b i o s Zack Pieper and Mike Hauser picked these poems out of a pile from roughly ‘05-’09. Longtime creative compadres, they hail from Milwaukee where they are really good at keeping it real......................... Krystal Languell, Becca Klaver, Hanna Andrews, JT Tamayo, Lily Ladewig, Emily Skillings, Caolan Madden, and Marisa Crawford comprise the poetry gang GIRL: Girls In Real Life. They meet monthly in New York City..........................Robin Brox, Michael Sikkema and mIEKEL aND were discovered in the ruins of the may-apples and deer vertebrae. They independently and collectively edit, write, host, curate, hassle, and happen in a tight sigil pattern around and across the Great Lakes. They accept both cash and checks............................Crystal Hartman is a multi-media artist, a writer and a jeweler. Her work has been shown at locations such as The National Palace of Culture, Sofia Bulgaria and the Center for Contemporary Culture Barcelona Spain. She received her BFA for Printmaking from The University of Colorado at Boulder and studied Image in Enamel at Ox-Bow, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Rachel Mindell is an MFA candidate in poetry at the University of Montana originally from Tucson, Arizona. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in interrupture, Horse Less Review, EOAGH and Barn Owl Review. Crystal and Rachel shared a tall, skinny apartment together circa 2008 in Durango, Colorado they called “The Birdhouse.” They have been collaborating since, both in person and via the web. While Crystal was painting Temptation and Desire with her left hand, Rachel was trying to control the contents of the birdfeeder over Crystal’s right shoulder. While Rachel was writing this poem in Missoula, Crystal was making jewelry in Colorado with her dog Lola Honeydew.......................... Samandra Eardly is the chimera of Amanda Earl and Sandra Ridley who worked together on a collaborative manuscript called Eve, A Mere Roar, which was shortlisted for the 2011 Robert Kroetsch Innovative Poetry Award.” Eardly lives in a highalow in Ottawa..........................Chuck Stebelton and Cathy Cunningham met at the former Rainbo roller rink in Chicago. CC works with food and flowers for a living. CS works at Woodland Pattern Book Center. These lines were exchanged in their Riverwest apartment..............................Sarah Jackson and Chris Shipman spend most of their time attributing voices to their pets. When they get some time off from this tough job, Chris teaches lit and creative writing to highschoolers, and writes poetry about murderers and super mario bros, while Sarah makes video art, teaches performance studies, and works on her dissertation at Louisiana State University. Cat Poems: 17 Wompus Tales and a Play of Despair is forthcoming on kattywompus press.
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issue one