Michael Grotsky currently lives in Montreal where he is completing his first collection of short stories, Spinning the Sensualist, which will appear in 2020. He has written fiction and non-fiction for various literary reviews, including the Berkeley Fiction Review and the Berkeley Poetry Review. He wrote the introduction to Dah’s “Something Else’s Thoughts.” Doctor End, I Presume? Pain drives you to the chiropractor. Morrison couldn’t take anymore so he decides on the new place by the massage parlor on Divisidero. He enters a shabby storefront studio through an Indian gauze curtain, several people waiting on plastic chairs by the door, … Continue reading Michael Grotsky

Maurice Devitt, after thirty years plying his trade in the world of Insurance & Banking, decided he wanted to be a poet, so he retired. Now eight years and 200 poems later he has recently published his debut collection, ‘Growing Up in Colour’, with Doire Press. During those eight years he also completed the MA in Poetry Studies at Mater Dei, won the Trocaire/Poetry Ireland Competition and was placed or shortlisted in many other competitions including The Patrick Kavanagh Award, The Interpreter’s House, Bangor Literary Festival, Over the Edge New Writer of the Year Competition, The Listowel Collection Competition and … Continue reading Maurice Devitt

Caron Freeborn is autistic, perseverating on details others discard. A novelist until gradually she became a poet, her poems have been published in magazines and journals, both with and without her collaborator, photographer Steve Armitage.  As part of winning the Earlyworks competition, her first full poetry collection, Georges Perec is my hero, appeared in 2015. She regularly does spoken word gigs and in 2017, was commissioned to produce an hour-long performance piece in response to the Phantom exhibition at the Ruskin Gallery in Cambridge, curated by artist Jane Boyer.  With Presenting…the Fabulous O’Learys, she has also recently returned to prose fiction. Full-length books:  … Continue reading Caron Freeborn

John Higgins is a 23-year-old Irish writer. His work has been featured in The Blue Nib, New Pop Lit, and Honest Ulsterman, among others. He lives in Galway. You can find his work on Twitter: @JohnhigginsW. Pierre Is Not My Waiter The boat cut through the night. Below, over the railing, the ocean was inky-black. The boat sliced into the water and left white foam in its wake.             Martin had made this boat trip once before, although under widely different circumstances. Though, he supposed, some things stayed the same. He’d stood out on the empty smoking-deck the entire journey … Continue reading John Higgins

Patricia Walsh was born and raised in the parish of Mourneabbey, Co Cork.  Her first collection of poetry titled Continuity Errors was published in 2010, and a novel titled the Quest for Lost Éire, in 2014.  Her poetry has been published in Southword; Narrator International; Third Point Press, Revival Journal; Seventh Quarry; Hesterglock Press; The Quarryman; Unlikely Stories; and Otherwise Engaged.  A further collection of poetry, titled Outstanding Balance, is scheduled for publication in March of 2020.  She was the featured poet in the inaugural edition of Fishbowl Magazine, and is a regular attendee at the O Bheal poetry night … Continue reading Patricia Walsh

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. THE KOOKABURRA The kookaburra I recall from my early teenage years, perched on a phone pole outside my bedroom window, opening his beak wide and laughing the day awake.   I peered out the window and there was the girl next door already out in her yard, showing off her legs in short shorts and her brown arms with a t-shirt.   The flowers of spring vaporized the air with perfumes from the … Continue reading John Grey

Matthew has written since an early age and recently published ‘Beginnings’, a collection of his more recent poetry. Drawing inspiration from the countrysidehis work explores the wildlife and wonders of the natural world. Matthew moved to Lincolnshire eight years ago and attends writing groups in Sleaford, Lincoln and Stamford. He also qualified as a Hill & Moorland Leader earlier this year. Early Winter Walk November tugs at her roots, the trees anxious, wind-roar in the pylons, leaves, puddle-mushed   Where the fields, straddle the horizon their rutted show scars, war-wounds of the harvest.   Crows ride the gusts, drifting, tumbling, … Continue reading Matt Spittles

Edward Lee’s poetry, short stories, non-fiction and photography have been published in magazines in Ireland, England and America, including The Stinging Fly, Skylight 47, Acumen and Smiths Knoll.  His debut poetry collection “Playing Poohsticks On Ha’Penny Bridge” was published in 2010. He is currently working towards a second collection.He also makes musical noise under the names Ayahuasca Collective, Lewis Milne, Orson Carroll, Blinded Architect, Lego Figures Fighting, and Pale Blond Boy.His blog/website can be found at https://edwardmlee.wordpress.com THOSE ILLICIT DAYS How many times we risked it all, falling asleep after sex, the possibility of a key in the door, the sound … Continue reading Edward Lee

Gordon Ferris is a sixty-two old year Dublin writer living in Ballyshannon in Co Donegal for the past thirty-six years. He is a member of the Dublin Writers Forum and has had many poems and short stories published in A New Ulster, Hidden Channel and The Galway Review.  Drinking all night on the beach.  Clouds cover the mountains  like a bed sheet on naked flesh.   Singers swaying  dancers swinging onlookers, sitting silently in awe pent up energy ready to explode the hesitant wave arm reluctantly rising.    At night colours from our world depart to paint the canopy of the … Continue reading Gordon Ferris

Michael A. Griffith teaches at Raritan Valley and Mercer County Community Colleges in central NJ. He is the author of three chapbooks of poetry, Bloodline, Exposed, and New Paths to Eden (forthcoming). Recent works appear in Ariel Chart, Impspired, Miletus Literature Review, Pangolin Review, Scarlet Leaf Review, and The Lake. Mike lives near Princeton, NJ. https://michaelgriffithwordpress.wordpress.com Breakfast Morning light streams gold through bare birch branches and coffee brew steam fills my rich warm kitchen. Out my window birds flash through the birches: red, grey-brown, blue. First spring grubs and seeds are breakfast for them as I turn away, cracking two … Continue reading Michael Griffiths