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 Sophie Cornwell is a PhD student living in the Midwest with her chronically sleepy dog. Her publications are featured in Iron Oak Editions, Virgo Venus Press, and Sabr Tooth Tiger Magazine. When not writing, she’s usually on a long walk or eating cheese. Rae Callahan is an emergency department nurse and former fishing boat captain. Her work draws from work, place, and belonging. Her writing is forthcoming in XRAY, and she lives in North Carolina. Alves dos Santos has been described as a traveler of the soul, an explorer of human stories and uncharted realms. In his words, we find the beauty of an essence in constant ferment— a blend of pure air and volcanic undertones—but above all, the portrait of a man who lives in harmony with discovery, truth, and, most of all, life. Dr. Deepthi Arun Kumar writes poetry about modern attention, digital life, and the absurdities of everyday rituals. Her work mixes surreal imagery with humor and quiet reflection. Instagram: @deepthiarunkumar, @daklikestoread Ellis Ash is a musician and music educator in Connecticut, where she teaches in public schools and universities, and performs with regional theater and performance ensembles. 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 300 poems, published on four continents. Steven Churchill is a philosopher and writer living in Melbourne, Australia. Steven has lectured in the Melbourne School of Continental Philosophy, and has also served as Tutor in Philosophy at La Trobe University. Steven's writing is informed by themes of disability and mental health, art and politics. Jenn Schumacher is an audiologist, mom, technical writer and enthusiastic weirdo. She lives in the US with her two children and a slew of foster greyhounds. E. Avenel Perry is an emerging poet based in Queensland, Australia, writing from the intersections of domestic life, pastoral experience, and quiet emotional reckoning. Their work leans toward intimate, image‑driven lyricism shaped by decades of listening to the stories of others. 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. Erica Richmond is a writer living in Peterborough, Ontario. The Reverberation of Sound is from her current work-in-progress; Yelling at Dead People, a collection of essays following the suicide of her children's father. For more information, visit openskystories.com or find her @OpenSkyStories on social media. Minal Shaman is a student at Columbia University studying cognitive science, with a persistent passion for satire and the absurd. Justin Prine is a passionate poet with a strong connection to his Texan roots. A proud member of the Army, his experiences have shaped his perspective, fueling his creativity and inspiring his work. Through his poetry, Justin weaves together themes of resilience, identity, and the essence of life in the modern dating age, crating a voice that is both authentic and profound. R. Nikolas Macioci earned a PhD from The Ohio State University. Nik is the author of twentythree books. He was twice nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, nominated five times for a Pushcart Prize, and twice for a Best of the Net award. Victor Chiasson is an autumn dweller and honestly, a complete optimist. Retired public servant living and writing in Ottawa. Inspired by beauty and ugliness in equal measure. Lisa Rubenson’s fiction has been featured on National Public Radio, Litro.co.uk, and 100wordstory.org, and her essays have appeared in Charlotte magazine, The Funny Times, Elysian magazine and in other print and online publications. Her story, “Sorry for Your Loss,” won Round 10 of NPR's Three-Minute Fiction Contest. She recently moved from North Carolina to a town in New Mexico where there are very few elevators. Devon Fulford (she/her) is a poet and writing professor at Colorado State University. She holds a Doctor of Education in transformative leadership and is in the first year of a PhD in creative writing. She has four poetry collections: onus (forthcoming from Alien Buddha Press, August 2025), gulp (Red Ogre Review, 2024), the skin song (chapbook from Bottlecap Press, 2024), and southern atheist: oh, honey (chapbook from Cathexis Northwest Press, 2021). Patrick Trombly’s poetry has been featured or is forthcoming in Alabama Literary Review, Roanoke Review, Connecticut River Review, 1922 Review, Relief, Loch Raven Review, The Closed Eye Open, The Dewdrop, The Abstractionist, Die Leere Mitte, Four Tulips (competition finalist), PHIL LIT Journal (competition shortlist) and The Argyle. His debut short story is forthcoming in Resonance. Patrick lives and works in New York City.
Jason Schwartz is a crypto tax lawyer. His work has appeared in Dodging the Rain, Rat’s Ass Review, and Toasted Cheese. He posts about crypto, taxes, and cryptoart as CryptoTaxGuyETH on X. Matt Nilsen is an aspiring unpublished fiction writer based in Hartford County, Connecticut. He holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. His writing explores themes in grief, belonging, and masculinity, and he can be reached on Instagram @mattnilsen8. Gary Keenan lives in Tunia, Cauca, a village of 1800 in the Colombian Andes. His poems have appeared in journals in the US, Ireland, England, Denmark, Germany, India and Australia since 1979. His book ROTARY DEVOTION won the 2016 Poets Out Loud Award and is available from Fordham University Press. Ada Costea is a 23-year-old Romanian writer based in Amsterdam. She studied biomedical sciences, an influence that often shapes her interest in the body as both subject and setting. Her work gravitates toward body horror, intimacy, and the uneasy intersections between the two.
VISUAL ARTISTS Special thanks to Artist in Chaos collective for collaborating with us on the creation of Issue 65. Three of the works featured here (Soul Refuge by Sylvie Abrams, T is For…. By Nadine Howieson, Pandemic Body by Mirjam Pézsa) are from Artist in Chaos, a nomadic international collective exhibition born in Brooklyn and curated by Aby Golden Lady B. Aby M’baye is a French-Senegalese multidisciplinary artist-author, photographer, poet, theatre director and creative coach. In Artist in Chaos, Aby brings together her own photographic work created in New York with recent works by 20 artists from around the world and across different media. The exhibition is built around a dialogue between the works: each of Aby's photographs is paired with a selected artwork by another artist, creating unexpected visual and conceptual connections. Designed to adapt to different spaces, Artist in Chaos also exists as a digital exhibition that can be downloaded directly onto a phone, allowing the project to travel beyond a traditional exhibition space. The project is now expanding into an Artist in Chaos Artbook, inviting writers, poets and other authors to create new literary responses to these photographic and artistic pairings. Download the exhibition directly to your phone here: https://abygoldenladyb.pixieset.com/m/lfXOQY/. Follow the project at: https://abygoldenladyb.mypixieset.com Cover art: Balloons by Tom Gdisis. Tom is a retired 45-year broadcast professional and Nebraska resident. He now explores storytelling through photography, improvisational comedy, and observational poetry from his home. Hanna Gelwix, Embedded. Hanna has been a practicing fine artist for the past 10 years, with a concentration on photography with a focus on surrealism. Her work explores the intersection of memory, material, and process, using photography to examine themes of presence and impermanence. She is drawn to tactile and experimental approaches, allowing the physicality of each medium to shape the narrative of her work. Doreen Hewett, Windy City, Pastel. From crayons to printmaking, art has been a lifelong passion for Doreen. She was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Currently living in Phoenix, Arizona. Lior Locher, Sail Away. Lior is a nonbinary mixed-media artist, mainly working in acrylic, and collage and printmaking. After having lived in 6 countries on 4 continents and being homeless at some point, they are now based at the English seaside. Their training is in personal development, coaching and therapy. They are fascinated by people’s inner lives and how we make sense of our own inner journeys as humans, and the inner dynamics and stories we tell ourselves. Natacha Villamia Sochat, Emerging Canopy, 72 x 48 in, oil on stretched canvas. Natacha is a multidisciplinary visual artist whose decades-long practice integrates painting, printmaking, photography, performance, and artist books into a cohesive exploration of pattern, memory, and interconnected systems. Grounded in biology, complexity science, and lived experience across cultures and geographies, her work investigates how identity, language, and perception emerge through material and process. Her art is conceived as a living ontology, an evolving network in which chaos, intuition, and care generate meaning over time.
Elizabeth Medrano. The world is constantly changing, updating, pruning, and adjusting to the many interferences and barriers. While listening to an internal dialogue with this world, Elizabeth’s collaborators – interactions with the news, relationships, work – bring their own encumbrances to the table demanding her attention and manipulation. This exchange takes Elizabeth to her studio, which she maintains in SF, to make sense of all these encounters. Yvonne Rojas-Cowan, Side Effects, Mixed Media, 36x36. Yvonne is a multidisciplinary artist whose captivating works, characterized by layered textures and expressive brushstrokes, explore themes of resilience, transformation, and the human spirit. As a dedicated advocate for the arts community, she serves as Exhibitions Director at the renowned Woodstock Artists Association and Museum in Woodstock, NY, where she curates thought-provoking exhibitions that showcase the work of emerging and established artists. Her artistic vision has captivated audiences worldwide, with her work featured in numerous publications and prestigious commissions that demonstrate her exceptional talent and artistic depth. Sylvie Abrams, Soul Refuge. Sylvie is originally from Lyon, France, where she studied art for five years. Now based in California, she trained in digital art and is a member of the Glendale Art Association (GAA). Her work explores wildlife, landscapes, abstracts, grief, and the interconnectedness of all living beings, with the aim of awakening an emotional response in viewers. She is currently preparing a solo exhibition for fall 2026. Keegan Berry, Beckoning. Keegan is a photographer, poet, and fiction writer based in Nashville, TN. Carol Schoder, Curtains. Carol is a Chicago-area writer and visual artist trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her debut chapbook, “Out of the Blue,” is out now from Yavanika Press. Her work has appeared in Poetry Superhighway, Streetcake Magazine, Beyond Words and Sonic Boom, and her flash fiction has earned four Bridport Prize recognitions, including a 2025 shortlist. She also works as a painter, photographer and book artist, with visual work in Persimmon Tree. Jacoby Davani, Holygons (01.09.26); Thru Shades of Yellow (#FFDD00); Please Be Careful (driving home)!; Minding Their Business. Jacoby is an experimental artist/musician/ creative. He has spent the last 20 years cultivating his craft across various medium (mixedmedia canvas, photography, film, music, and writing) as a deeply personal means of therapeutic expression. This occurs alongside a career in mental health providing therapeutic supports for others. gdw3, Interesting Times. gdw3 (a.k.a. Gordon Wimpress) has been making abstract art for over 2 decades. He uses digital tools in unique and unusual ways, creating images that are one-of-a-kind, colorful (or not), weird, cool, different, and fun. gdw3's images have appeared in gallery shows, album covers, websites, videos, and on the walls of discerning collectors. Serge Lecomte, Bird Skull Mountain. Serge was born in Belgium. He emigrated to Brooklyn in 1960. After graduating high school, he became a medic in the Air Force. He earned a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in Russian Literature, worked as a Green Beret language instructor and received a B.A. in Spanish Literature from the University of Alaska where he taught from 1978-1997. He built houses, worked as a pipefitter, orderly, landscaper, driller, bartender. He is also a published poet, novelist, playwright and artist.
Alana Hollenbaugh, Colter Bay Stack. Alana is a photographer and writer. In both writing and art, she enjoys watching the heavens and seeing our small place in them. Tania Costea, The Place Before Morning. Tania is an emerging artist who began painting just two months ago. Working entirely from memory, she often feels a kinship with inanimate objects and landscapes: unable to speak, they communicate through presence, shape, light, and atmosphere. Her work explores mood, wonder, and personal reflection. GJ Gillespie, Long Cool Woman; Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye. GJ Gillespie is a mixed-media collage artist based on Whidbey Island, Washington, working in the Northwest Mystics tradition alongside mid-century abstract expressionism. His work has appeared in more than 217 literary and art journals and publications, earned 19 awards, and been exhibited in 74 shows across the Pacific Northwest and beyond, including a current solo exhibition of 58 works at the City of Burien Gallery Program at Merrill Gardens. He is a Professor Emeritus of Communication at Northwest University. gjgillespieartistic.com. Sanda Berar, Pieces of Me. Sanda is a Romanian-American visual artist, writer, and technology leader based in the Pacific Northwest. Her abstract paintings explore memory, fragmentation, identity, and the emotional landscapes that exist beneath language. Working intuitively through texture, movement, and color, she is interested in the tension between interior silence and transformation. Nate Zipper, Canvas of Pain. Photography is a creative vehicle that Nate uses to tell the unique story behind the seemingly mundane. Through photography, he has noticed the things around him that easily could be overlooked: light, emotions, timing, and the subtle elements that give meaning to objects and people. Nate’s journey as a photographer has fueled his passion for visual storytelling and inspired him to experiment with other forms of media, such as filmmaking. He constantly experiments with lighting, composition, and subject placement and movement, weaving them together into coherent narratives to better connect with his audience. Nate regularly participates in regional and national photography contests where he has earned several awards. Nadine Howieson, T is for... Nadine is a Puerto Rican artist with an AA in Fine Art from Santa Fe College. She explores mental health, femininity, mythology and the environment through abstract surrealist drawing, combining symbolic glyphs, biomorphic lines and organic forms across diverse media. Mirjam Pézsa, Pandemic Body. Mirjam is a Cologne-based artist with Hungarian roots, working with abstract paintings & printmaking. In Pandemic Body, Mirjam Pézsa constructs a fragmented figure, where a dense, almost immobile body contrasts with legs that seem to give way. Carol Gauthier, Let's Dance; Kiss Me. Carol is a photographer from Quebec whose work encompasses wildlife, nature, travel, and fine art macro photography, grounded in a deep appreciation for detail and beauty. “Let’s Dance” and “kiss Me” are from his Drop Motion series, where he explores the short-lived sculptures created by high-speed water drop collisions, combining light, lasers, and fog to capture frozen moments at an exposure of 1/8000th of a second.
Jackie Rainwater, Noone calls anymore. Jackie is a U.S. Navy veteran and Southern Gothic writer from Vidor, Texas, where she lives with her family and a rotating cast of rescued animals. Her work often explores memory, grief, and the quiet weight of rural life. When she’s not writing, she’s studying IT, tending to her home, or trying to save whatever small creature crosses her path. Her stories draw on the landscapes and people who shaped her, blending lived experience with a deep sense of place. Maday Delgado is a prolific art educator, published artist and guild presenter based in the Midwest, committed to bringing innovation and artistry to the forefront of the work she creates. Her mission is to nurture artistic platforms across cultures and generations to foster creative work, while finding ways to minimize environmental footprint. Alexa Wheeler is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and Tamarind Master Printer based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her practice combines printmaking, textiles, photography, collage, installation, and video to explore memory, domestic labor, feminist histories, and collective care. She holds an MFA with Highest Distinction from the University of New Mexico and a BFA with Highest Honors from Pratt Institute. Wheeler currently serves as Principal Lecturer III in Fine Arts at the University of New Mexico–Valencia. Her recent work investigates vessels, archives, and material traces as carriers of personal and collective histories. toastlab.com; Instagram: @toastlab08 Christopher Fraser, Still Life with Flowers. Christopher was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada. He has lived in Los Altos CA, Chicago IL, and in Boston MA where he attended classes at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. He recently lived in Singapore, and currently resides in San Francisco, CA. Bonnie Matthews Brock, Rush. Bonnie Matthews Brock is a Florida-based. photographer, as well as a school psychologist. Her works have been published in Ibbetson Street, The Somerville Times, Oddball Magazine, Ember Chasm, and Beyond Words Literary Magazine. Find Bonnie at Instagram @bonniematthewsbrock.