I was going to share an earlier version of a poem that didn’t fit into my cruise collection, but then I remembered: most literary magazines consider any version of a poem that’s been publicly posted online — social media, blogs, or open forums — as previously published.

That includes early drafts, even if the poem has changed since then. What matters isn’t perfection or version, it’s public availability. Once a poem is visible to anyone online, it’s technically “published.”

There are a few grey areas though:

• Private or limited-access posts — such as online or in-person workshops, peer critique sites that require login, private emails, newsletters for subscribers only, shared drafts in Google Docs or Dropbox, or poems read aloud at open mics — don’t count as publication.
• Deleted posts still count if they were ever publicly visible, though some smaller or more flexible journals might make exceptions if it was a brief share.
• Revisions don’t reset the clock. Even if the poem’s been reworked, it’s still the same poem if it keeps the central image, subject, tone, or phrasing. Only when it’s no longer recognisably the same does it become a new piece.

Most editors won’t go hunting for your poem online, but some might recognise it. Editors tend to read widely.
In the end, the system runs on good faith — they trust you to be honest. If they later discover a poem was posted publicly, they can withdraw it or reject future submissions.

So, I’m afraid you can’t see the poem until it’s published.