(I don't know where this should go, but as its about submitting poetry, i think this area should be good?) Its been years since I sat down and wrote a poem. And I've actually never submitted a poem anywhere as an adult. I wrote a poem the other day and realized it has similarities to one that I wrote YEARS ago (like 10+ years ago...). I love it! it was completely unintentional but reminds me of those art videos where they recreate one of their childhood drawing years later. The poem from years ago isn't bad, but stylistically, i've grown from it. Theres a clear maturity line between them (the old one is hopeful and idealistic... while the other is kind of bleak and realistic). Yet, this new poem transition perfectly from that one down to the last line of the old one and the first line of the new one. (also unintentional!) With that being said, I want to submit them as a pair. In my cover letter, I mentioned that the poems were written years apart... but should I actually put the dates beside/beneath the titles?
I wouldn't include dates, but I'm also a little confused if this is really one poem or two poems. If they really go together, I think you want to make it one poem. I don't know. I think it's really hard to publish poetry in the well-established or well-known publications. In those places I think poetry can be harder to publish than fiction. But you might want to check out Rattle. I think they really have a pulse on the contemporary poetry scene. And they might be more open to something experimental which kind of sounds like what you're trying to do here. I really like Rattle as a reader of poetry. I recently read an issue of The Mississippi Review and was quite impressed with their poetry. I know they're not as big as some of the others, but I think quality is there in the work they publish, especially in terms of poetry. I know you're probably aware of a lot of the big players so you probably don't need my take on all of them, but I would look into thee two if I had some good poetry I was looking to publish. Good luck!
Oh! Rattle actually has a "sequel" prompt! although... im unsure if it means a sequel to a famous poem or not...
I think that could work; another poet recently did exactly this. https://classicalpoets.org/2023/09/14/thoughts-on-education-outside-the-box-poems-by-anna-j-arredondo/
