Tar River Poetry

08/04/2025

05/04/2025

177 Followers, 413 Following, 7 Posts

24/03/2025

See full contest guidelines at tarriverpoetry.com

14/03/2025

01/03/2025

Writing poems about art? We welcome submissions to our ekphrastic poetry contest. Details can be found here: https://tarriverpoetry.submittable.com/submit/321922/ekphrasis-competition

02/02/2025

Our reading period for the fall issue is now closed, and we want to thank our writers for their submissions. Our next reading period will be in the fall, but you don't have to wait that long!

We're working on finalizing details for our ekphrasis contest this spring and will post here soon. Meanwhile, if you want a preview of our spring issue, you can read Jane Hirshfield's poem here:

Velasquez / Boreal Wildfires June 30, 2023 In one 17th-century painting, a woman tips a fried egg into a bowl, in another, she watches water pour into a glass. If she noticed the boy in the corner drawing, she didn’t care. There is always more to be done in a kitchen. Like that, the world […]

12/10/2024

It’s in the mail! Editor Luke Whisnant displays a copy of the Fall 2024 issue of Tar River Poetry. This is a great issue, with a beautiful cover photo by longtime friend of the journal Leanne A. Smith; Contributing Editor Rick Simpson’s review of Kit Fan’s “The Ink Cloud Reader”; wonderful new poems by Christine Barkley, Tina Barr, Wendy Barry, Matthew Robb Brown, Charmaine Cadeau, Dallas Crow, Dawn Dupler, Helena Feder, Madelyn Garner, Robert Harlow, Mary Beth Hines, John Hodgen, Ken Holland, Karen Luke Jackson, Richard Jordan, Mickie Kennedy, Jan LaPerle, Becka Mara McKay, Jennifer Stewart Miller, Laura Gunnells Miller, Ronald Moran, Wynne Morrison, Mark Neely, Kate Peper, Christine Potter, Christine Rhein, Esteban Rodríguez, Laura Ruby, Eric Paul Shaffer, Carrie Shipers, Martha Silano, Richard Simpson, David Stephenson, Sarah Anne Stinnett, Richard Allen Taylor, Erin Wilson and Ellen June Wright; and a special farewell essay by Luke Whisnant. Many thanks to all who contributed!

04/10/2024

Here’s a sneak peek at our beautiful Fall 2024 cover, from a photo by the journal’s longtime friend and photographer extraordinaire Leanne E. Smith. This issue, 64 pages of poetic goodness, is currently in press and will be mailed out in mid-October. If you already subscribe, we’re truly grateful for your support. If you haven’t yet subscribed, Sunday evening (Oct 6) will be your last chance to get on this issue’s mailing list and to avoid the upcoming price increase. And as a bonus, subscribers submit free and receive expedited editorial responses. Subscribe now at https://tarriverpoetry.submittable.com/submit.

29/09/2024

LAST CHANCE to submit in 2024 (next reading period will be February 2025). Our current submission period closes at 11:59 PM on Monday 30 September. As always, subscribers submit free and receive expedited editorial decisions, but you don't have to subscribe to submit. Get those poems in!

TRP IS OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS. WE ARE CURRENTLY READING FOR OUR SPRING 2025 ISSUE.Subscriptions & Sample IssuesPlease scroll to the bottom of this page to subscribe via credit card or PayPal.SUBSCRIBERS SUBMIT FREE AND RECEIVE AN EDITORIAL DECISION WITHIN TWO WEEKS.SubmissionsTar River Poetry is under...

22/09/2024

ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT to submit your work! The current reading period ends on September 30th at midnight. As always, subscribers submit free and receive expedited editorial decisions, but you don't have to subscribe to submit.

TRP IS OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS. WE ARE CURRENTLY READING FOR OUR SPRING 2025 ISSUE.Subscriptions & Sample IssuesPlease scroll to the bottom of this page to subscribe via credit card or PayPal.SUBSCRIBERS SUBMIT FREE AND RECEIVE AN EDITORIAL DECISION WITHIN TWO WEEKS.SubmissionsTar River Poetry is under...

01/09/2024

TRP is open for submissions! Our fall 2024 reading period started at 12:01 AM on September 1st. Subscribers submit free and receive expedited editorial decisions on all submissions, but you don't have to subscribe to submit. At the moment our website is a little glitchy so here's a direct link to our submission manager:

WE ARE OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS, CURRENTLY READING FOR OUR SPRING 2025 ISSUE.Subscriptions & Sample IssuesPlease scroll to the bottom of this page to subscribe via credit card or PayPal.SUBSCRIBERS SUBMIT FREE AND RECEIVE AN EDITORIAL DECISION WITHIN TWO WEEKS.SubmissionsTar River Poetry is under new ed...

30/11/2022

We have copies! Editor Luke Whisnant and Assistant Editor Lauryn Hopkins display the Fall 2022 Tar River Poetry. This new issue features a beautiful cover photo by long-time friend of the journal Leanne E. Smith; inside we have two reviews—Tom Simpson on Zeina Hashem Beck’s “O,” and Patrick Bizzaro on Keith Flynn and Charter Weeks’ “Prosperity Gospel: Portraits of the Great Recession”—and over three dozen wonderful poems by Tara Ballard, Ace Boggess, Catherine Carter , Robert Claps, Robert Cording, Dallas Crow, Todd Davis, Diana Donovan, Lane Falcon, Richard Foerster, George Franklin, Judith O'Connell Hoyer, Richard Jordan, Jen Karetnick, Debra Kaufman, Susan L. Leary, Gregory Lobas, Maren Mitchell, Kate Peper, Carrie Shipers, Noel Sloboda, Rodney Torreson, Erin Wilson, J.B. Absher, Tina Barr, S.D. Dillon, Jennifer Dorner, Elizabeth Cranford Garcia, Bill Griffin, Paul Jones , Brooke Dwojak Lehmann, Dave Nielsen, Doug Ramspeck, David Stephenson, Michael Chitwood, Rebecca Foust, Toby Goostree, Derek Otsuji, and Ellen June Wright. All this for less than the cost of a venti Pumpkin Spice Latte! (Subscribe at our website.)