“Tough Poets Review is revolting—in the best sense of that word. The writers, artists, and thinkers in this debut issue are rebels to their core. Their work is alternately funny, smart, unpredictable, and startlingly honest. Think of this as the antidote to the AI-curated echo chamber of nonsense at the heart of a civilization on life support. In a future (better) world, this will be a long-lived journal.”

— Alan Bisbort, editor of PleaseKillMe.com; author of Hip, Bohemian, and Counterculture: History and Legacies from 1830 to the Present

“For those of us on the ramparts against the electronic onslaught, take heart in Tough Poets Review. A print literary journal in our AI age is as perverse as Dostoevsky’s Underground Man, which means that it’s refreshingly human. I suggest you take some time to sit back, flip through it, and be perversely human with it.”

— Kurt Hemmer, professor of English Literature at Harper College and editor of The Encyclopedia of Beat Literature

“Tough Poets Review lets its poets run wild in exhibitions of joyous free-range poetry. A magazine to keep your eye on.”

— Billy Collins, Poet Laureate of the United States (2001–2003), and Poet Laureate of New York State (2004–2006)

Tough Poets Review is a 501(c)(3) biannual print journal featuring critically engaged writers and artists. We publish irreverent work to generate conversations that go beyond exposition and instruction. We believe this approach can be applied to our collective experience to confront the world with defiant optimism.