Susanne Thomas reads, writes, parents, and teaches from the wild and windy west in Wyoming. Besides her five kids and husband, she loves fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction, poetry, children’s books, mythology, science, coffee, and puns. And socks. She really loves socks. That’s a lot of things to love, but luckily, there’s a lot of love in the world. When you try to be an island My face grows hot and my ears tingle as I watch your jaw tighten with the stress of holding everything   Alone, using your hands as if there were eight of them   But … Continue reading Susanne Thomas

Strider Marcus Jones – is a poet, law graduate and ex civil servant from Salford, England with proud Celtic roots in Ireland and Wales. A member of The Poetry Society, his five published books of poetry  https://stridermarcusjonespoetry.wordpress.com/ reveal a maverick playing his saxophone in warm solitude.  His poetry has been published in the USA, Canada, England, Ireland, Wales, France, Spain, India and Switzerland TAKING OFF MY COAT each evening is like taking off my coat. i sit down apart from the day and nothing happens. i let silence sing her supernatural note- in the air, i drown in how the lonely play … Continue reading Strider Marcus Jones

John Tustin’s poetry has appeared in many literary journals, online and in print, in the last decade. fritzware.com/johntustinpoetry contains links to his published poetry online. IT USED TO SLAY ME It used to slay me Watching her clean her ears So carefully and fervently With cotton swabs After her eternity in the shower, Wearing nothing but a t-shirt and panties – Thinking to myself about the moment, her in the moment, Me witnessing the moment, Thinking about the perfection of it: A masterpiece of a moment To be painted over and over In different contexts, from other angles Until the day one … Continue reading John Tustin

James Lang has been making art since the early 80’s. His main interest is in sculpture and he specialised in bronze and ceramics early on. (He did an MFA art program at Pratt University under Licio Isolani.) Lang has combined his studies in literature with his art and enjoys writing witty vignettes about the sculpture that he personifies. Find more of James’ work at jlangart.com The Country is in a Crouch (Title taken from an article by Maureen Dowd.) The country is in a crouch It could be that I’m slouching on my couch Masking and unmasking myself Inflating and … Continue reading James Lang

Of Indian origin, Sultana Raza is an independent scholar, and has presented papers on Romanticism (Keats) and Fantasy (Tolkien) in international conferences in Europe and the US. Her non-fiction features, entitled, ‘Keats and the Coronavirus’ was published in The Society of Classical Poetry, ‘Social Isolation – What’s the Alternative?’ was published on The Beautiful Space – A Journal of Mind, Art, and Poetry, and ‘Making Silence Sing’ was published in LitroNY. Her poems have appeared in 50+ Journals, including Gramma, Columbia Journal, and The New Verse News. Her fantastical/surreal poems have appeared in The Society of Classical Poetry, Bewildering Stories, spillwords, Enclave, and The Peacock Journal. She has read her fiction/poems in India, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, England, Ireland, and the US. Her fiction has received an Honorable … Continue reading Sultana Raza

I don’t write for therapeutic reasons, or as a means of catharsis. My dad had  a  Toyota Catharsis  and it was a terrible ride, so I write for the simple reason that writing is easy, writing is a bumpless road paved with good inflections… once you don’t concern yourself with quality… or critique… or self-awareness… manage that, and writing is easy, honestly, so simple that even I can do it. Plays are hard though, as in technically, as in remembering who said what and to whom, that sort of thing, and poems, poems are hard, not just the rhyming, but … Continue reading Robbie Taylor

Anne Marie Byrne has recently retired from working as a student advisor in Dublin City University. She has attended Tanya Farrelly’s creative writing workshops at Purple House in Bray, Co Wicklow where this piece of flash fiction was developed.  Her research interests include criminology, incarceration, education and the role of drama in prisons.  Her M.Phil thesis (Trinity College, Dublin) focused on the Theatre Project in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin and her Ph.D  (Dublin City University) explored  education for juvenile offenders in Ireland. Her leisure interests include theatre, photography, reading, travel, cookery, swimming and enjoying nature, especially in her native county Wicklow. … Continue reading Anne Marie Byrne

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident. Recently published in Transcend, Dalhousie Review and Qwerty with work upcoming in Blueline, Hawaii Pacific Review and Clade Song. RECOGNITION I’m back in Brisbane for a brief visit, paying a call on the old neighborhood, when I see her.   I’m thinking this woman walking toward me is a girl I went to high school with. That’s why I slow down. And I can tell she’s looking at me as if there’s something familiar about my face.   We’re both about to speak but, despite passing so close our breaths meet, neither … Continue reading John Grey

Maeve McKenna is from Dublin and now lives in Sligo. In 2018, her work was shortlisted for the Red Line and highly commended in the iYeats International Poetry Competitions. In 2019, she was highly commended in the Frances Ledwidge and longlisted in the Over The Edge Poetry competitions.  She was joint runner-up in the Trim Poetry Competition, 2020. Her work has been published in The Galway Review, The Cormorant, Sonder Magazine and Fly On The Wall. Her poems have appeared online in The Bangor Literary Journal, Bonnies Crew, The Ink Pods, I Am Not A Silent Poet, Poetry 24, Anti-Chic Heroin, … Continue reading Maeve McKenna

Finola Scott’s work can be found on posters, tapestries and postcards. She is widely published with poems in Ink, Sweat and Tears, The Fenland Reed, Lighthouse, New Writing Scotland. She won the Uist Poetry, Dundee Law, The Blue Nib Chapbook competitions and was runner up in the Coast to Coast pamphlet competition. Stanza Festival commissioned a poem for a multi-media installation. Red Squirrel published her debut pamphlet in October. You can read more on FB Finola Scott Poems. Matryoshka Dolls We sit book ended on the sofa cooried close my daughter and I   Feel Mum, swollen she turns towards … Continue reading Finola Scott