Beyond Words Magazine - Issue 61

OUR EDITORIAL BOARD A hearing impaired writer and artist adopted in Luxembourg, Kelly Sargent is an awardwinning author of two memoirs in verse, a haiku and senryu poetry collection, and a children’s storybook. Recent honors include: Firebird Book Award winner, The Rash Award in Poetry finalist, Eric Hoffer Award nominee, Touchstone Award for Individual Poems nominee, and Best of the Net nominee. Her other works have appeared in more than eighty literary journals. She also serves as the creative nonfiction editor of The Bookends Review.

Visit www.kellysargent.com to learn more about her.

K.D. Zwierz is a lecturer, musician and poet. His poetry was recently featured in the anthology Ukraine in the work of international poets (Literary Waves). His writing explores themes of displacement, cultural identity and historical relativism, explored through the analysis of his own experiences growing up in a migrant farming community. Of PolishItalian descent, he lives and writes between Croatia, Kuwait and the UK. Colby Flade (he/him) is a queer writer, artist, avid drinker of coffee, and student based in Chicago. He is the author of The Smell of the Light Blue House in Summertime (2021), Menthol (2022), Fear Home (Oyez Review, Vol. 49, 2022), Short Sweet Simple: Love Poems (Bottlecap Press, 2022), Ignis Fatuus (Beyond Words Literary Magazine, Issue 35, 2023) and The Fly & Odor (Beyond Words Press, 2023). Colby’s work can be found online, at bookshops like This Old Book in Grayslake, Illinois & The Book Teller in Whitewater, Wisconsin, and elsewhere. Flade attended DePaul University, studying Writing, Rhetoric & Discourse, and is currently pursuing a degree in Early Childhood Education. Find him on Instagram @theflade and on www.theflade.com Noah Evan Wilson is a writer and musician based in New York City. His stories have been published in Beyond Words, Dreamers Creative Writing Magazine, and Prime Number Magazine, among others, as well as the anthology, Ten Ways the Animals Will Save Us, from Retreat West Books. Noah is currently an MFA candidate at Rutgers University-Newark. His latest record, The View from the Ground – EP, is now available on all major streaming platforms.

Candi Martin is a Creative Writing tutor and published writer/editor who writes on social equality and our roots in this world. She holds MA Creative Writing and Wellbeing from Teesside University and has always written for her own wellbeing. She can usually found listening to BBC6 music with a huge cup of tea. IG: @candi_says_ Brian "Brie" Sheridan is a writer and editor existing on the East Coast. They are currently trying to publish their first chapbook. In their free time, the enjoy playing nostalgic video games, planning out tattoos, and drag.

Roberta Laurie is the author of Weaving a Malawi Sunrise. She holds an MA in Environmental Education and Communication and teaches in the Bachelor of Communication Studies program at MacEwan University. Roberta writes about writing, nature, sustainability, and sustainability communication. She is currently writing a memoir inspired by a box of letters left behind by her father.

deb Ewing writes, paints, and screams at the stars because the world is still screwed up.

She improves what she can with music collaboration, peer-review at Consilience Poetry Journal, or designing books for Igneus Press. Follow @DebsValidation on X and Instagram.

Read her self-distractions at FolkWorks.org and JerryJazzMusician.com.

Lachlan McGregor is a queer Sydney-based writer. Their poetry and fiction has featured in Beyond Words, Beyond Queer Words, and Half and One. Lachie traipses the globe playing queer rugby and enjoys petting neighbourhood felines. They have just completed their Masters of Creative Writing at Sydney University and enjoy monthly meetups with a brilliant writing group.

Erin Courville is a perpetual student and avid reader from Vermont. Erin has edited for The Isis Literary Magazine at the University of Oxford, In Sum Magazine, and Parlor Tricks Literary Magazine at Williams College. She has acted as Editor in Chief for Parlor Tricks, and has published poetry with Beyond Words, Mag 20/20, Parlor Tricks, and local newspapers.

Joseph Cusi Tian-Delamerced is a Filipino writer based in Connecticut with a background in medicine, education, and storytelling. He has won short story awards for pieces published in LIGHT, Creation Magazine, and Beyond Words Magazine. You can find more scattered thoughts he weaves together on Instagram (@wordsbyjosephctd) and on Medium (medium.com/@joseph.ctd).

WRITERS Laura Cococcia is a writer and communications strategist based in New York City. Focused on topics related to culture and leadership, she has worked at Google, American Express, and GE, is a Fulbright Specialist, and has written for several online publications. She completed her master’s degree in Human Resources at Cornell University and her bachelor’s degree in English at the College of the Holy Cross.

Nancy Hayashi enjoys creating stories inspired by growing up in a gang-impacted neighborhood. She tends to reflect on issues of social justice, identity, and evolving wisdom from lessons learned. She is a high school world history teacher that wishes to provide voice and grace to her students.

Lina Buividavičiūtė was born on May 14, 1986. She is a poet and literary critic. Lina is author of two poetry books in the Lithuanian language. Her poetry is published in Matter, Masters and Proverse Poetry Prize anthologies, and the magazines: Drunk Monkeys, Beyond Words, The Dewdrop, The Limit Experience, Beyond Queer Words, Maudlin House, Cathexis Northwest Press, Poetry Online, Red Noise Collective, Sad Girls Diaries, as well as the Versopolis poetry platform. Upcoming publications include New Millennium Writings, Cathexis Northwest Press, Red Noise Collective, The Stardust Review and Beyond Words.

Christine Breede writes long, short, and very short fiction. Her work has been published online and in print, she was nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2020, and has won the 2022 Bumble Bee Flash Fiction Contest. Working and collaborating with fellow writers is one of the things she enjoys most. Twitter: @christinebree13; IG: @christinebreede; Facebook: Christine Breede; Website: christinebreede.com Dick Altman writes in the thin, magical air of Old West’s high desert plains, where, at 7,000 feet, reality and imagination often blur. He is published in the American Journal of Poetry, Santa Fe Literary Review, Fredericksburg Literary Review, Foliate Oak, Landing Zone, Cathexis Northwest Press, Humana Obscura, Haunted Waters Press, Split Rock Review, The Ravens Perch, Beyond Words, New Verse News, Wingless Dreamer, Blueline, Sky Island Journal and others here and abroad. His work also appears in the first edition of The New Mexico Anthology of Poetry, published by the New Mexico Museum Press. Pushcart Prize nominee and poetry winner of Santa Fe New Mexico’s literary competition, he has authored some 280 poems, published on four continents.

Alissa Hetherington is a high school English teacher from Pennsylvania. She is a 2020 graduate from Bloomsburg University and is currently pursuing a Creative Writing MFA from Arcadia University. When she’s not in the classroom, Alissa enjoys spending time outdoors with her two dogs, Rosco and Copper.

Jason Jaksetic is a poet and writer living a quiet, domestic life in Baltimore. His work explores masculinity, failure, and devotion through the lens of househusbandry and spiritual discipline.

Shirley Baldwin is a musician, poet, artist, and aspiring children’s author. After living overseas for twenty years, she has returned home from the foothills of the Himalayas to the foothills of the ancient, mystical Blue Ridge Mountains, finding, after all, that the wind can shape beautiful things.

Melissa Elder lives in New Jersey and has two books of poetry published, The Mundane and Nostalgia.

Julianne Bond’s writing has appeared in journals such as Sport Literate and Gooseberry Pie Lit Magazine as well as in the anthology The Writers Studio at 30. Twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize, she is also a recipient of a Peabody Award and Cable Ace Award for her work as a writer, producer, and performer for Comedy Central’s Emmy winning “Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist.” Julianne is on the faculty of The Writers Studio and lives in NYC. C.E. Rogers is a neo-formalist poet based in Raleigh, North Carolina whose work is characterized by a return to traditional poetic structures as well as an exploration of new forms. Rogers studied English Literature at Cornell University, with a focus on the Early Modern and Renaissance eras. By day, Rogers works in the emerging technology sector.

Amanda Draznin is a Creative Writing and Spanish major at Elon University. She plays saxophone, loves to read, and has previously been published in Youth Be Heard, Beyond Words Magazine, Neon Origami, and The Word’s Faire.

Rachel Parker lives in Delaware with her husband Dustin and two children, Avery and Ford.

Her work has appeared in Riverteeth, Penstricken, Anomaly Poetry, and Beyond Words Magazine. She writes regularly on Substack at Fragments of Humanity, exploring literature's intersection with psychology. She is a member of the Rehoboth Beach Writers Guild and an alumna of Lauren Grodstein and Ann Garvin's "After the Novel" workshop in Paris.

Gordan Struić is a lawyer, poet, and musician from Zagreb, Croatia. His poe ms have appeared in international journals including Headlight Review, Ink Sweat & Tears, Feral, and Half Mystic. He has also been published in two Beyond Words Press anthologies (Scars and Regrets). Alongside poetry, he writes and performs his own music, often exploring themes of absence, silence, and the digital echoes of presence.

Rob Ward grew up in the South Wales Valleys, but now lives in Providence, Rhode Island with his wife and their two border terriers. He teaches nonfiction writing at Brown University. His writing includes books on James Leo Herlihy and Nelson Algren, as well as essays on the practice of revision, walking, and hummingbirds.

Annie Fahy has been solving the puzzle of poems for 30 years. Her creative life was born in Pat Schneider’s butter-yellow house in 1998, where she found a friend, mentor and a writing practice. Annie writes poetry with a bunch of mostly Canadian and accomplished poets in Detention Club inspired by Ellen Bass’s living room Sessions. Her first book of poems, The Glass Train, was published in 2017 from AWA Press. She writes in Asheville, NC.

Natasha A. Catherine Kinsella is an Irish poet and essayist living in Scotland. She writes toward the spaces where language falters, between silence, class, and the body’s remembering. Her work has been recognised by the Patrick Kavanagh Award (Highly Commended, 2025) and awarded second place in the New Writers Poetry Prize. Her writing appears in Abridged, ROOM: A Sketchbook for Analytic Action, and Beyond Words Magazine.

VISUAL ARTISTS Cover art: The Heart by Haeun (Regina) Kim. Haeun (Regina) Kim is a student from Seoul, South Korea. When not creating visual works, she can be found writing and struggling through amateur ballet.

Donna Renee Turan, Scattered Dreams. Donna is a mixed-media artist based in upstate New York whose work explores emotional resilience, justice, and the unraveling of illusion.

A former court assistant turned full-time painter, she creates textured, symbolic pieces that confront both personal trauma and collective unrest. Her work has been featured across New York State and can be found online at www.LadyReborn.art, on Instagram at @ladyreborn_by_donnarenee and on Facebook at LadyRebornArt. Alexandra Rigores, Buenos Aires at night. Alexandra is a 25-year-old illustrator and graphic designer in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has been making drawings since she was a toddler. 2 years ago, she took the decision to start living as an artist and try to make this passion her living. She is always open to the idea of learning and trying new techniques.

MJ Okawa, Floating (2023). An Arizona-based multidisciplinary artist, creates vibrant silk paintings and multimedia works inspired by nature, relationships and the cosmos. With over two decades of experience in visual and performing arts education, MJ nurtures creativity in students of all ages. Her dynamic and intricate pieces and award-winning designs have been showcased across the States, captivating audiences with their energy and beauty.

Faisal Mirza, Sublime. Dr. Faisal Mirza is an artist, entrepreneur and surgeon who grew up and trained in Canada and now considers the Bay area home. Faisal nurtured his writing and began painting while living in San Francisco to expand awareness beyond scientific bias and barriers in healthcare and research. It was his most challenging of shoulder injury patients that needed wheelchairs that led him to first splash oil on canvas to explore his thoughts in a less structured manner to understand the limitations of medical science.

Maka Zida, Fulani Queen. Maka is a Georgian-born American artist living in New York City.

Artist work reflects a deep appreciation for the timeless beauty and expressive qualities of dipping pen in ink, showcasing the beauty of black and white.

Laurel Oswaldo Clark is a resident of New Jersey, a teacher and a full-time painter.

Mia Clay, Opalwood. Mia is a genderqueer artist living in Tucson, AZ. She loves pretty colors and cool lines. She aspires to put them together in many different ways.

Shawn Marshall, Walking on Sunshine. Shawn is a Kentucky-based painter & mixed-media artist with a background in architecture and design. She collects discarded and found materials such as paper, cardboard, wallpaper, magazines, lace, scraps of material, etc. and merges the carefully selected media with paint to create intricate webs and imprints of our existence. Her work has received international recognition and has been published in Suboart Magazine, Art Seen Magazine, Contemporary Collage Magazine, Art Hive Magazine, and others.

Bobbo Byrnes, Angelia. Bobbo is an American singer-songwriter, author, screenwriter and visual artist whose work spans Americana, folk, country, and rock. His 2024 self-titled album delves into themes of healing, redemption, and self-belief, blending acoustic intimacy with electric energy. He’s also explored ambient music with Music For Train Stations, a project built around meditative soundscapes and field recordings. In addition to his music, Bobbo creates abstract visual art inspired by Jackson Pollock. His paintings feature dynamic splashes, textures, and layers of color that echo the emotional resonance of his music—visually translating the same spontaneity, intensity, and raw emotion found in his songs.

Patricia Cannon, Hidden Labor #2. Patricia is Registered Nurse at UCSF for over two decades. She worked in various fields of critical care, including cardiac and neuro-intensive care, heme-oncology, and research. Patricia finds solace and creative expression in photography and poetry. Her artistry captures life's delicate interplay of light and shadow, resonating with themes of nature, love, and loss. As a poet and photographer, Patricia's creative work is deeply intertwined with her life experiences and faith. Her images and words invite readers and viewers to explore emotional landscapes, providing a tender yet powerful glimpse into moments of beauty and reflection. Patricia has the unique ability to transform her personal experiences into universal truths. The emotional depth of her photography, combined with her poetic insights, makes her a distinctive voice in both the art and literary worlds. Her book, Wild Heart, has been published by The Poetry Box. Susan Dashiell, Grandma, Girl, Bear. Susan is a teacher living in Bloomfield, NJ who enjoys collaging during quiet moments.

Franshesca Oliveras, Lola. Franshesca is a self-taught portrait artist living and working in the wild, inspiring hills of Topanga, California. Originally from Mexico City, she studied architecture and graphic design, where her love of structure met a passion for expressive form.

MK Bashlor is a writer and photographer who lives by the Jersey Shore where she serves as an advocate for people with disabilities. Her work centers on large-scale portraits in watercolor, ink, and acrylic.

Kathleen Phalen Tomaselli, For the Love of Brigetta. Kathleen is an artist living on a small pollinator farm in Northern Maine USA along the New Brunswick Canada border. Her award-winning writing, photography, paintings and sculptures have appeared in newspapers, magazines and international literary journals. She’s currently juggling several artistic projects while planting field peas, wild bergamot and Hopi red amaranth. www.phalentomaselli.com Kristin Indorato, Chairs #1. Kristin lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her musician husband and their son, dog, cat, and tarantula. Her poetry has been published in 3Elements Review, Barren Magazine, and Mom Egg Review, and her photography has been published in Humana Obscura.

Dina Fachin, Flamenco. Dina is a multimedia artist, born and raised in Italy. She lives in Saint Louis MO and she is also a Mindfulness practitioner and a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher. Her artistic practice is founded on contemplation and selfinquiry, for which human experience represents an endless territory of creative inspiration.

Robin Dintiman, In Vain; Giving Pause; The Struggle; Therase. Dintiman’s work is characterized by a deep connection to nature. She strives to capture the intimate, emotional quality in works that reflect the transience of our corporeal lives blurring the boundaries between the physical world and the ineffable, the mortal and the spiritual.

Nancy DeCamillis, High Rise Rose. Nancy graduated in Kentucky with an English degree, married, raised five children, and continued her creative studies. Over a six-decade art career, she has created award-winning woven and painted fiber arts and stone sculptures.

In her forties, her family moved to Colorado where she began sculpting stone, creating contemporary works in marble, alabaster, and limestone. In her fifties, she studied carving with pneumatic tools in Italy and taught sculpture workshops in the U.S. and Costa Rica. A shoulder injury curtailed Nancy’s sculpting in 2001. During her recovery, she published Sculptural Pursuit, a quarterly art-literary magazine with subscribers across the U.S. and nineteen countries. Since relocating to Rehoboth Beach in 2022, she has focused on poetry, memoir, collage art, and transforming her photography into digital paintings. She is a member of the Rehoboth Beach Writers Guild and the Rehoboth Art League. Her work can be found on Instagram at @nandeekarts.

Emma Song Yunci, She. Emma, born 1996, is a freelance artist skilled in delicate emotional and character expression.

Oliver Keyhani, I am walking into you. Oliver is an artist, poet, and performance artist based in Gainesville, Florida. His art has been shown in the Gainesville Fine Arts Association (GFAA) Gallery and exhibits and performances at the Civic Media Center (CMC).

Karin Reimondos, Water Drop. Karin is a freelance photographer, emerging international writer, and horse breeder, living on a farm in Sweden with her Welsh Springer Spaniels, Ben, Billy and Mickey. Karin writes poetry, non-fiction and fiction. Karin has had a poem published in Poet's Choice poetry book “Words That Heal” published in May 2025. Her first collection of poetry “Baby Steps Towards Acceptance” was published in June 2025. A poem published in Poet's Choice poetry book My life, My Choices, published in July 2025. A photo published in Beyond Words Magazine, Issue 59, July 2025. A photo published in Beyond Words Magazine Issue 60, published in August 2025. Forthcoming artwork submission to L'Esprit Literary Review, Issue Seven, due out mid-October 2025 and her YA Novel will be published in winter 2025/20206. Visit her on social media @thehappyhousehold.

David Howard, The smallest letters catch the air. David is the author of Rāwaho: the Completed Poems (Cold Hub Press, 2022) and the editor of A Place To Go On From: the Collected Poems of Iain Lonie (Otago University Press, 2015). David has worked as SFX supervisor for acts such as Janet Jackson and Metallica. His personal website is: www.davidhowardpoet.com