Our Fall 2025 reading period opens September 1 and closes September 30th; we are reading for our Spring 2026 issue, published entirely online.
Tar River Poetry invites previously unpublished poems and essays about poetry written in English by both emerging and established writers. We do not publish work written with or by artificial intelligence.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To submit poetry, please send up to five unpublished, original poems as a single Word file. PLEASE DO NOT upload poems individually. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, and we ask that you notify us *immediately* if a poem is accepted elsewhere.
We no longer accept subscriptions; the journal will be 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.
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.
If we have published your work recently, please wait at least one 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 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, writers, and supporters. Thank you for making a donation in support of TRP.
THIS CATEGORY IS FOR CURRENT SUBSCRIBERS ONLY. We are now free to read online, and no longer accept new subscriptions but honor current one and two year subscriptions with this free category. OTHER CATEGORIES ARE OPEN BELOW. If you are a current subscriber, please use this category and mention it in your cover letter. Submit up to five poems. We will respond with an editorial decision within three weeks. Thank you, again, for your support of Tar River Poetry; we're excited to read your work.
Submit up to five poems in a Word document. For a $6 reading fee, and we will respond with an editorial decision within three weeks.
Submit up to five poems in a single Word file. We will respond within three months. If you'd like a quicker response, consider submitting under our Expedited Response categories.
Please submit an essay on the craft of poetry, or a review of one or more books of poetry, up to 1500 words.