Beyond Words Magazine Issue 62

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.

WRITERS Olivia Pierce Graham holds an MFA in Poetry from The New School where she was a recipient of the Paul Violi Poetry Prize. Her poems have appeared in Cathexis Northwest Press, Midsummer Dream House, Oroboro, River & South Review, and many others. She is the author of poetry collections Vestige (Press Pause Press, forthcoming in 2026) and Gloom of Excruciating Desires (Cherry Dress Chapbooks, 2022).

Gary Keenan is a poet and musician living in Tunia, Cauca, a village of 1800 in the Colombian Andes. His poems have appeared in literary journals in the US, England, Ireland, Australia and India since 1979. His book Rotary Devotion won the 2016 Poets Out Loud Award and is available from Fordham University Press.

Kate Perruzzi is a writer living north of Boston. Her fascinations include microfiction and rewatching The Sopranos with her cat. “How To Get Lunch” is her first published piece.

Georgia Allen-Ruthven is a poet and novelist from the UK. She has a degree in English and Drama from the University of East Anglia and has studied writing poetry on the MA Foundation course run by the University of Newcastle and The Poetry School, and at the Faber Academy. Having written poetry all her life, she published a collection called Home Coming in 2014 (available on Amazon). She's an avid fantasy reader and enjoys poetry with a strong, often otherworldly narrative. Her magical short story, Like Poles, has been shortlisted for the Bournemouth Writing Prize. This poem is from the collection she is currently working on.

Benjamin Rose is an MFA student in the Creative Writing program of the University of St. Thomas, Houston.

Richard Stokes, a retired teacher, has lived in several regions of the United States, West Africa, and China, and presently lives in Boise, Idaho with his wife Lei, three dogs (Pepper, Duo Duo, and Maximus Minimus) and his flower gardens.

Kevin Joseph Reigle’s fiction has appeared in The Brussels Review, Bridge Eight, Drunk Monkeys, Beyond Words, Bristol Noir, Midsummer Dream House, and several anthologies.

He is a student at The New School.

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.

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.

Mari Fitz-Wynn is an award-winning author of four creative non-fiction books. Her writing reflects her passion and commitment to exploring and writing about themes of resilience, justice, and personal growth. Mari connects with a global audience through her poignant and thought-provoking essays and poetry, which have been published in numerous anthologies and collections. A United Arts Literary Grant recipient, she teaches virtual creative writing classes for the Muse Writers Center in Norfolk, VA. Her Instagram account is @marifitzwynn Shaun Savarese is a native New Yorker living in North Carolina. His journalism and columns have appeared in The Daily Record, The Borgen Project, The Evening Sun, and The Daily Star. He holds degrees in journalism and history from SUNY Albany. When he's not creating himself, he's helping his children learn how to.

Bethany Templeton is a 21-year-old writer. She has been writing since middle school, primarily poetry. She has two pieces published in HopeWorks of Howard County Magazine and post her poetry on TikTok @poetrybybetht and instagram @wholeheartedmemos.

Writing is her way of processing her own lived experiences as well as the world around her. She uses it not just to share her stories but to connect with others.

J.M.C. Kane is an autistic writer from England, though now claimed by New Orleans, who has spent most of his adult life trying to fit long stories into short boxes. He has worked as a paperboy, a contracting executive, and an amateur cataloguer of human regret—none of which he was formally trained for. He was formally trained as a lawyer, but he is, frankly, a better cataloguer. His fiction has appeared in Beyond Words and almost three-dozen other journals that appreciate compression—and his willingness to obey word counts.

Kane was Shortlisted for the 2025 Letter Review Prize for Short-Fiction, Shortlisted for 32nd Annual Robert J. DeMott Short Prose Contest (2025), Longlisted for the L’Esprit Leopold Bloom Prize for Innovative Narration, and has recently been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. His most recent work After the Cut was published in Palisades Review in December 2025.

Joshua Adam Walker, known as The Last Bard, writes poetry that bridges the surreal and the visceral, exploring the raw landscapes of human emotion. His work confronts darkness and desire with unflinching honesty, often drawing on personal experience with schizoaffective disorder. Published in Potomac Review, Solarpunk Magazine, and Libre, he blends mythic resonance with modern truths. Walker’s writing seeks to unearth the inescapable truths we carry, one pulse, one key, one line at a time.

Soham Magazine is a poet from Jammu, India. He has an avidity for poetry, and his work is inspired by writers like Robert Browning and Emily Dickinson.

VISUAL ARTISTS Cover art: Faces in the Crowd #3 by Jason Norton. Jason is a Veteran, self-taught abstract artist who has been showing his work since 2015. He currently lives in the Central New Jersey area. His work includes many mediums not limited to painting, sculpture, print making, assemblage, photography, creative writing. His process involves arousing past emotional experiences and feelings from the subconscious mind with a particular form of stimulation. This is what Jason calls his “Artist Capital.” Jason’s piece Sporadic Mumbling is also featured in the current issue of Beyond Words Magazine, together with a poem by Richard Stokes.

Annie Guldberg, The Time Traveler's Room. Annie is an oil painter based out of southern Iowa. Her pieces reflect a mixture of real places and the dream world. She creates out of her home studio, and enjoys life with her husband and two sons.

Elaine Butler, Tree Reflected. Elaine is a writer, photographer and art gallery manager from Dublin, Ireland. Her short stories have been long listed for Cuirt international New Writing Prize, and short listed for the Hennessy New Writing First Fiction competition. Her awardwinning photography has been published in international art & Literary publications including Beyond Words, Prole, & Envisionography, and she exhibits regularly. Visit her at www.elainebutlerphotography.com Harley Zhong, The Invisible Man. Harley is a passionate photographer and filmmaker who uncovers the hidden stories of everyday life. Currently a rising senior at the high school Phillips Academy Andover, Harley serves as the head of the photography club and founded the school's largest student-led media platform. Harle’s photography Instagram account is @harleyzhong_photography.

Heidi Jeub’s passion for visual expression began with a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art from the University of Minnesota in 1999. During her undergraduate years, she also immersed herself in the study of architecture—an influence that continues to shape her artistic approach, even though it didn’t become her primary career. After graduating, Heidi explored sculpture and bookbinding as her main mediums, both of which helped form her creative voice. As she raised three children, painting gradually became central to her practice, blending the rhythms of parenthood with new artistic growth and perspective. In 2017, she earned a Masters of Professional Studies in Arts & Cultural Leadership from the University of Minnesota. This advanced study deepened her understanding of how art and community engagement intersect, strengthening her ability to address complex community-based issues through creative work. Today, Heidi works across painting, bookbinding, collage, and public art. Her multidisciplinary practice invites people into meaningful dialogue, encouraging reflection on shared experiences and challenges. Through accessible visual language and thoughtful exploration, she aims to foster connection, empathy, and positive social change, helping communities see—and reimagine—the world through art.

Carol Schoder, Warm Water. Carol is a Chicago-area writer and visual artist whose work has been featured in Poetry Superhighway, Streetcake Magazine, Beyond Words and Sonic Boom. Her flash fiction story, Day Old Cabbage Roll on a Plate in the Fridge, was shortlisted

in the 2025 Bridport Prize competition. In addition to gathering words, she enjoys painting, photography and creating one-of-a-kind artist books.

Reinhardt Takeo Hollstein, The Flow of Change. Reinhardt is a Seattle-based artist renowned for pioneering his innovative interactive electronic paintings and touch conductive musical paintings. He has been featured in Carpanzine Magazine, Auburn Examiner, and South Sound Mirror. He has created 3-dimentional Interactive artwork paintings as well. Reinhardt Takeo Hollstein is taking his artwork in a bold new direction, redefining how paintings can influence the way we traditionally think about art. His groundbreaking piece, Beer Tap Painting, is an abstract acrylic collage infused with graffiti elements, inspired by The Fall of the Berlin Wall. Designed to resemble an actual fragment of the Wall, the artwork features a fully functional, electronically powered beer tap at its center—capable of pouring your favorite brew on demand. The piece seamlessly fits into both residential “man-cave” environments and commercial business spaces, blurring the line between fine art, design, and utility. This work exemplifies Hollstein’s signature concept, Art-tronic Artwork Designs—a genre he coined to describe art that is interactive, technologically infused, and purpose-driven. His approach invites collectors and business owners to rethink art not only as an aesthetic statement, but as a dynamic platform for engagement and revenue generation. Through ambitious ideas and a strategic marketing vision, Hollstein leverages his artwork as both cultural commentary and economic engine, funding an expanding network of creative ventures.

Katie Pippel, Adhesions (detail). Katie began learning embroidery at her mother's side in the 90's. She explored many mediums but returned to stitching as an adult, because it was a comfortable medium for being couch-bound by endometriosis. Her work ranges from architectural to abstract and can be found on Instagram (@art.by.katie.pip) and in the Opal Age Review and Blood Orange Review.

Liu Jiaqi, Gathering What Remains. Liu is a Bay Area visual designer and illustrator building narrative worlds around memory, time, and unfinished forces. Liu’s work often explores monuments, reflection, and the tension between holding on and falling apart. Liu uses mixed media including ink, texture layering, and digital illustration.

Michelle Oconis, Aftermath #3. Michelle is a self-taught artist with a severe form of Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. She often explores the physical and cognitive ramifications of her disease in her work. As a woman of Native American descent, she tends to reference nature and the spirit world. She works in mixed media with a primary focus on ink. Michelle is a recipient of The Maryland Arts Council’s 2025 Artist’s Grant. Her work has been featured in multiple publications. Her pieces have won numerous national awards. Most notably, The Juror’s Choice Award from The Maryland Federation of the Arts (Annapolis, Maryland) and The People’s Choice Award from NOMA Gallery (Ocala, Florida).

Yolanda McMahon is a self-taught photographer from Boston with 15 years of experience shooting mainly abstract, cinematic scenes. Instagram: @yolandamickman Becky Sisco, Vision at the Shore. Picture-making became one of Becky’s passions and avocations nearly 50 years ago, when she started with black-and-white photography and print processing. Digital Photography and Photoshop later opened new possibilities, such

that she can explore color and composition and turn images from the real world into abstract art. She is retired and lives in Dubuque, Iowa, USA. Benjamin Green, Rags of Cloud. Benjamin is the author of twelve books including His Only Merit (Finishing Line Press) and the upcoming Old Man Looking through a Window at Night (Main Street Rag); he is also a visual artist employing many different media. At the age of sixty-nine, he hopes his new work articulates a mature vision of the world and does so with some integrity. He resides in Jemez Springs, New Mexico.

Lawrence Bridges, Pool. Lawrence's photographs have appeared in the Las Laguna Art Gallery, the HMVC Gallery in New York, and the ENSO Art Gallery in Malibu. He created a series of documentaries for the NEA’s “Big Read” initiative, including profiles of Ray Bradbury, Tobias Wolff, and Cynthia Ozick. He lives in Los Angeles. You can find him on IG: @larrybridges Taylor Mouroufas, Arches. Taylor creates realistic artwork that invokes a sense of wonder and emotion in all who view it. From spectacular landscapes and crashing ocean waves frozen in time, to portraits of people and animals, her work isn't bound to a certain niche subject. Taylor’s years of self-taught study and practice in the style of realism has allowed her to create art that captivates the eye.

Ashley Schriefer, Just Below the Surface. Ashley was born in Long Island, New York. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Art Education from Flagler College in 2010 and later completed her Master of Fine Arts at Long Island University in 2016. She currently teaches art at Roosevelt Middle School while continuing to build a dynamic professional art practice.

Schriefer’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including shows with M.A.D.S. Art Gallery in Milan, Italy, One Art Space in New York City (2022), and Art Curator Magazine’s “River of Dreams.” She also participated in Spectrum Miami 2023 and debuted her first solo show in August 2025 with Artifact Projects. Her artwork has been featured in venues across Long Island such as the Steinberg Museum at LIU University, SIA Art Gallery, RIPE Art Gallery, Urban Outfitters, Allegria Hotel, and Unsound Surf Shop. Schriefer’s work and artistic voice have appeared in numerous publications, including Fashion Week Online, Start Creative Arts Therapy, Art Times Now, DaVinci Magazine, and Wichita State’s collegiate journal “MOJO.” Drawn to the ocean, Schriefer creates emotionally charged paintings that intertwine portraiture and seascapes, reflecting both the power and vulnerability of human experience. She currently lives and works in Long Beach, Long Island, where the ocean remains her greatest muse.

Jinyoung Chloe Park, Wave of self-expression. Jinyoung Chloe Park is a high school student attending a school in Boston, Massachusetts. With an unwavering passion for art, she is diligently curating her art portfolio. Beyond her artistic endeavors, Jinyoung finds joy in creating handcrafted objects and expressing herself through K-pop dancing.

Elena Brenneman, A Bridge Too Far. Elena is an amateur photographer who pairs image and verse as a coping skill for physical and mental health. Images are taken during travel across the country. Elena looks for contrast, negative spaces, line and unusual subjects to draw the natural attention of the eye. Handle: @elenaagain.bsky.social.

Nicole Cullinan publishes both locally and internationally in architecture and literature magazines. She enjoys the anonymity of print, an image seen solely by the intended audience. Nicole also writes for magazines. She has recently started exhibiting work as a fine art photographer. She has been a finalist in many prominent award lists.

Svetlana Goubanova is an oil and pastel artist based in Canada; she loves exploring new themes and can be frequently seen around the neighborhood painting en plein air with her kids and her beagle, rain or shine. Follow her on Instagram: @svet.art.canada.

Marcella Peralta Simon, Intimates. Marcella is a retired Latinx grandmother who splits her time between Cambridge, UK, and Kissimmee, Florida. She has been a diplomat, university professor, and instructional designer. Her artwork has been featured in Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine, Beyond Words Literary Magazine, Tofu Ink Arts Press, Persimmon Tree, and The Acentos Review. http://marcellaperaltasimon.art Ian James Roche, Too Much Loud, Fight For Quiet, 2022- 48”x96” pastel on sheetrock. Self taught artist Ian James Roche did not embrace his raw talent as an artist until the age of 35. Born in New York City in 1979 to creative parents, Ian began expressive abstract drawings at the age of seven, and by ten years old he was experimenting with graffiti in the local neighborhood with friends. The interest in abstract drawings and graffiti continued throughout his life. Music was also a big inspiration to him and remains a positive influence on his creativity today. Art classes were always a part of Ian’s schooling and he earned an Associate’s in Culinary Arts from The New York Restaurant School, and an Interdisciplinary B.S. from the New York Institute of Technology. In September of 2014, Ian visited Dia in Beacon, New York and was inspired by the works of Sol Lewitt and Richard Serra. Ian found Serra’s corten steel sculptures deeply moving and Lewitt’s minimalist wall drawings inspired him to do his own wall drawing. Acquiring an 8ft X 4ft piece of sheet rock and some soft pastels, Ian began. The idea to use pastels came from two pieces of his father’s own artwork that were made in the same media. After a few months of spontaneous pastel painting, Ian had created a large piece of work - which came to be known as ‘Birth of a Superhero’. There had always been a creative energy within Ian, it had just taken some time and life experience for him to truly accept this creative space within his consciousness. Ian continues to evolve as an artist and refers to his work as high energy or transformational/ spiritual art. He sees his work as a necessity to express what lives inside of him, as it is not something he learned, but rather something he knew. He has a studio in Commack, New York and his body of work consists of large scale pastel paintings, pastel wall drawings and ink/pencil drawings. IG - @ian_james_roche