We are closed for submissions for our Fall 2025 issue.
Welcome!
Tar River Poetry invites previously unpublished poems and essays about poetry written in English by emerging and established writers.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
To submit poetry, please send up to five unpublished original poems as a single file. PLEASE DO NOT upload poems individually. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, and we ask that you notify us immediately if a poem is accepted elsewhere.
With your submission, you may conveniently purchase a one- or two-year subscription to TRP. Subscribers can submit for free, and you will get an expedited response in 2 weeks.
If you prefer, you may purchase a simple "expedited decision" without subscribing.
To submit prose about poetry, you can send us a 1000–1500-word review or essay about writing poetry. You are welcome to contact us with a query first should you want to pitch something that falls outside of our usual topic and length.
If we have published your work recently, please wait a year after publication before submitting again. And we ask that you submit no more than once per reading period.
RESPONSE TIME
For expedited submissions, you will receive an editorial decision within two weeks. For regular submissions, we'll respond in two to 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.
Tar River Poetry welcomes submissions to our Ekphrasis Competition, sponsored by the North Carolina Museum of Art.
Writers are invited to submit up to two previously unpublished poems of no more than 30 lines each that respond to works of art. We particularly encourage submissions written about one of the over 16,000 works in the NCMA’s permanent collection, which may be viewed online. For each poem you submit, include the name of the artwork, artist, and image that inspires your work.
Prizes: first place $500, second place $300, third place $100, all published in TRP.
Winners will be invited to read their work in person or via Zoom at the End Paper: NCMA Art Book Fair award ceremony at the North Carolina Museum of Art in September 2025.
The first-place poem will also have a broadside made by Terry Schupbach-Gordon, which will be entered into End Paper’s broadside contest. Sales proceeds of the broadside will go solely to the letterpress artist.
The competition is open to all poets writing in English. The contest reading fee is $22 per submission.
Contestants may submit more than once.
All submissions will be considered for publication in Tar River Poetry. Writers will be contacted if their work is selected for publication.
The contest opens March 1, 2025 and closes May 1, 2025.
We greatly appreciate the support of our readers, writers, and supporters. Thank you for making a donation in support of TRP.
For your two-year subscription, you'll receive 4 issues of TRP.
Subscription options:
- Two Years / Four Issues (discounted at $32) OR Two Years at the full rate of $36 to help support the journal
- One Year / Two Issues ($18) OR Round-up to $20 to help support the journal
- Single Sample Issue ($9)
For subscribers outside the US, please use the INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIPTION category.
You may also make a donation of $50 or $100 to support Tar River Poetry.
For addresses outside the United States, a one-year subscription (two issues) is $25.00.