Note: the 2023 Rankings are now available here.]
Below is the 2022 Literary Magazine Ranking for Poetry. To understand the Rationale, Methodology, and Calculation for the Rankings, please go here.
Note that every effort has been made to verify the website links, but magazines do sometimes change their web addresses and occasionally you will encounter a broken or incorrect link. If that happens, please let me know by emailing info@cliffordgarstang.com.
If you find these rankings useful, please consider supporting this website by making a donation or by purchasing one or more of my books.
2022 Literary Magazine Ranking for Poetry
Note the following:
© means that the magazine/press is closed
(H) means that the magazine/press is on hiatus
(?) means that it’s unclear what’s going on with the magazine/press
#61 Heart Poems seems to link to a personal blog. Is this an error?
Thanks for reaching out. I thought this odd at first also. The blog appears to be dedicated to reprinting from journals poems that fit a certain aesthetic, so the poem that won the Pushcart Prize (and thus earned Heart Poems its place in the ranking) is by Ross Gay and first appeared elsewhere (in several places, actually–google “A Small Needful Fact” by Ross Gay). But it appears that the printing in Heart Poems was the one nominated by Ruth Wittman, who happens to be the Managing Editor of the Pushcart Press. How it came to her attention I do not know.
Thank you for the explanation!
The link to “Rove” seems to go to a clothing website in a language other than English. Looks like there might be a newsletter of some kind with it; maybe that’s where work appears?
Thanks for letting me know. That doesn’t look right! I checked the link in December, so I don’t know what has happened. I’ll investigate! [Edited: can’t find a trace of the magazine now. It’s points in the rankings were earned for a special mention in 2017. I’ll remove the link now and mark the magazine closed.]
“FIELD #100 (Spring 2019) will be the final issue, we are no longer considering submissions.”
That’s why it is marked with (c) to indicate that it’s closed.
There’s a journal I noticed wasn’t on your list – South Florida Poetry Journal,
https://www.southfloridapoetryjournal.com/
really good.
As noted, the list includes only magazines that have won a Pushcart Prize or Special Mention over the last 10 years. There are, of course, good magazines that have not received that recognition yet.
Hi you have done an amazing job with the list! Can I just check whether this is a US publications only list? Kind Regards from across the pond!
Because the list is based on the annual Pushcart Prize anthology, and because the magazines honored by the Pushcart Press are primarily US-based, the list is also primarily a list of US publications. However, you may find a Canadian or European magazine or two on the list from time to time.
I am always astonished year after year that Tampa Review is nowhere to be found. It’s strange they have not had a Pushcart Prize or mention in ten years? Also major publications like Brilliant Corners, Laurel Review, Witness, Interim. (Not doubting the accuracy of your records and your hard efforts, just ruminating).
Not surprising that Toylit is again ignored, even though by pageviews it is in the top 50 English language poetry magazines… despite not being updated in over a decade.
This ranking system is a sham. The readership has voted: institutional poetry magazines are irrelevant. And institutional poetry shuns ‘outsider’ and ‘street’ poetry, despite being closer to the audience the institutional poetry magazines claim to champion.
Cliff, I appreciate this resource you’ve created! I’m new to the process of submitting poems for publication, and I’m sure this will help enormously. Just ordered Oliver’s Travels, looking forward to reading!
I hope it’s helpful. I see you left your comment on the 2022 rankings, but the most recent ranks are the 2024 rankings. The 2025 rankings will be posted in mid December.
Thanks for order Oliver’s Travels, and I hope you enjoy it!