volume 2, issue 2
July 2022
ANGELA ACOSTA (she/her) is a bilingual Latina poet and PhD Candidate in Iberian Studies at The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. She grew up in Gainesville, Florida, and weathered many hurricanes before attending Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She won the 2015 Rhina P. Espaillat Award from West Chester University, West Chester, Pennsylvania, for her Spanish poem “El espejo” and her work has appeared in Radon Journal, Panochazine, Somos en Escrito, and Last Leaves Mag. She enjoys hiking, rock climbing, and all things Animal Crossing. You can find her on Instagram @aaperiquito. [Read: Non-Native Species]
BECK ANSON (he/they) is a queer, trans, psychiatric survivor and writer whose work appears in Rattle, RHINO, Humana Obscura, and others. He writes to start a conversation and believes the personal is political. They have work forthcoming in The Lumiere Review, Morning Fruit Magazine, Stone of Madness, and the anthology, Beyond Queer Words. He lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, and is pursuing a Ph.D. in plant biology at UMass-Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts. [Read: The Lake in My Town]
JESSICA BERRY (she/her) grew up beside the seaside of Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. She is an English teacher at the Belfast Model School for Girls—the best reason for her to get out of bed every morning! In 2021, Jessica placed in Bangor’s annual poetry contest hosted by the Aspects Literary Festival. Her work has also been included in publications such as Drawn to the Light and A New Ulster. She is working on her first poetry collection; inspired by Irish myths and fables. [Read: Food Diary]
CHRIS BLEXRUD (he/him) is a librarian and writer living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Though he doesn’t know how long that will be true: the writer part, or the Albuquerque part, or the living part. [Read: Trippin']
ANDY BUTTER (he/him) is a lecturer at the University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, where he earned his MFA. His work has appeared or is forthcoming from Sierra Magazine, National Geographic Explorers Journal, Passages North, Southeast Review, and elsewhere. [Read: Nonbinary Triple Sonnet with Animorphs and Water ]
HOLIDAY NOEL CAMPANELLA grew up in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and spent her teenage years working on the boardwalk at the Jersey Shore. She is the editor-in-grief at NINETENTHS Press, an editorial project that ruminates on the inevitability of losing and loss, which she co-edits with her husband in Nashville, Tennessee. While her art and writing have been shown in large museums and small galleries, sold at national retailers, and published in a variety of journals, she’s currently the most interested in focusing on what you’re reading right now. [Read: In Praise Of Northern Aggression After Living Without Salted Roads In The South For A Winter]
APOLLO CHASTAIN (ze/hir) is a 20-year-old who writes poetry for people who didn’t think they’d make it this far and for kids who don’t think they’re gonna make it at all. The recipient of the 2021 Marion Devendorf Van Laak Poetry Prize sponsored by the Academy of American Poets and three-time winner of the YoungArts National Competition, Apollo’s work appears in Trans Masc Diaries and has been featured on Poets.org, a project of The Academy of American Poets. Ze has also appeared under a dead name in journals including The Rumpus and Yes Poetry. Pay hir a visit at apollopoet.wordpress.com or on Instagram @apollo.chastain. [Read: Arrivals]
ASH GOOD (they/them) is a nonbinary queer poet, designer, and activist. They are all about innovative narrative design, mindfulness, growth mindset, fresh sneakers, motorcycle trips to national parks, and fostering rich creative collaboration. Ash lives in Portland, Oregon, with more than 77 noisy houseplants. They can be found at www.ashgood.com. [Read: this is what i will tell them]
REBECCA GREEN (she/her) is a poet and illustrator based in West Yorkshire, England, in the United Kingdom. She currently focuses on work based around themes of personal identity and belonging. She was named a New Northern Poet by Ilkley Literature Festival in 2021 and was shortlisted for Griot’s Well development programme in 2022. Her young daughter also definitely ranks up there with treasured achievements. Find Rebecca on Instagram @rebeccagreenpoetry and Twitter @rebeccagreen58. [Read: Heritage]
J.I. KLEINBERG'S (she/her) visual poems have been published in print and online journals worldwide. An artist, poet, freelance writer, and three-time Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, she lives in Bellingham, Washington, and on Instagram @jikleinberg. Her solo exhibition of visual poems, Orchestrated Light, was on view at Peter Miller Books, Seattle, Washington, in May 2022. [Read: the land ambles]
ANITA KOTTAPALLI (she/her) is currently a medical student residing in Ohio. In her free time, she enjoys writing poetry and nonfiction, and spending time with her cat. [Read: the map of my hands]
LADY RED EGO (she/her) is a Chinese/Scottish lesbian writer concerned with intimacies. Her first pamphlet, The Red Ego, was published in 2019 with Wild Pressed Books and her second pamphlet, Natural Sugars, was published in 2020 by Broken Sleep Books. You can find more of her at www.ladyredego.com and follow her on Instagram and Twitter @ladyredego. [Read: Ursa Minor (The Lesser Bear)]
KATEY LINSKEY (she/her) is a writer with poetry published and forthcoming in The West Review, Rise Up Review, Vagabond City Lit, and elsewhere. She draws from her experiences growing up in Boston, Massachusetts, and later living in India and Guatemala. She spent six years working in public health which continues to inform her work as a writer. [Read: Cheap Metal]
Since having her son in 2021, KEZIA LOCKHOUSE'S (she/her) poetry is inspired by motherhood. She writes when she finds time in the breathing spaces. Follow her on Instagram @kez.the.poet. [Read: Finding Our Feet]
THEO LOFTIS (they/them) was born in the South and lives and works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Preoccupied by ideas and tactics behind resonance in art and writing, they work to disquiet, expand, and share inquiry through interdisciplinary projects that spark curiosity and connection. They can be found at tdml.info. [Read: A City is Not a Tree]
SHIRLEY JONES LUKE (she/her) is a poet and essayist from Boston, Massachusetts. Ms. Luke holds an MFA from Emerson College, Boston, Massachusetts. Her work focuses on nature and society. [Read: Juxtaposing the Black Girl & the Abuse]
JULIA ONGKING (she/her) currently lives in her beautiful home country of the Philippines. Born and raised as a Chinese-Filipino, she enjoys developing her perspectives through reading, writing, and having meaningful conversations with people from all walks of life. [Read: Homecoming]
ELEANOR PORTER (she/her) is a writer from the English Midlands who would like to spend more time in her shed writing about traces of lives in the landscape, especially the lives of people who have been overlooked. She mostly spends her days being a mother, a teacher, and raging against the government. Her novels The Wheelwright’s Daughter and The Good Wife, both published by Boldwood Books, look back to the whirl of ideas about witchcraft and alchemy in the sixteenth century. You can find out more on Twitter @elporterauthor. [Read: Rainy Days]
SAM SCHROEDER (she/her) is an illustrator and designer living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her favorite subjects are postal workers, people carrying flowers, our interactions with cell phones, monsters and ghosts, public transportation, food, and combinations of all the above. [Look: Cover Art]
ANDREW SHUMWAY (he/him) is 35 and buried under approximately that many inches of paper scraps at all times. His cats disapprove. [View: Untitled tetraptych]
SAM SZANTO (she/her) holds an MA in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University, Bath, England, and is currently pursuing an MA in Writing Poetry at Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, England. As a tutor, freelance copy-editor, and proofreader, she has worked on diverse projects ranging from a Mathematics PhD to a Portuguese cookbook. She writes alongside the demands of her two children and old cat, and is currently working on her first poetry pamphlet and short story collection. Her work has appeared in other publications. Follow Sam on Twitter @sam_szanto, Instagram @samszantowriter and Facebook @sam-szanto. [Read: On screen]
SARAH TERKAOUI (she/her) is of dual Middle East/Irish heritage. She has been shortlisted for the Cinnamon Poetry Pamphlet Award 2022, commended in the Goldsmiths Poetry Festival 2022 and the Hippocrates Poetry Prize 2021, and longlisted for the Live Canon 2021 International Poetry Competition. Her work appears in anthologies as well as Ink, Sweat & Tears, Green Ink Poetry, The Storms, Dreich and Wee Dreich. She most recently appeared as part of the Live Canon Lunchtime series and the Poets for the Ukraine Poem-a-thon fundraiser. She is currently completing her MA in Writing Poetry at The Poetry School/Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and working on her first collection. [Read: We the women]
