Hey, I’m Isabel. I’m the editor and creator of I’m A Mess Magazine.

I’ve read and looked at a lot of poetry magazines, and honestly, I don’t like most of them. They often feel performative, like the editors are putting on berets, faking French accents, and talking about how much they value diversity and individuality while assuring you you’re accepted, loved, wanted, insert comforting phrase here. And then every single poem ends up sounding the same: manufactured depth, exaggerated sorrow, endless “woe is me.”
So I decided to make my own.
I’m A Mess Magazine actually prioritizes a diverse range of styles, formats, and topics. Messy poems. Funny poems. Angry poems. Quiet ones. Poems that break rules, bend forms, or don’t know what they’re trying to be yet. Poems that feel honest instead of impressive.
This magazine isn’t interested in perfection or pretension. It’s for writers who are still figuring things out, who feel too much or not enough, who write because they need to, not because they want to sound important or to melt into the mold of a magazine. It’s for voices that don’t always fit neatly into literary spaces.
I genuinely love poetry, writing it, reading it, living in it. I love it, and I want this magazine to feel like that love instead of a performance. If you also love poetry that’s authentic, vulnerable, and a little messy, I’m A Mess Magazine might be for you. Let's make a magazine that's real.