Publishing outstanding poetry since 1986

OPEN READING PERIOD

THE OPEN READING PERIOD – No Fee – Jan 1 through Mar 31!

The Comstock Review  Open Reading Period is now accepting submissions!

Jan 1 through Mar 31

(No reading fee!) via Submittable and by mail.

IMPORTANT! SUBMISSION GUIDELINES are updated annually – READ CAREFULLY (see below)! 

To submit by mail send poems
to The Comstock Review, Att: Open Reading,
4956 St. John Drive, Syracuse, NY 13215.

OR Submit online via comstockreview.submittable.comsubmit

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round white fluffy dandelion seedhead above loosely woven green grass nest

“Dandelion” by Kevin Morrow
THE COMSTOCK REVIEW
Spring / Summer 2023
Vol 37 Issue 1

   The Comstock Review is proud of its long-established reputation of publishing  the finest known and unknown poets anywhere. We choose our poems solely on  the basis of what we consider their artistic merits. We are not swayed by long  publishing histories. We are not afraid of the avant garde but shy from the overly  obscure, the patently religious, and needlessly graphic language.

    Our editors appreciate: well-crafted verse, traditional or nontraditional, consistency of metaphor, refreshing distinctive imagery and diction, effective use of poetic devices and sonic qualities, a theme or approach that casts new light on the world and the human condition, and a poem that tickles your brain long after the page has turned.

 

 

Updated Guidelines – read carefully!

1. We do not publish poems under 10 lines, or over 60 lines including stanza breaks, epigraphs etc.

2. The maximum line length cannot exceed 70 characters including spaces and punctuation.

3. Poems must be the submitter’s original work, unpublished in ANY medium, print or electronic. Do NOT submit AI-generated poetry.

4. The Comstock Review reserves the first refusal rights for accepted poems in the case of simultaneous submission that are subsequently accepted by a second publication. Notify us immediately of withdrawals.

5. Submit up to five of your finest poems, single spaced, as Word documents (you can put them in one single document or upload each one separately). Editors’ eyes appreciate the use of standard fonts and size such as Times New Roman size 12 or Calibri size 12

6. Limit each online submission to 5 poems. You may submit more than once per reading period.

7. Do not put your name on your poem submission document(s) or in the filename, so judging can be impartial. (When submitting poems by mail, DO put your name on the BACK of each sheet of paper you send)

8. Reading carefully takes time! Replies may be sent up to 2 months after the close of the reading period. Acceptances are published in either Issue 1 or Issue 2 of the current volume.
Nominees for Pushcart nominations are selected from the current year’s accepted poems.

REMEMBER – There is NO FEE for poems submitted during this Open Reading Period. 

IF SUBMITTING BY MAIL  Send poems to: The Comstock Review, att. Open Reading, 4956 St. John Drive, Syracuse, NY 13215 (poems will not be returned).

IF SUBMITTING or SUBSCRIBING ONLINE, USE THE BUTTON BELOW:

submit

We’re looking forward to your submissions!

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Recent Comstock Review Pushcart Nominees

2024:

Paula Colangelo – “Saudade”
Marda Messick – “Tight-Lipped Red-Lipped Ode”
Jacalyn Shelley – “The Annunciation”
Maura Stanton – “Werner Herzog’s Ecstasy”
Lisken Van Pelt Dus – “In the Beginning”
Alison Stone – “Demeter in Spring”

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2023

Nominees for the Pushcart Prize
 
Connie Post – “Aftermath”
Molly Vaux – “Innocents”
Lyman Grant – “The Gardener at Nightfall”
Dawn Stahura – “That One Diner Off I65 in Jasper County”
Nancy Dafoe – “The Narrative”
Wally Swist – “Green Horn”

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2022:

Rebecca Brock, “Sometime In The Late Age of A Long Marriage”
Linda Neal Reising, “After Learning That a Woman And Her Baby Were Killed In The Bombing Of A Ukrainian Hospital”
Frank Dixon Graham, “Tractor”
Deborah Doolittle, “Elizabeth Bishop’s Fish”
Sharon Charde, “Things”
Judith M. Montgomery, “Mother’s Day At Aspen Ridge Assisted Living”

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The Comstock Review  Open Reading Period
now accepting submissions!

Jan 1 through Mar 31

(No reading fee!) via Submittable and by mail.

To submit by mail send poems
to The Comstock Review, Att: Open Reading,
4956 St. John Drive, Syracuse, NY 13215.

OR Submit online via comstockreview.submittable.com

Important! Our submission guidelines are updated annually
– read them on Submittable  OR
by clicking on the  Open Reading  tab on our website.

 

submit

 

 

Note:

We are still working to replace our outdated website. We can’t update the red reminder banner at the moment (see the box above) but that’s only the most visible reason for the redesign. As we work on necessary changes, the website may be unavailable for some short times over the next few months. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Please submit poems, make a purchase, subscribe or donate by using our submittable page (https://comstockreview.submittable.com/ or use the instructions for USPS mail below. 

For other questions, send an email message to us at poetry@comstockreview.org. Thank you for your patience!

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Update: delayed issue on its way!

HOT OFF THE PRESSES!!!!

Front and back cover of The Comstock Review Summer 2024. On left a yellow and brown icon and 2-column list of contributors. On right the title above cover art, a multi-color multimedia collage by Michael Sickler

Cover art “The Inside Story” by Michael Sickler

Worth the Wait:

Amazing poetry and striking cover art by artist Michael Sickler

   Due to factors beyond our control, Volume 38 Issue 1 of The Comstock Review (Summer 2024), which ordinarily arrives in August, was delayed, and is shipping now.


We sincerely apologize for the many delays we encountered last year.

If you are a subscriber or contributor, you should receive
your copy shortly. Please don’t hesitate to contact
the managing editors if you have additional questions.

As always, thank you for your support.

Carolyn Ostrander and John M. Bellinger,
on behalf of The Comstock Review

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photograph. Red berries cling to bare gray-brown branches of a shrub against a background with small white chunks of ice floating on the gray-green surface of a pond.

  The 2024  Muriel Craft Bailey

  Memorial Poetry Contest

  Results:

Judge: Charles Rafferty

Murial Craft Bailey Memorial Poetry Prize:

Bridget O’Bernstein “Doctor,”

2nd Prize:

B. Fulton Jennes “Why wait for them to ripen?”

3rd Prize:

Julia Cadwallader Staub – “Orchid”

Honorable Mention Poems:

Leslie Danel Batty – “EF-4″
Allison deFreese – “Untraceable”
George C. Harvilla – “Three Minutes and 33 Seconds into the Film I Didn’t Make”
Amy Kesegich – “At Starbucks with Frankenstein’s Monster”
Connie Post – “Call the 800 Number”

Poems of Special Merit

Ansie Baird – “The Landing”
V. A. Bettincourt  – “Kyrie for a Pale Blue Dot”
Cory Mark Brown – “Quandary”
Monica Carroll – “Everybody’s uncle”
James Harmon Clinton – “One Mind Common”
John Davis – “Premises”
Jean Anne Feldeisen – “No need”
Deborah Gerrish – “A Précis on the Stuff We Breathe”
Amy Haddad – “Sheep in a CT Scanner”
Karen Holmberg – “Begging the Question”
Zebulon Huset – “Beneath a Scatter of Clouds”
Francis Klein – “Piano Tuning“
Clara MacLean – “Bone Window”
Allen Shadow – “Walter’s Luncheonette”
Jeanine Stevens – “Where Light Enters In”
Seneca Turner – “This Poem”
Jennifer Veech – “Under Contract”
Caroline Wellman – “Morning Stars”

You can read these poems in the Winter 2024-2025 issue of The Comstock Review (Vol 38.2), coming in March!

submit

Important message to contestants: If you have questions, please send a message via Submittable (the submit button will take you there); or if you sent your submission by USPS mail, you can email them to Carolyn Ostrander c/o poetry@comstockreview.org

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The 2025 Muriel Craft Bailey Poetry Contest will accept submissions
April 1st to July 15th.

Butterfly Weed - Bright orange compound flour against background of green leaves

Your best, brightest and most beautiful poems deserve to shine brightly!

         2025 Judge: Carolyne Wright

First Prize $1000; 2nd prize $250; 3rd Prize $100

Submission Fee $25 for up to 5 poems plus Submittable fee, if submitting online.

Important: The Guidelines for Submission are updated annually. Be sure to read them carefully before submitting!

Click the Poetry Contest tab above, or go to https://comstockreview.submittable.com/submit and select Guidelines at the “Poetry Contest” tab there

submit

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