 "Tar River Poets" published members of the Poetry Forum only (that is, poets local to Greenville, NC).Upon Prof. Ward's retirement, poet Peter Makuck took over the editorship and renamed the journal, opening it to outside submissions and publishing the first issue as "Tar River Poetry" in November 1978, but retaining the numbering system of the earlier journal (thus the first issue with the new name was published as issue 18, number 1).The 30th Anniversary issue, published in December 2008, included an interview with Makuck.