MENAGERIE

 

 

Abdul Baza oscillates between Maryland and Pennsylvania, although with great fervor he is planning his next international escapade. These days he aims to dissect language both in a formal computational linguistic sense, and an intuitive sensory one. He is an emerging poet whose work was most recently showcased in The Poetry Juicebox.
 
Zachary Bos (@zakbos) is the editor of New England Review of Books, and an alumnus of the graduate poetry workshop at Boston University. His writing has appeared recently in The Bosphorus Review of Books, Queen Mob’s Tea House, and The Battersea Review.
 
Elizabeth Bolton is a doctoral researcher at the University of Toronto where she studies transformational, poetic literacy practices. In addition to narrative, she also writes poetry and hybrid works. She is a California native and currently lives in Toronto with her husband.
 
Renee Christopher is an MFA candidate at Iowa State working on a YA novel about magic. Her work has appeared in Crab Fat and Noble / Gas 204.2, and her fiction is forthcoming in Fireside Fiction Quarterly. She invites you to follow her into the depths @reneesunok.
 
Bailey Cohen is a first generation Ecuadorian-American poet studying Politics, English Literature, and Creative Writing as an undergraduate student at NYU. A finalist for the Boulevard Contest for Emerging Poets and the Raleigh Review Laux/Miller Poetry Prize, his work appears or is forthcoming both online and in print, from journals like Boulevard, Raleigh Review, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, The Shallow Ends, Okay Donkey, Bluestem, and more. He is on staff at Frontier Poetry, and can be found tweeting about poems, full of wonder @BaileyC213.
 
Gail Braune Comorat is a founding member of Rehoboth Beach Writers’ Guild, and the author of Phases of the Moon (Finishing Line Press). Her work has appeared in Gargoyle, Grist, Mudfish, Philadelphia Stories, and The Widows’ Handbook. She’s a long-time member of several writing groups in Lewes, Delaware.
 
Katie Culligan is an essayist and poet in Knoxville, TN. She is the winner of the 2018 Michael Dennis Award for Poetry and the Margaret Artley Woodruff Award for Creative Writing from the University of Tennessee. Recent work appears in Columbia Journal and American Chordata Magazine. She can be reached at katieculliganwriting.com.
 
Benjamin Cutler was raised on a riverbank in the mountains of Western North Carolina where he still lives, raises his children, and works as a high school English and Creative Writing teacher. Benjamin was accepted into the North Carolina Poetry Society’s 2017 Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poets Series, and his poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Carolina Quarterly, Cold Mountain Review, Cider Press Review, Pembroke Magazine, and The Main Street Rag Magazine, among others. When he is not teaching, writing, or playing with his four children, Benjamin can be found on the creeks and trails of his mountain home.
 
Enoch the Poet was born and raised on the north side of Wilmington, DE. He uses his art to address issues of Black mental health, the Black social condition in America and the multiple ways in which these two topics intersect. He teaches various workshops around the tri-state area geared towards exploring self and using poetry as a form of mental therapy and rehabilitation. In April of 2017 he earned a spot on the 2017 Philadelphia Fuze National Poetry Slam Team as well as won the title of 2017 Philadelphia Fuze Grand Slam Champion. He then went on to compete in the Individual World Poetry Slam competition where he ranked 28th in the nation. He’s had work published in various online literary magazines such as Freezeray and Wusgood magazine and before the end of 2017 he also published his first full length book of poetry titled “The Guide to Drowning.”
 
FreetheDust was born in Logan, Utah and raised in Portugal, Italy, Israel, Oregon, and North Carolina. He was first inspired artistically during the year he spent abroad in Italy where his art teacher, signore Villa, would mark up his paintings with a black sharpie pen. He began by sketching and painting, as well as developing his photography skills during his travels. Later on he joined special forces and served for three years as an active combat soldier. Afterwards he received his degree in Government and Counter-Terrorism, and works mainly as a freelance security consultant today. Art always has and will have a large place in his life and heart, and he continues to sketch, paint, and photograph daily.
 
Alyssa Pearl Fusek was born and raised in Cobb, California. She graduated in 2015 from Willamette University with a B.A. in Japanese Studies. Her writing has appeared in and is forthcoming in Ghost Parachute, The Mighty, and Sivana East. She currently lives and writes with her partner in Chico, California. You can read more of her fiction, poetry, and essays at catandmothwritings.wordpress.com.
 
Beth Gordon has been landlocked in St. Louis, Missouri for 17 years but dreams of oceans, daily. Her work has appeared in Into the Void, Good Works Review, Verity La, Outlook Springs, After Happy Hour Review and others.
 
Liz Howard is a queer single mom living in Philadelphia with her troublesome four-year-old & very loud beagle. She is a fiction reader at Little Fiction and has work in: Split Lip Magazine, Cosmonauts Avenue, FIVE:2:ONE, Hypertrophic Literary, Yes Poetry, and elsewhere. Find her on Twitter @Mother_Faulkner.

 
Naomie Jean-Pierre is a joint masters candidate at The City College of New York. She hails from Haiti by way of Atlanta. By day, she tutors high school students at Countee Cullen library in Central Harlem. By night, she versifies the raw material of her daily life. In the fall, she will be completing her joint degree at the University of Paris. Her short stories can be found in Fiction Magazine.

 
Emma Karnes is a student at the University of Virginia, where she plans to study poetry and public policy. She has been writing poetry ever since second grade, when her teacher abandoned the state-mandated curriculum to teach haikus and diamantes every day. Her work can be found in The Healing Muse, From the Finger Lakes: A Poetry Anthology, and Rattle Young Poets Anthology. She hopes to share her writing with as many people as possible.
 
Fae Kayarian is an aspiring physician-poet who proudly resides in Boston, Massachusetts. Fae is currently an undergraduate student at Northeastern University and a clinical researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. In 2018, her medical poetry has been published or featured in The Journal of Narrative Visions, right hand pointing and Breath and Shadow. When she is not in the lab or in class, she can be found either strumming her ukulele in Boston Common, riding her bike through city traffic or making unconventional sushi in her Mission Hill apartment. In summary, her bio is still pending, but she is optimistic for whatever adventure the future holds.
 

 
 
 
 

Victoria Kellaway is co-author of the satire Colombia a comedy of errors and co-edited the essay collections Was Gabo an Irishman? (Tales from Gabriel García Márquez’s Colombia) and Alone Together (Tales of Sisterhood and Solitude in Latin America). She lives between Bogotá, Colombia and Paris, France. She tweets at @bananaskingirl.
 
Joanna Kudō lives in Central New York. Her work is in or is forthcoming from Maudlin House, Peach Mag, Cosmonauts Avenue, and Gone Lawn. She is currently working on a novel.
 
Laura Mayron is a graduate of Wellesley College and was born and raised in Maui, Hawaii. A queer poet, she is pursuing a PhD in queer surrealist Spanish literature at Boston University. She has won Honorable Mention in the Gival Press Oscar Wilde Award and Wellesley College’s Florence Annette Wing Prize for Poetry. Laura has been previously published in Gravel, Arlington Literary Journal, Rising Phoenix Review, among others, with forthcoming publication in 3Elements Review. If she could go back in time, she’d have a drink with Spanish surrealists.
 
Matthew Mitchell is a Midwestern poet and essayist from Ohio. His work has been featured in POND, Lunch Ticket, Mantra Review and Clockhouse, and is forthcoming to Lowestoft Chronicle, Tammy and The Oakland Arts Review. He is currently pursuing a degree in creative writing at Hiram College.
 
Ebele Mọgọ is a writer, impact entrepreneur and a Doctor of Public Health with a specialization in community and behavioural health. She spent her childhood between Lagos, Akwa Ibom and Anambra states of Nigeria. Since then she has also lived in Canada, Japan, Scotland, and the United States. Her writing often explores various topics including: spatial & psychic displacement, transgression, transformation, embodiment and joy. In addition to poetry, she writes short stories and essays. Her writing has been published in the following places: Asymptote, Third Point Press, Munyori Literary Magazine, Stockholm review of literature, Susan the Journal, The Offing, Saraba magazine, Tap Lit, Narrative Northeast, Brittle Paper, the Rising Phoenix, Interartive, among other places. She is on Twitter as @ebyral.

 
Jill Poskanzer is a graduate of Carleton College in Northfield, MN. She is the creator of the blog “Literary Starbucks;” the book based on the blog, ‘Literary Starbucks: Fresh-Brewed, Half-Caf, No-Whip Bookish Humor,’ which she co-wrote, was published in 2016 by St. Martin’s Press. She currently lives in Los Angeles, where she is pursuing a career in writing for television.
 
Jade Riordan lives in northern Canada; she’s probably cold right now. Her poetry has appeared in Atlas and Alice Literary Magazine, Green Blotter, NōD, Outrageous Fortune, Room, and elsewhere. She is a selection committee member (poetry reader) with Bywords.
 
C.T. Salazar is a latinx poet living in Mississippi. He’s the editor-in-chief of Dirty Paws Poetry Review, and the 2017 AWP Intro Journals poetry winner. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in 32 Poems, Tampa Review, Cosmonauts Avenue, The Matador Review, and elsewhere. He’s an MFA candidate and children’s librarian.
 
Zara Shams is a writer based in the South of England and in Scotland, where she is pursuing a History MA at the University of Edinburgh. Her work has appeared in several publications, including Visual Artists Collective’s journal All Roads Will Lead You Home, and her prize-winning poem ‘there is no such thing as a woman’ has been published by the Poetry Society. Zara’s chapbook of the same name was published by Zoetic Press in June 2018. You can follow her on Twitter @zcshams.
 
Lillian Sickler is a recent graduate from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a degree in Comparative Literature. She has studied with Martin Espada, Aracelis Girmay, and Marilyn Chin. Writing poetry since the age of twelve, her poems have been published by numerous literary journals including Cosmonauts Avenue, Asterism, Vagabond City Poetry, Drunk in a Midnight Choir, and Words Dance Poetry. She is currently working on her first book of poems.
 
Amanda Stovicek is a poet from Northeast Ohio made of star stuff. Her work has appeared in Red Queen Literary Magazine, Gordon Square Review, and elsewhere. Her debut micro-chapbook SPACE SPECTACULAR was published by Ghost City Press in the 2018 Summer Series. When she isn’t writing, Amanda teaches college English and plays with her dog, Ripley. Find her online at amstovicek.com or on Twitter @amae099.
 
Natalie Vestin is a writer from Saint Paul, Minnesota. She is the author of Gomorrah, Baby (Anchor & Plume, 2017) and Shine a light, the light won’t pass (MIEL, 2015). Her essays have appeared in The Normal School, The Iowa Review, Prairie Schooner, and elsewhere. Natalie works as a researcher in infectious disease at the University of Minnesota.
 
Mireya S. Vela is a creative non-fiction writer and researcher in Los Angeles. In her work, Ms. Vela addresses the needs of immigrant Mexican families and the disparities they face every day. She tackles issues of inequity and how ingrained societal systems support the (ongoing) injustice that contributes to continuing poverty and abuse. Ms. Vela received her Bachelor’s degree in English from Whitter College—and received her Master of Fine Arts from Antioch University in 2018. She is also a visual artist.
 
Jennifer Wolkin is a health and neuro psychologist, speaker, mental health advocate, and mindfulness-meditation practitioner. She is working on an MFA in creative writing and literary translation at Queens College. She has recently been published/is forthcoming in Third Point Press, Streetlight Press, Sooth Swarm Journal, A Beautiful Space, British Journal of Medical Practitioners, Black Fox Literary Magazine, Ink & Voices, Rhythm&Bones Lit, Dreamers Creative Writing, Flypaper, Ars Medica, theSame, Boston Accent Lit, Tilde, Noble / Gas Qtrly, and Unbroken. Her non-fiction work translating and sharing the science of brain research and mindfulness has been published in Thrive Global, The Huffington Post, Mindful.org, and PsychCentral, among others. They are compiled and can be found on her blog BrainCurves.com. Jennifer is most passionate about writing at the intersection where the mind, body, brain and spirit meet-about the holistic human experience-through the eyes of both her own experience, and through her professional lens. She is touched by the profound pain that is both individually and collectively felt, how this pain can displace someone/herself from others and their/her own selves, and yet, the profound capacity for resilience, healing and growth.
 
Judy Xie attends Mountain Lakes High School, and her writing has been nationally recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and Rider University. She has been published in PolyHs and Essay Daily.
 

 

 
 

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Issue 205.3