We are open for submissions through August 16, 2026!

Current Issue · Numbers 1 & 2 · 2025

Volume 45

The editors are proud to share the work in Volume 45 of The Worcester Review, which features 35 poems and 10 pieces of fiction. The feature section highlights Worcester’s long poetic legacy, with scholarly essays on six Worcester poets alongside brand-new poems inspired by the places and people of the city’s literary past. You can also find winners of the Frank O’Hara Prize and the WCPA College Poetry Contest.

News

December 18, 2025

TWR 45 is available now!

Volume 45 of The Worcester Review is on its way to contributors and subscribers. The editors are proud to share the work in this issue, which features 35 poems and 10 pieces of fiction. The feature section highlights Worcester’s long poetic legacy, with scholarly…

Read more

December 7, 2023

2023 Pushcart Prize Nominations

The Worcester Review is delighted to announce its 2023 nominations for the Pushcart Prize, all of which appear in Volume 44. Poetry “Connective Tissue” by Rae Gouirand “rabbit” by Kathleen Hellen “curriculum development” by Matthew E. Henry “unplug the microwave”…

Read more

October 3, 2023

TWR 44 Is Available Now!

Volume 44 of The Worcester Review is on its way to contributors and subscribers. The editors are very proud to share the work in this issue–including the review’s first all-flash fiction section, a feature folio of writing by Clemente students,…

Read more

From the Archives

Explanations for the Night

William Jolliff

Her doctor, she says, claims he can’t do a thing

for her other troubles until she starts to sleep.

Anybody who goes a day or two without it

is likely to forget things, lose things, maybe

even find things that aren’t really there.

Just take that prescription, he says, let yourself

get some rest, and your house will quit talking.

His pen ticks like a clock against his clipboard.

Her grandson has stayed two nights to listen.

A lot of things, he says, can make a house talk.

Read the full poem here

From Volume 35

Featured Issue

Volume 35

Volume 35