Welcome to Tar River Poetry
We publish poems that are compelling and provocative, and prose about poetry that opens up new perspectives.
Tar River Poetry publishes all forms of poetry by writers working in English around the world in our digital issues. We welcome poems that represent a diversity of interests and perspectives, of readers and writers, and we encourage submissions from underrepresented groups. Tar River Poetry is committed to fostering literary community by showcasing work that provokes discussion, reflection, and new ideas.
To that end, Tar River Poetry does not accept work that has been written by or with AI. Please respect this policy, and help us keep poetry human. Please see our submission page for guidelines.
Our History
Tar River Poetry has published thousands of poems by emerging and well-known poets, including William Stafford, Louis Simpson, Carolyn Kizer, A.R. Ammons, Anthony S. Abbot, Billy Collins, Henry Taylor, Sharon Olds, Dorianne Laux, Henry Hart, Dianne Seuss, Claudia Emerson, and Martha Silano. It began as a forum for local writers, first called Tar River Poets, by Vernon Ward. When Peter Makuck took over the editorship in 1978, he renamed it Tar River Poetry and launched the publication as a national journal. From 2006 to 2024, Luke Whisnant served as Editor. The Editor today is Helena Feder.
Masthead
Editor
Helena Feder
Prose Editor
Matthew Buckley Smith
Associate Editor
James Cardin
Assistant Editor
Benjamin Humphries
Web Editor
Ethan McGuire
Social Media Manager
Kenly Corya
Intern
Fabian Gomez Irizarry
Contributing Board
Chris Abani
Alice Allan
Joseph Donahue
Jane Hirshfield
Brandon Krieg
Dorianne Laux
Amit Majmudar
Suzanne Matson
Luke Whisnant
Founding Editor
Peter Makuck (1940 – 2023)
Header image on homepage by Susan Luddeke.
Detail from “The Tar River in Autumn” (2005). Oil on canvas.
Tar River Poetry is indexed in Humanities International Complete,
Annual Index to Poetry in Periodicals, and Index of Periodical Verse, and listed at Duotrope.
To send review copies and reciprocal journals to Tar River Poetry,
please email tarriverpoetry@gmail.com for the mailing address.
We love getting these! Thank you.