Issue #1
poetry
Edited by Diana Kamau, Sofia Cabaj-Guerra and Emily Baird
“Pocho”
by Cheryl Aguirre
Cheryl Aguirre is a poet based in Austin, Texas. Their work focuses on queer and biracial experiences in a red state. You can find their previous work in Ghost City Press and The Whorticulturalist. You can follow them at @drowsy_orchid on Instagram, or @wheat_mistress on Twitter.
"entertainer of the year tbd"
by Evan Anders
Evan Anders brews coffee for mass consumption in Philadelphia. His poems have appeared in Cleaver Magazine, California Quarterly, North Dakota Quarterly, and Chicago Quarterly Review. He is a retired stay-at-home dad who thinks Bob Dylan was best in the eighties.
“Differences”
by K. S. Keeney
KS Keeney is currently an MFA candidate in poetry at George Mason University. She also received an MA in Film Studies from Ohio University. She has been previously published in Quaker, Tishman Review, and Roanoake Review, among others. Currently, she's not doing all that much except reading, sleeping, and occasionally hiking.
“Avatars”
by Robert René Galván
Robert René Galván, born in San Antonio, resides in New York City where he works as a professional musician and poet. His last collection of poems is entitled, Meteors, published by Lux Nova Press. His poetry was recently featured in Adelaide Literary Magazine, Azahares Literary Magazine, Gyroscope, Hawaii Review, Hispanic Culture Review, Newtown Review, Panoply, Prachya Review, Sequestrum, Shoreline of Infinity, Somos en Escrito, Stillwater Review, West Texas Literary Review, and the Winter 2018 issue of UU World. He is a Shortlist Winner Nominee in the 2018 Adelaide Literary Award for Best Poem. Recently, his poems are featured in Puro ChicanX Writers of the 21st Century and in Yellow Medicine Review: A Journal of Indigenous Literature, Art and Thought. His forthcoming books of poetry are Undesirable: Race and Remembrance, Somos en Escrito Foundation Press, and The Shadow of Time, Adelaide Books.
“Alabama, 2004”
by William Fargason
William Fargason is the author of Love Song to the Demon-Possessed Pigs of Gadara (University of Iowa Press, April 2020), and the winner of the Iowa Poetry Award. His poetry has appeared in The Threepenny Review, New England Review, Barrow Street, Prairie Schooner, Rattle, The Cincinnati Review, Narrative, and elsewhere. He earned an MFA in poetry from the University of Maryland and a PhD in poetry from Florida State University. He lives with himself in Tallahassee, Florida, where he serves as the poetry editor at Split Lip Magazine.
"what will you do today?"
by Brendan Walsh
Brendan Walsh has lived and taught in South Korea, Laos, and South Florida. His work appears in Rattle, Glass Poetry, Indianapolis Review, American Literary Review, and other journals. He is the winner of America Magazine's 2020 Foley Poetry Prize, and the author of five books, including 'Go' (Aldrich Press), 'Buddha vs. Bonobo' (Sutra Press), and 'fort lauderdale' (Grey Book Press). He’s online at www.brendanwalshpoetry.com.
“barkskin”
by Seth Leeper
Seth Leeper is a queer poet. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Coastal Shelf, otoliths, Gertrude Press, Noisemaker Magazine, Xenith Magazine, Awosting Alchemy, and Mythic Circle. He holds an M.A. in Special Education from Pace University and B.A. in Creative Writing and Fashion Journalism from San Francisco State University. He lives and teaches in Brooklyn, NY, with his cat, Rocket.
“I Tape My Mask to My Face”
by Ron Riekki
Ron Riekki’s books include I have been warned not to write about this (Main Street Rag), Niiji (Cyberwit, co-written with Sally Brunk), My Ancestors are Reindeer Herders and I Am Melting in Extinction (Apprentice House Press), Posttraumatic (Hoot ‘n’ Waddle), and U.P. (Ghost Road Press). Riekki co-edited Undocumented (Michigan State University Press) and The Many Lives of The Evil Dead (McFarland), and edited The Many Lives of It (McFarland), And Here (MSU Press), Here (MSU Press, Independent Publisher Book Award), and The Way North (Wayne State University Press, Michigan Notable Book). He wrote the films America and Thank You for Your Teeth! (mc2 film, both shot in Romania).
"After Martha's Wake"
by Carl Boon
Carl Boon is the author of the full-length collection Places & Names: Poems (The Nasiona Press, 2019). His poems have appeared in many journals and magazines, including Prairie Schooner, Posit, and The Maine Review. He received his Ph.D. in Twentieth-Century American Literature from Ohio University in 2007, and currently lives in Izmir, Turkey, where he teaches courses in American culture and literature at Dokuz Eylül University.
“Slake”
by Sam Kasper
Sam Kasper was born in Canada, is of Lebanese heritage, works in USA as an orthopedic surgeon, and writes part-time, preferring topics of nature, existentialism, social justice, deep raw genuine emotion, heritage, memory... He's had over 20 publications so far of his poetry (Vallum, Tiny Seed, Rigorous, Iron Horse etc), prose (Burnt Pine, Snapdragon etc), plus scientific publications. Facebook page reading poetry & prose: @MightySamster
“altruism”
by Brandon Marlon
Brandon Marlon is a writer from Ottawa, Canada. He received his B.A. in Drama & English from the University of Toronto and his M.A. in English from the University of Victoria. His poetry was awarded the Harry Hoyt Lacey Prize in Poetry (Fall 2015), and his writing has been published in 300+ publications in 32 countries. www.brandonmarlon.com
“Onionlips”
by Beaumont Sugar
Beaumont Sugar is an essayist, poet, and painter living in Anchorage, AK with Penelope and Waffle, their wife and cat. More of their written work can be found in HASH Journal, The Whorticulturalist, Ruminate Magazine, GASHER Journal, AnchoragePRESS, and their visual art is on instagram @beaumontsugar, and at Tidal Artist Haven.
“Link to Bio”
by Chelsie Nunn
Chelsie Blair Nunn is an LGBTQIA+ painter and educator working in Knoxville, TN. My artwork and writing are collages that conceptually relate to the general working class, relationship narratives, and my queer Appalachian experience. My paintings have recently been exhibited at Walter's State Community College, Pellissippi State Community College, and the UT Downtown Gallery. My writing most recently appeared in The Quaranzine (Fearsome Critters 2020). Thank you for reading.
“Curry Stains”
by Sujash Purna
Bangladeshi-born Sujash Purna is a graduate student at Missouri State University. A poet based in Springfield, Missouri, he serves as an assistant poetry editor to the Moon City Review. His poetry appeared in Naugatuck River Review, Kansas City Voices, Poetry Salzburg Review, English Journal, Stonecoast Review, Red Earth Review, Emrys Journal, Prairie Winds, Gyroscope Review, and others.
“Prayer for the Icon Corner”
by Kaye Nash
Kaye Nash is a writer and teacher from Vancouver Island. She has had poems published in many journals including Mookychick, Lunate, and Anti-Heroin Chic, as well as in anthology projects from The Bangor, Teen Belle and Castabout Lit. She is a regular contributor at Headline Poetry and Press. She can be reached at stapletonknash@gmail.com and on Twitter at @knashingmyteeth, or on her website, www.kayenash.wordpress.com.