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*Open Reading Period ends Mar 31 (No entry fee!)* ** 2023 Fall/Winter Issue now Available! **

Image courtesy of
the Crane Collection

JOHN M. BELLINGER and CAROLYN OSTRANDER,

Managing Editors


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HOT OFF THE PRESSES!!!!

Cover of Fall Winter 2023 Issue of The Comstock Review. On left a list of contributors. In center a vertical spine with issue name and number. On right words "The Comstock Review Fall Winter 2023" above painting House on Fire Number 1 by Linda Schrank. Abstract image: roughly circular mesh of ribbons in black, white, gray, yellow, orange and red

      Now available –
the latest issue of
    The Comstock Review

                 $12.50

via Submittable           submit
or order by mail,
by sending your check or money order to:
The Comstock Review / P.O. Box 205 / LaFayette NY 13084



 The  Comstock Review 2024 Open Reading Period
is accepting Submissions 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 have changed
– read them on Submittable  OR
by clicking on the  Open Reading  tab.


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  Cover of chapbook "Things Will Be Better in Bountiful" by Robin Michel. On left several paragraphs of text; on right cover art in black white and gray. A woman with white pants, a black shirt and black cap leans on fender of a black car to light a cigarette in front of a white garage door. – Coming in March!
   Things Will Be Better In Bountiful
by Robin Michel,

winner of the 2023 Jessie Bryce Niles Chapbook Contest


2023 Jessie Bryce Niles Chapbook Contest
Sponsored by Comstock Review, Inc.

Kathleen Bryce Niles-Overton, Judge

Winner: Robin Michel, Things Will Be Better in Bountiful
(publication, $1000 prize and 50 copies)

Honorable Mention and a 1 year subscription to The Comstock Review went to:

Dion O’Reilly, Blessing The Burn

Jenna Rindo, Bone River Fever

Ellen Roberts Young, Beauty and Strength: Artemisia Gentileschi and Her Subjects

For a complete list of finalists and more information,

see the Chapbook Contest page

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   The 2024 Open Reading Period  (No Fee!) for The  Comstock Review is accepting Submissions via Submittable and by mail from now through Mar 31.

   Important! Our submission guidelines have changed

 – read them carefully on Submittable  OR by clicking on theOpen Readingtab.

You can submit your work by sending mail to The Comstock Review, Att: Open Reading, 4956 St. John Drive, Syracuse, NY 13215.

OR Submit online via Submittable using the button:submit


The 2024 Muriel Craft Bailey Memorial Poetry Contest Submission Period opens on April 1st  – Judge: Charles Rafferty

Important: The Guidelines for submission have changed. Be sure to read them carefully before submitting!

To see our updated submission guidelines, click the Poetry Contest tab above, or go to https://comstockreview.submittable.com/submit and select Guidelines at the “Poetry Contest” tab there

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The 2023 Jessie Bryce Niles Chapbook Contest, sponsored by Comstock Review, Inc. has closed. The winning chapbook will be announced in early 2024 by Judge Kathleen Niles-Overton.

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A few copies of the 2022 Winning Chapbook are still available

Jay Udall from Oakton, Virginia
     Reach Beyond Reach

Now Available via Submittable, or order by mail!

For more information and a list of Honorable mentions and Finalists, click the Chapbook Contest tab in the menu above


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The 2024 Comstock Review Chapbook Contest
opens for submissions in August 1st.

Prize: $1000 plus publication and 50 author’s copies.

Judge:  Abayomi Animashaun

Accepting submission from Aug 1st to Oct. 31st 2024 (postmark or online submission date).

  • Entry Fee: $30/chapbook (includes copy of winning chapbook) 

Important: The Guidelines for submission have changed. Be sure to read them carefully before submitting!

To see our updated submission guidelines, click the Chapbook Contest tab above, or go to https://comstockreview.submittable.com/submit and select Guidelines at the “Poetry Contest” tab there

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Winners of the 2023 MurielCraft Bailey Poetry Contest!

 Thank you to Judge Danusha Laméris
2018-2020 Poet Laureate of Santa
Cruz County, California.

First Prize: $1,000 (The Muriel Craft Bailey Memorial Award)

Jodi Balas “Bone Density”

Second Prize: $250

David Thoreen “Maybe”

Third Prize: $100

David Thoreen “Even in Spring Our Thoughts Sometimes Lapse into Darkness”


Honorable Mentions:

Connie Post “Aftermath”

Davi Gray “In Which She Embarked Upon a Voyage”

Honorable Mentions receive a one-year subscription.

( for all the finalists from 2023 including Special Merit Winners,

go to the Poetry Contest tab)


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2023 Poetry contest winning poems,
honorable mentions and special merit winners all appear in

The Comstock Review Fall/Winter 2023 Issue,

Cover of Fall Winter 2023 Issue of The Comstock Review. On left a list of contributors. In center a vertical spine with issue name and number. On right words "The Comstock Review Fall Winter 2023" above painting House on Fire Number 1 by Linda Schrank. Abstract image: roughly circular mesh of ribbons in black, white, gray, yellow, orange and red

Cover art: “House on Fire No. 1″ by Linda Schrank”

available now via Submittable submit

or

Send check or money order to
The Comstock Review / P.O. Box 205 / LaFayette NY 13084

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Recent Comstock Review Pushcart Nominees

2023:
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”

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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DON’T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE, SO YOU DON’T MISS A THING!

SUBSCRIBERS KEEP US GOING -AND-  SUPPORT OUR POETS

One year – $25 Two Years – $45 (2 issues per year)

You can use Submittable for ease of subscription,

or send a note and check or money order by mail to:

The Comstock Review / P.O. Box 205 / LaFayette NY 13084


submit

IF SUBMITTING, SUBSCRIBING OR PURCHASING AN ISSUE OR CHAPBOOK ONLINE,

YOU CAN USE THE BUTTON ABOVE AND FOLLOW ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES .



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Did you know?

You can make a tax-deductible donation to support our work

Comstock Review, Inc. is a 501c3 nonprofit organization registered in the state of New York. Donations are tax-deductible.

Questions about submissions, subscriptions or donations can be emailed to poetry@comstockreview.org

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Comstock Review, Inc.

In the winter of 2019-2020 the editors of The Comstock Review decided to create a new organizational structure. Publication of The Comstock Review and all associated activities (including the poem and chapbook contests) were absorbed into Comstock Review, Inc., a newly formed 501c-3 non-profit organization. The Comstock Review, our flagship journal, continues to be produced by our seasoned editorial board, while day-to-day operations are carried out with the help and oversight of the Board of Directors of “CRInc.” Betsy Anderson, Managing Editor from  is now also the Board President.

In 2023-2024, stay tuned for updates to our website and other communication links!

SEE MORE ABOUT THESE CHANGES AND HOW YOU CAN HELP HERE

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Dear Poets and Readers:

There is no such thing as a free lunch, right? Well, in this case there is. For a long time now, our contributors have watched as the price of publishing poetry slowly rises here and there. There is no way around it, publishing a journal costs money. Some publications are supported by institutions, large grants or with other sources of outside funding – funding that can come with a certain cost in editorial freedom.

The Comstock Review has always been able to cover most of its operating costs with subscriptions and contest monies. As with most publications, we charge for some things. We have to.

But we also realize that any charges, however small they may seem to some, require a degree of financial sacrifice. Not everyone can afford these things.

So, every January we offer a free reading. It is our way of saying thank you. Thank you for reading our publication. Thank you for supporting us in this nearly 40-year journey. Without you, we would not be here. This magazine has always been yours.

So, we thank you as well. Always. We won’t forget you.

Please. Submit. Let us see what you are doing these days.

Find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064631562091

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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

Masthead (click here)

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Submit Online using the button below.
Even when submissions are closed, you can still subscribe to The Comstock Review,
buy single journal issues, and purchase chapbooks on our Submittable page.
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The Comstock Review Fall/Winter 2023-2024