and resubmitting.
- We will not begin work on your poems until all issues are resolved and fees are paid.