Widely published in various countries over many years in numerous magazines, journals ,anthologies and competitions, most  recently first prize in the Brian Nisbet poetry award. His latest book ‘History Doesn’t Die’ came out in August. DON’T ASK Sometimes the news leaves shrapnel with a stamp of meaning embedded in your identity, and you don’t know how to cry properly anymore. The shutter of your eye records this image as a locked door behind which is something hidden which needs to be told. Later your TV set hisses in your ear the command to be happy, just words falling off the … Continue reading Gordon Scapens

Leonie Jarrett lives mostly in Melbourne, Australia with her Husband of more than 3 decades, her 4 adult children and her 2 Golden Retrievers. Leonie has variously been a lawyer and a business owner. Now that she is semi-retired, Leonie is loving writing about her life, her travels and her experiences. Our Cabin Charlie and I were married for 55 years. We were never blessed with children but we always thought that we were the luckiest pair alive. Out of the billions of people in the World, we had found our soulmate. Not to say that he didn’t irritate the life out … Continue reading Leonie Jarrett

Bradford Middleton lives in Brighton on the UK’s south coast.  This last year has seen him quit his job of nearly 15 years, have a minor nervous breakdown and then somehow get a job at a kids’ bookshop.  When he ain’t working his part-time job he can often be found reading or drinking at home when he ain’t working at the words.  All his poetry chapbooks have sold-out now but he does have several new ones planned and under consideration.  Since 2020 he’s been working on his first proper novel ‘All the Way to the End of the Line’ which … Continue reading Bradford Middleton

 Ahmad Al-Khatat is an Iraqi Canadian published poet and writer. In addition to his Pushcart Price 2020 nomination, he received a nomination for Best of the Net 2019. His poetry has been translated into other languages and his work has been published in print and online magazines abroad. He resides in Montreal, Canada, now with his spouse.  Graduation Party  Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad were three of my most powerful pals. They each had a flower in the vase & our enemy destroyed all the vases and stole all their flowers. I recall their parents having inscribed. their names on their … Continue reading Ahmad Al-Khatat

Ferris E Jones is an award-winning, internationally published poet and screenwriter living in Manchester Connecticut. His work has appeared in both print and online magazines including as the featured poet for Creative Talents Unleashed. Other magazines include: Dreich, Glo Mag, Piker Press, Se La Vie Writers Journal, Write on Magazine, Outlaw Poetry, Degenerate Literature 17, Tuck Magazine, The Literary Hatchet, Warriors with Wings, In Between Hangovers, and many other literary publications. He is the recipient of two grants from the Nevada Arts Council and the Editor/Publisher of Nevada Poets 2009. Ferris has twice received honorable mention awards from Writers Digest annual … Continue reading Ferris E. Jones

Toni Kochensparger was born in Kettering, Ohio and now lives in Ridgewood, New York, where they write jokes on trash that they find on the street. Their short stories can be found in Kelp Journal, miniMAG, Free Spirit, Alien Buddha, Two Two One, and Scribble. Look for You Marcy stands behind a man at the Dollar Tree with a shopping basket that is Sprite after Sprite and sleeve after sleeve of off-brand Oreos, entirely, like I mean like nothing else at all just several bottles of Sprite and several sleeves of these off-brand cookies and there’s an efficiency to the … Continue reading Toni Kochensparger

Nolo Segundo, pen name of retired English/ESL teacher [America, Japan, Taiwan, Cambodia]  L.j Carber, became a published poet in his 8th decade in over 170 literary journals in 13 countries. A trade publisher has released 3 collections in paperback on Amazon: The Enormity of Existence [2020]; Of Ether and Earth [2021]; and Soul Songs [2022]. These titles reflect an awareness he’s had for over 50 years since having an NDE whilst almost drowning in a Vermont river: That he has—IS—a consciousness that predates birth and survives death, what poets since Plato have called the soul. Love is Not Known Love is … Continue reading Nolo Segundo

Tim Suermondt’s sixth full-length book of poems A Doughnut And The Great Beauty Of The World came out in 2023 from MadHat Press. He has published in Poetry, Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, The Georgia Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Stand Magazine, Smartish Pace, The Fortnightly Review, Poet Lore and Plume, among many others. He lives in Cambridge (MA) with his wife, the poet Pui Ying Wong.   KEEPING AT IT While my wife works on her poetic sequence I scribble lines not even worthy of scribbles. I step outside, walk around, taking in everything: sun and sky, streets, buildings and people, hoping … Continue reading Tim Suermodt

MARIA EVELYN QUILLA SOLETA gives thanks to prose and poetry! Motherhood is a calling and subject so close to her heart. She lives in Cavite, Philippines. Her poems are unadorned yet truthful, purposely warm, and witty. People, places, things, (living and non-living), and even circumstances give colors to her rhythm and rhymes, stanzas, and lines. She began to write poems when she was six and has published two books on poetry, ‘My Twenty Poems’ and ‘Finding My Heart’, (an Amazon bestseller in five categories a few hours after its launch in January 2021). Her works can be found in many … Continue reading Maria Evelyn Q. Soleta

Called “one of the innovators of the short short story” by Publishers Weekly, Peter Cherches has published four full-length fiction collections as well as a number of chapbooks and several nonfiction books. Since 1977, his work has appeared in scores of magazines, anthologies and websites, including Harper’s, Fence, Bomb, Semiotext(e), North American Review, Fiction International and Billy Collins’ Poetry 180 project. His next book, Everything Happens to Me, a collection of irreal autofictions, will be published by Pelekinesis this fall. He is a native of Brooklyn, New York. My Dinner with Montaigne The only Montaigne I was familiar with was the … Continue reading Peter Cherches