The Comstock Review is proud of its long-established reputation of publishing the finest known and unknown poets throughout North America.
Our current Co-Managing Editors are Carolyn Ostrander and John Bellinger beginning in January 2024.
Comstock Review, Inc. was formed in November 2019 as a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization to support the writing community. CR,Inc became the umbrella press for The Comstock Review, a poetry journal with a 30-year heritage, in 2020.
CR,Inc oversees the journal, associated poetry contests and Chapbook publication. We are committed to promoting a sustainable future for poets, poetry lovers, and poetry through these and additional literary and educational projects.
The Comstock Review publishes a print issue twice a year, with an Open Reading Period from Jan 1 to Mar 31. No fee is charged by CR,Inc for submissions during the open reading.
The annual Muriel Craft Bailey Poem Contest accepts submissions from April 1 to July 15 (fee-based submission). In addition to prizes that are awarded, the prize-winning poems, honorable mention poems and poems of special merit appear in the Fall/Winter issue of the journal. In 2024, the Muriel Craft Bailey Poem Contest will be judged by Charles Rafferty.
The Comstock Review sponsors two chapbook contests with fee-based submissions in alternating years: the Jessie Bryce Niles Chapbook Award and The Comstock Review Chapbook Contest, each of which accepts submissions from August 1 to October 31 in the year they are open. In 2025, the Jessie Bryce Niles Chapbook Award will be judged by Georgia A. Popoff, the Onondaga County NY Poet Laureate.
THE COMSTOCK REVIEW OPEN READING PERIOD January 1 to March 31
We accept but do not encourage simultaneous submissions. If your work is accepted for publication elsewhere, we count on you to let us know immediately that you are withdrawing it from consideration. Once a poem has been accepted for publication, we expect you to turn down subsequent acceptance offers from other publications until the poem or chapbook appears in our publication (first U.S. publication rights). Once our publication has appeared, the only rights we retain are for the use of the title and your name to promote that publication. All other rights in your work return to you. If we want to use a poem (for instance in an anthology or later digital format) after publication, we will contact you for your permission.
All poems are screened by at least three editors before acceptance. All of our editors are volunteers, and poets in their own right. In 2025 our editors are John M. Bellinger*, Clare Chu, Peggy Sperber Flanders, Raphael Kosek, Peggy Miller, Carolyn Ostrander*, Amanda Russell and Martin Willitts, Jr.; editors emeritus are Michael McAnaney and Kathleen Bryce Niles-Overton. Potential editors have Guest Editor status for one year before confirming their Editor status.
*Carolyn Ostrander and John M. Bellinger are the Managing Editors of The Comstock Review.
Our Editors appreciate: Well crafted verse, either traditional or non-traditional;
Consistency of metaphor;
Refreshing, distinctive imagery and diction;
Effective use of poetic devices and sonic qualities;
Theme or approach that casts new light on the world and the human condition;
and/or a poem that tickles your brain long after the page has turned.
We are not afraid of the avant-garde, but shy from the overly obscure, the patently religious, and the needlessly graphic.
We choose our poems solely on the basis of what we consider to be their artistic merits. We are not swayed by long publishing histories. In selecting poems we consider the poem, not the poet.
We do ask for a short contributor bio (under 50 words) to appear in the issue your poem appears in, if accepted.
Important: Our small all-volunteer journal is focused on producing a high-quality print journal, and that takes time. Replies may be sent as much as 3 months after close of reading period if we are swamped with a high volume of submissions or because of unforeseen circumstances. Printing the journal also depends on the schedules of copy-editors, typesetters, printers and binders. Although it seems like a long wait, we want you to be thrilled to see your work in a print journal, to hold it in your hands, and to share it with others.
We have two methods of submission: Most submissions are sent online through Submittable, but it is also possible to send in a submission by mail. Please note that we do not accept e-mail submissions for any reading period.
For USPS (printed poems sent by mail), we include the following instructions:
Please send 4-5 poems maximum with a SASE (Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope). Send to: The Comstock Review, 4956 St. John Drive, Syracuse, NY 13215
We will reply to poets outside the continental United States by e-mail only. We will sometimes contact you about accepted poems by e-mail, or phone. If you need a return response in writing, you cannot count on hearing from us without an SASE.
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