Our first 2026 reading period opens January 1 and closes January 31. We are reading for our Fall 2026 issue, with guest editor Brandon Krieg.
Tar River Poetry invites previously unpublished poems and essays about poetry written in English by both emerging and established writers. We do not publish work written with or by artificial intelligence.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
To submit poetry, please send up to five unpublished, original poems as a single Word file (only, no pdfs). PLEASE DO NOT upload poems individually. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but we ask that you notify us *immediately* if a poem is accepted elsewhere.
We no longer accept subscriptions; the journal is free for all to read online. Readers who purchased one or two-year subscription plan last year may submit for free and with an expedited response time of just 3 weeks. If we have published your work recently, please wait one year after publication before submitting again. And we ask that you submit no more than once per reading period.
To submit prose about poetry, you can send us a 1000–1500-word review of a new book of poems or an essay on craft. You are also welcome to contact Matthew Buckley Smith, Prose Editor, with a pitch.
RESPONSE TIME
For expedited submissions, you will receive an editorial decision within three weeks. For regular submissions, we'll respond within three months.
You should receive an autoreply from us immediately after sending your work. If you don't, please check to be sure your email spam-blocker does not have submissions@tarriverpoetry.com blocked.
We look forward to reading your work.
Please submit by selecting the appropriate category below.
We greatly appreciate the support of our readers and writers. Donations are tax deductible.
We would much rather accept donations through the Donations tab on our journal website where, thanks to Zeffy, we receive 100% of the donation. Here is a direct link to our Zeffy processing page: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/donations-to-tar-river-poetry-and-prose
Submittable takes a percentage of all donations. If you would rather donate via Submittable, you may do so here. Either way, thank you for making a donation in support of Tar River Poetry.
THIS CATEGORY IS FOR THOSE WHO PURCHASED A ONE OR TWO-YEAR SUBSCRIPTION IN 2024 OR 2025 ONLY. We are now free for all to read online and stopped accepting subscriptions in early 2025; we will honor these subscriptions with this free and expedited submission category through 2026. Thank you, so much, for your kind support of the journal. We couldn't have made it this long without you. Thanks to you, we're coming up on our 50th anniversary in 2028.
Submit up to five poems in a single MS Word file. We will respond within three weeks. Please do not submit a bio; we will ask for one if we accept your work. As a reminder, Tar River Poetry does not accept work written with or by AI, under any circumstances. Thank you for respecting this policy.
Submit up to five poems in a single MS Word file. We will respond within three weeks. Please do not submit a bio; we will ask for one if we accept your work. As a reminder, Tar River Poetry does not accept work written with or by AI, under any circumstances. Thank you for respecting this policy.
Submit up to five poems in a single MS Word file. We usually respond within three months. If you'd like to hear back sooner, consider submitting under our Expedited Response category ($6 for a response within three weeks). Please do not submit a bio; we will ask for one if we accept your work. As a reminder, Tar River Poetry does not accept work written with or by AI, under any circumstances. Thank you for respecting this policy.
Please submit an essay on craft, up to 1000 words. Please do not submit a bio; we will ask for one if we accept your work. As a reminder, Tar River Poetry does not accept work written with or by AI, under any circumstances. Thank you for respecting this policy.