CONTRIBUTORS
Rachel Ahrens, Erie, PA
Ahrens is a senior at Mercyhurst University studying Creative Writing, as well as Fashion Merchandising. She loves reading, writing, talking, and anything else involving words.
Mark James Andrews, Grosse Point Woods, MI
Andrews lives in Metro Detroit and is the author of five chapbooks of poetry. The latest is At The Ice Cow Queen On Mack from Alien Buddha Press. He has worked as a gravedigger, inspector at a defunct auto plant, jail librarian, and enjoys drinking Two Hearted ale.
Lake Angela, PhD, MFA, Warrington, PA
Poet laureate of Bucks County, her latest book is Scivias Choreomaniae (Spuyten Duyvil), “Know the Ways of the Dancing Madness.” She is writing her Autobiography of My Grandmothers at the mouth of Lake Erie, their birthplace, and is a Poetry Midwife and Mad advocate: www.lakeangeladance.com.
M.J. Arcangelini, Santa Rosa, CA
Archangelini has published in print and online venues & over a dozen anthologies. He has 8 published collections, the most recent are the full-length Pawning for My Sins (Luchador Press, 2022), the chapbooks Fierce Kisses (Rebels & Squares Press, 2024), and Hooking Up (Pure Sleaze Press, 2025).
Cathy Barber, Cleveland Heights, OH
Barber’s poetry has been published across four continents and anthologized many times. She is a graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program and makes her home in Cleveland, Ohio, where she serves on the board of Literary Cleveland. Once: A Golden Shovel Collection (Kelsay Books, 2023).
Erin Bastow, Erie, PA
Bastow works as a child and adolescent trauma therapist. She’s presented and published on the applications of expressive writing in trauma therapy. Most recently, she authored a chapter for the book EMDR and Creative Arts Therapies. She writes best sitting under trees.
C.W. Bigelow, Charlotte, NC
His fiction and poetry appeared in Blood & Bourbon, The Saturday Evening Post, Flash Fiction Magazine, Remington Review, The Write Launch, Hole in the Head Review, Blue Mountain Review, Midway Journal, Frost Meadow Review, The Heartland Review, Litbreak Magazine, and Bluebird’s Scribe Review.
Kimberlyn Blum-Hyclak, Lancaster, SC
Blum-Hyclak not only rode the rides each summer at Cedar Point, she worked as a maid one summer at its Hotel Breakers. She’s the author of the poetry collection In the Garden of Life and Death, and a co-editor of Kakalak. And she still likes riding coasters.
Loukia Borrell, Portsmouth, VA
From Toledo, OH, she is a first-generation American of Greek-Cypriot parentage. She was raised in Virginia and has a Bachelor of Arts in English, with a journalism concentration, from Elon University. She is a former newspaper reporter. Her published poems and essays are on her website, loukialoukaborrell.com.
Dianne Borsenik, Elyria, OH
Borsenik is active in the northern and mid-Ohio poetry communities. Her collection Raga for What Comes Next was featured in the Modern and Contemporary American Poetry course at Muskingum University. Lit Youngstown printed her poem “Disco” on their tee shirts, which makes her feel like a rock star.
Greg Brown, Erie, PA
Brown was raised in Oklahoma, started a family in Mississippi, and has been an Erie transplant now for many winters. A founding member of Poets’ Hall, Greg teaches creative writing and literature at Mercyhurst University and roams the woods and waters between the Allegheny Mountains and Lake Erie.
Jennifer Browne, Frostburg, MD
Browne falls in love easily with other people’s dogs. She is the author of American Crow (Beltway Editions) and the poetry chapbooks Before: After; In a Period of Absence, a Lake; whisper song; and The Salt of the Geologic World. Find more of her work at linktr.ee/jenniferabrowne.
Milenko (Miles) Budimir, Parma, OH
His newest book of poems is Licorice Heart (Roadside Press). He’s also the author of two poetry chapbooks; Departures (Burning River) and Rustbelt Romance (deep cleveland). During the daytime, he works as a philosophy lecturer and a technical writer and editor. He is from Cleveland, Ohio.
John Burroughs, Cleveland, OH
Burroughs is an Ohio Poetry Association vice president, the founding editor of Crisis Chronicles Press, and a recent U.S. Beat Poet Laureate. Find him at https://linktr.ee/johnburroughs
Jennifer Campbell, Lancaster, NY
A writing professor in Buffalo, NY, and a co-editor of Earth’s Daughters, she has two full-length poetry collections and a chapbook of reconstituted fairytale poems titled What Came First (Dancing Girl Press, 2021). Jennifer’s work has recently appeared in Bacopa Literary Review, NOVUS, and Healing Muse.
Pen Campbell, Benton Harbor, MI
A blissfully retired teacher of writing and journalism, she draws her solace and inspiration from the woods and rocks and waters of Michigan.
Rick Campbell, Alligator Point, FL
Poet and essayist his most recent book of poetry is Fish Streets Before Dawn (Press 53). A collection of essays, Sometimes the Light (Main Street Rag, 2022). Other Poetry collections include Provenance; Gunshot, Peacock, Dog; The History of Steel; Dixmont; Setting the World in Order; and The Traveler’s Companion.
Dan Carpenter, Indianapolis, IN
An Indianapolis-based journalist, poet, fiction writer and essayist, a former resident of Milwaukee and a dedicated traveler along the coasts of Lakes Michigan and Superior.
Eric Chiles, Bethlehem, PA
Chiles is the author of What Was and Will Be (Resource Publications) and the chapbooks Caught in Between (Desert Willow Press) and Carbon Footprint (Finishing Line Press). Besides The Main Street Rag, his poetry has appeared in 3Elements Review, Comstock Review, I-70 Review, Pembroke Magazine, Rattle, and elsewhere.
Lynn Ciesielski, Buffalo, NY
Ciesielski has appeared in The Main Street Rag, Slipstream , BlazeVox and others. Her chapbook I Speak in Tongues was published by Foothills Publishing, 2012, and her collection, Two Legs Toward Liverpool by Main Street Rag, 2015. She has two upcoming books, My Spanglish Es Impecable (Kelsay Books, 2025) and Love Breaks (Finishing Line 2026).
Patricia Clark, Grand Rapids, MI
Clark is the author of O Lucky Day and Self-Portrait with a Million Dollars. A poem from O Lucky Day (“What My Father Wished For”) won a Pushcart Prize and will be published in the Pushcart Anthology in 2026. She has recent work in Plume, North American Review, and elsewhere.
Nick Conrad, Sylvania, OH
Conrad’s poems first appeared in the 70’s/ 80’s in journals such as Green House, The Cumberland Review, and the TLS, with more than 200 poems published since. His first book, Lake Erie Blues (Urban Farmhouse Press, CN), appeared in 2020. His podcast for All Write in Sin City aired in 2021.
Barbara D Crone, Fairview, PA
An artist and poet who has enjoyed the poet community of Erie since 1997, her art has won awards and has been shown in many states as well as in Krakow, Poland. She has been honored to have her words chosen for publication many times and enjoys participating in live poetry events. She resides with her husband of 54 years.
Mary Ellen Dahlkemper, Erie, PA
A lifelong resident of Erie, her prose and poetry reflect the region’s natural beauty, its history, its people, and the events impacting the area. Recently, she researched and authored “Origins” a history of NWPA Poets and Spoken Word Artists.
B. Harlan Deemer, Hessel, MI
Deemer is an old WASP, privileged to have had well-educated, middle-class parents. A graduate of the University of Virginia, he studied, then lived, 13 years in Sweden, then 30 years in Chicago before semi-retiring in 2019. He has self-published 2 collections of poetry: Having Words Together and Courting Rejection.
Michelle DeRose, Grand Rapids, MI
Professor Emerita of English at Aquinas College, she has published well over one hundred poems in literary journals and anthologies. The Poetry Society of Michigan awarded her the 2024 Chancellor’s Prize and the 2023 Faruq Z Bey award for her poetry.
Diana Dinverno, Houston, TX
Dinverno is the author of When Truth Comes Home to Roost (Celery City Chapbooks, 2022). A Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize nominee, Diana, a lifelong Midwesterner, currently writes at a desk in Houston, Texas. For more information, visit www.dianadinverno.com.
Lorrie D. Divers, Fort Myers, FL
A native of Central NY who has lived all but 5 years of her life in the shadows of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Although she now resides in Southwest Florida, northern skies and forests will always infuse her soul. She writes poetry and micro-fiction.
Mary Alice Dixon, Charlotte, NC
Born in Western Pennsylvania coal dust, she’s a multiple Pushcart nominee who won the NC Writers’ Network Randall Jarrell Poetry Competition. She lives in Charlotte, NC where she leads Hospice Grief Writing Workshops. Her chapbook is Snakeberry Mamas: Words from the Wild. Find her at: maryalicedixon.com
Deborah H. Doolittle, Jacksonville, NC
Doolittle has lived in many places. A Pushcart Prize nominee, she is the author of Floribunda, No Crazy Notions, That Echo, and Bogbound. When not editing BRILLIG: a micro lit mag, she is training for road races or practicing yoga.
Sara Ries Dziekonski, Gulfport, FL
Dziekonski was runner-up for the Press 53 Award for Poetry for her manuscript, Today’s Specials, which was selected as a finalist for the Woodrow Hall Top Shelf Award for a book of poetry published in 2024. She is the co-founder of Poetry Midwives Editing and Submission Services.
Donna Wojnar Dzurilla, Pittsburgh, PA
Her poetry appears in Tributaria (2025), The Gulf Tower Forecasts Rain: Pittsburgh Poems, Backbone Mountain Review, Rune Literary Journal and The Pittsburgh Quarterly. Her fiction has appeared in the Anthology of Appalachian Writers and other publications.
Alice Edwards, Ph.D., Erie, PA
A Professor of Spanish at Mercyhurst University, she teaches courses in Hispanic language, culture, and literature. Her research centers on contemporary Latin American women’s life writing. She published a chapbook Instructions for Letting Go, with Poets’ Hall Press, and translations of the work of María Flora Yáñez.
Angela Williamson Emmert, Manawa, WI
Emmert holds an MFA from University of Southern Maine and is poetry editor at Lit Fox Books. Awarded the Lorine Niedecker Poetry Award and the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize, her work appears in Cimarron Review, Atticus Review, and MidAmerica, among others. A former university instructor, she teaches middle school English.
Debra Ewing, Annandale, VA
Anna writes, paints, and screams at the stars because the world is still screwed up. She’s into music collaboration, peer-review at Consilience Poetry Journal, writing for FolkWorks.org, and designing books for Igneus Press. Follow @DebsValidation on X and Instagram, or into seedy pool halls but probably not dark alleys.
Cal Freeman, Dearborn, MI
Freeman (he/him) is the author of the books Fight Songs and Poolside at the Dearborn Inn. His writing can be found in many publications, most recently The Glacier, Potomac Review, and North American Review. His new hybrid collection, The Weather of Our Names, is now out from Cornerstone Press.
Diane Funston, Marysville, CA
A recent Poet-in-Residence for Yuba Sutter Arts and Culture for two years, created online “Poetry Square” bringing together poets worldwide. She has been published in F(r)iction, Lake Affect Magazine, Synkronicity and Still Points Quarterly among others. Her chapbook Over the Falls was published by Foothills Publishing.
Cynthia Gallaher, Chicago, IL
Gallaher is the author of four poetry collections, including Epicurean Ecstasy: More Poems About Food, Drink, Herbs & Spices, and three chapbooks, including Drenched. Her award-winning creativity guide is Frugal Poets’ Guide to Life: How to Live a Poetic Life, Even If You Aren’t a Poet.
Elise Geither, PhD, North Ridgeville, OH
Geither is a career educator currently traveling the world to learn and explore, eat and play. Her poetry has appeared in journals including The Artful Dodge, Nightballet Press, and Thundersandwich. Geither’s novel was available in late 2025.
John Glowney, Seattle, WA
His poetry has appeared in many poetry journals; Visitation (Broadstone Books, 2022); and Cold-Hearted Boys (Main Street Rag, 2024). A Fish Child’s Songbook, winner of Jacar Press’s full-length contest, will be published in 2026. He is a recipient of a Pushcart Prize, and the PSA’s Robert H. Winner Memorial Award. johnglowney.com
Peter M. Gordon, Orlando, FL
Gordon is an award-winning poet with over 190 poems and three collections published. He’s a founder and Past President of Orlando Area Poets. He lives in Orlando, FL and teaches in Full Sail University’s Film Production MFA Program. He was married in Wayne, Michigan.
Rachel Greve, Madison, WI
A hydrogeologist working in water resources protection, Rachel has degrees in English, Geology, and Hydrogeology from the University of Wisconsin and spends the cold, dark North Coast winters inside wearing layers—with brief walks out onto the ice.
George Guida, Danville, NY
Guida is the author of a dozen books, including the poetry collections The Fulfillment Center (Foothills Publishing, 2026), New York and Other Lovers (Encircle Publications, 2021), and Pugilistic (Wordtech Editions, 2015); the novel The Uniform (Guernica Editions, 2024); and The Pope Stories (Bordighera Press, 2012).
Bob Gulick, Erie, PA
Gulick received his MFA from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania where he studied printmaking. Following a career guiding those who teach children diagnosed with autism, he resumed creating original artwork and writing poetry. He has written over 300 poems and has had several published in the Erie County Poetry Anthology.
Ian Hall, Tallahassee, FL
Currently a PhD candidate in Poetry at Florida State University, his work is featured in Narrative, Mississippi Review, The Journal, American Literary Review, & elsewhere.
Gwen Hart, Havre, MT
An Associate Professor of English at Montana State University—Northern, her latest collection, Never Be the Same, is available from FutureCycle Press. She is the founding editor of The Bear Paw Arts Journal, which publishes flash fiction, micro memoir, and poetry at www.bearpawartsjournal.com.
Linda Polk Haslanger, South Bend, IN
A recently retired emerging poet, her work has been published in The Albion Review and was selected for the 2025 Detroit Lakes Poetry Walk. She was also a semi-finalist for the 2025 Lefty Blondie Press First Chapbook contest. Other hobbies include volunteering and taking nature hikes.
Furaha Henry-Jones, Centerville, OH
Henry-Jones received the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award for Poetry in 2018 and served as Sinclair College Poet Laureate. Her most recent work was published in Visual Voices: Storytelling through Poetry, an anthology of ekphrastic poems responding to the work of African American visual artists.
Karin Hoffecker, Birmingham, MI
Hoffecker has an MA in English Literature from Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan. Her poems have appeared in numerous publications. Her third collection, The Space Between Us, was published by Wyde Syide Press in 2025. She is a retired teacher living in Birmingham, Michigan.
Karen Paul Holmes, Atlanta, GA
Holmes won the 2023 Lascaux Poetry Prize and received a Special Mention in the 2024 Pushcart Prize Anthology. Her books are: No Such Thing as Distance (Terrapin, 2018) and Untying the Knot (Aldrich, 2014). Poetry credits include The Writer’s Almanac, The Slowdown, Verse Daily, Diode, Glass, and Plume.
Patricia Hope, Oakridge, TN
An award-winning writing has appeared in Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, Quill & Parchment, MockingHeart Review, Artemis, Guideposts, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Bluebird Word, Pigeon Parade Quarterly, Mildred Haun Review, Liquid Imagination, American Diversity Report, and many others. She lives in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Mark Sebastian Jordan, Mansfield OH
Jordan lives in the central highlands of Ohio but periodically comes down from the hills to raid the cities for culture. In addition to poetry, he writes classical music criticism for Seen & Heard International, historical true crime for The History Press, and memoir for Alien Buddha Press.
Kara Knickerbocker, Jamestown, PA
Author of two chapbooks: The Shedding Before the Swell and Next to Everything that is Breakable. Her poetry/essays appear in: Poet Lore, HOBART, SWWIM, and Portland Review, among others. A Pushcart & Best of the Net nominee from Pennsylvania, she writes with the Madwomen in the Attic at Carlow University.
Janna Knittel, Minneapolis, MN
She is the author of Real Work (Nodin, 2022), a finalist for the 2023 Minnesota Book Award in poetry, and the chapbook Fish & Wild Life (Finishing Line, 2018).
Leonard Kress, Blackwood, NJ
He’s been published in Missouri Review, Tupelo, Iowa Review, APR, Harvard Review, etc. Poetry collections are The Orpheus Complex and Living in the Candy Store and his new verse translation of the Polish Romantic epic, Pan Tadeusz by Adam Mickiewicz. Craniotomy Sestinas appeared in 2021 and Foxholes in 2025.
Paula J. Lambert, Columbus, OH
Lambert has published eleven collections of poetry including Terms of Venery, Revised (Sheila-Na-Gig 2025) and Sinkhole (Bottlecap 2025). Her work has been supported by the Ohio Arts Council, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. More at www.paulajlambert.com.
Nathan Large, Erie, PA
A storyteller across media: speculative fiction (including the Empyrean Dreams space opera novels), poetry, live storytelling, and tabletop gaming (as Luminathan Games), he is the current Bard Laureate of Ar nDraiocht Fein, a modern druidic organization. He joined his wife, an Erie native, after graduating from SUNY Buffalo.
Joan Leotta, Fairfax, VA
Her award-winning publications include poems, essays, articles, books, and short stories. Her Main Street Rag chapbook is Feathers on Stone. As a story performer, she offers folktale shows and presents Louisa May Alcott, Author and Civil War Nurse.
Jennifer Litt, Fort Lauderdale, FL
She is the author of the poetry collection Strictly from Hunger (Accents Publishing, 2022) and the chapbook, Maximum Speed Through Zero (Blue Lyra Press, 2016). Her poems have been published in About Place, ellipsis…literature & art, Stone Canoe, SWWIM Every Day and other journals. She lives in Fort Lauderdale.
George Looney, Erie, PA
His recent books include The Visibility of Things Long Submerged (BOA Editions Short Fiction Award), The Acrobatic Company of the Invisible (Cider Press Review Editors’ Prize), and, with Douglas Smith, Birds of Sympathy: Correspondences (Apogee Poetry Chapbook Award). He’s editor of Lake Effect, and translation editor of Mid-American Review.
Nan Lundeen, Eau Claire, MI
A poet, writer, grandmother, and a retired, award-winning journalist. Her work is published in literary journals. Her nonfiction and poetry books have won three national indie book finalist awards. She holds an M.A. in Communication from Western Michigan University and lives in southwestern Michigan. www.nanlundeen.com.
Thasia Anne Lunger, Erie PA
Among poet Thasia Anne’s books are Still Standing and Pam’s Jacket. She hosts CAM Erie monthly live productions: “Poet’s Know It” & “Never Quit-Hers.” Women of Word (WOW) with a Few Man-Made Words is her live poetry production. WOWing season 14 is coming in 2026 at Gannon University.
Kate MacQueen, Chapel Hill, NC
MacQueen grew up around Buffalo NY and spent two years at Oswego State College on the Lake Ontario shore. Then life shifted. She landed in the southeast in 1989, spent 12 years in Georgia, a quarter century in North Carolina, and says she is a stranger in a strange land.
Preston Martin, Chapel Hill, NC
His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in New Ohio Review, Tar River Poetry, Chaffin Journal, Kakalak, Broad River Review, The Main Street Rag, Appalachian Review, Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, and other anthologies and journals
Dona McCormack, Sandusky, OH
McCormack is a disabled Ohio-based writer with an MA in writing fiction from Southern New Hampshire University and several fiction stories published, including in THR and The Saturday Evening Post. She runs an unofficial cat rescue (called her house) and loves to garden with her husband, Michael.
Mariana Mcdonald, Decatur, GA
McDonald’s poetry, fiction, essays, and journalism have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Crab Orchard Review, Lunch Ticket, Antología de la Poesía Viequense, Anthology of Southern Poets, About Place Journal, Longridge Review, and InMotion. She was named a Black Earth Institute Scholar/Fellow in 2022. She lives in Atlanta.
Charissa Menefee, Ames, IA
Menefee is the author of When I Stopped Counting and co-editor of Embodied Playwriting: Improv and Acting Exercises for Writing and Devising. She is the artistic director of The EcoTheatre Lab and a professor in the MFA Program in Creative Writing & Environment at Iowa State University.
Berwyn Moore, Erie, PA
Moore’s awards include the John Ciardi Prize, James Dickey Prize, and Bellevue Literary Review’s Magliocco Prize. Her most recent book is Sweet Herbaceous Miracle. Moore served as Erie County’s first poet laureate in 2010. She is professor emerita at Gannon University, where she was named Distinguished Faculty in 2012.
Marty Muller, Erie, PA
Started writing seriously a year ago, when I had a lot of time after retirement. Summer Echos is a collection of my favorite spots that I shared with my granddaughters
Abbie Bradfield Mulvihill, Silver Spring, MD
Originally from Chicagoland, she recently retired from the federal government. Abbie’s poems have been featured in Innisfree Poetry Journal, The Best American Poetry blog’s “Pick of the Week,” Anacapa Review, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, The Main Street Rag, and more.
Joey Nicoletti, Grand Island, NY
Nicoletti is the author of ten poetry collections, most recently, Breakaway (Broadstone Books, 2023) and Extinction Wednesday: A Memoir (Bordighera Press, 2024). Joey is also the Reviews Editor of Voices in Italian Americana (VIA) and teaches creative writing at Buffalo State University. Connect with him on Insta @joeynicoletti.
Valerie Nieman, Reidsville, NC
Nieman is the author of Upon the Corner of the Moon, In the Lonely Backwater (Sir Walter Raleigh Award), five other novels, a short fiction collection, and three poetry books. Agraduate of West Virginia University and Queens University of Charlotte, she has held NEA and regional writing grants.
Hannah Faith Notess, Grand Rapids, MI
Notess is a poet and software product manager. Her first book of poems, The Multitude (Southern Indiana Review, 2015), won the Michael Waters Poetry Prize. She lives with her family in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she co-runs a reading series, Yellow Chair Poetry, in her house.
Joe Oswald, Madison, WI
Oswald began writing after retiring from careers in government affairs and political organizing. He holds degrees from UW-Madison and Georgetown University. His poetry and memoirs have appeared in Compose Journal, Furious Gazelle, Hippocampus, The Last Leaves, among others. He and his wife live with their cat in Madison, Wisconsin.
Margery Parsons, Chicago, IL
A poet and activist, she loves the lake and music and film. Her poems have been published in: Rag Blog, Poetry Pacific, Calliope, New Verse News, OccuPoetry, Rise Up Review, Madness Muse Press, Haiku Universe, Strukturris, Illinois State Poetry Society, Plate of Pandemic and Dissident Voice.
Terez Peipins, Buffalo, NY
A writer of Latvian descent from Western New York, her poetry, fiction, and essays have appeared in publications in the United States and abroad. She is the author of four chapbooks of poetry and four novels. She divides her time between Buffalo, New York, and Barcelona, Spain.
Jeannine M. Pitas, Swissvale, PA
Pitas is poet and Spanish-English translator from Buffalo, NY. Having previously lived in Toronto and Dubuque, IA, she considers the Great Lakes Megalopolis her true home. She currently lives in Pittsburgh and teaches at Saint Vincent College. Her most recent collection, Or/And, was published in 2023 by Paraclete Press.
David James Poissant, Oviedo, FL
Author of The Heaven of Animals: Stories, in print in nine languages, and Lake Life, a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection, his work has appeared in The Atlantic, Ploughshares, The Sewanee Review, The Southern Review, and elsewhere. He is Editor of The Florida Review.
Gary V. Powell, Cornelius, NC
A retired lawyer, Powell is a widely published and prize-winning author of both poetry and short fiction. His third poetry chapbook, The Largesse of the Maidenhair Fern (Main Street Rag, 2026) came out about the same time as this anthology with his collection of short stories, Men in Love (Main Street Rag, 2026).
Molly Prosser, Indiana, PA
The author of the poetry collection Rubbernecking (2015), her work appears in Pittsburgh City Paper, Split Rock Review, Watershed Journal, and more. She holds an MFA in Poetry from Carlow University and an MSt in Creative Writing from Cambridge.
William Pruitt, Rochester, NY
His work has appeared in such places as Adelaide Literary Journal, Poetry Now, Ploughshares, et al. He has published eight books of poetry and fiction and has been writing critiques as Assistant Editor for Narrative Magazine for eleven years.
Seth Rosenbloom, Seattle, WA
A poet and consultant to companies on leadership, his poems have recently appeared in Poetry Northwest, Tupelo Quarterly, Orange Blossom Review and other publications. Seth was born in Washington, D.C. and lives in Seattle. He grew-up visiting family on the shore of Lake Ontario.
Laura Rutland, Erie, PA
Rutland, a transplant from North Georgia to Erie, Pennsylvania, retired from her teaching position at Gannon University in 2022. She has published in several journals, including Autumn Sky Poetry Daily and The Anglican Theological Review. Her fantasy poetry chapbook, A Dragon Woman’s Journey, is available on Amazon.
Kelly Boyer Sagert, Lorain, OH
A freelance writer and poet, she wrote the script for Victoria Woodhull: Shattering Glass Ceilings that recently won a Boston film festival award and appeared at the Cleveland International Film Festival. She also wrote the script for the Emmy Award-nominated Trail Magic: The Grandma Gatewood Story.
Chuck Salmons, Pickering, OH
Salmons’ poems have appeared in Chiron Review, Evening Street Review, The Ekphrastic Review, The Main Street Rag, and other journals. He has published four poetry collections: Stargazer Suite; Patch Job; The Grace of Gazing Inward; and the latest, Surviving the Eremocene was released in fall 2025 from Sheila-Na-Gig Editions. chucksalmons.com
Alissa Sammarco, Cincinnati, OH
A writer and attorney, her work has appeared in various online and print journals, and expresses the connection between parents and children, husbands and wives and all of us. Moon Landing Day won the International Impact Book Award in 2025.
Rikki Santer, Columbus, OH
Her collection, Resurrection Letter, was grand prize short-listed for the Eric Hoffer Book Award and Shepherd’s Hour, won the Paul Nemser Book Prize from Lily Poetry Review Books. In 2023, she was named Ohio Poet of the Year. Please contact her through her website, https://rikkisanter.com.
Trish Saunders, Seattle, WA
Saunders has poems published in Chiron Review, Gargoyle, The Rye Whiskey Review, Four Feathers Anthology, and Medusa’s Kitchen, among others. After living on both coasts, the Southwest, the Great Lakes region, she lives now in Seattle.
John Savoie, Edwardsville, IL
Savoie grew up in southwestern Michigan, which still feels like home. He teaches great books at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. His poems have appeared in Poetry, Rattle, and Poetry in Motion, and his first collection Sehnsucht recently won the Prize Americana.
Michael Shoffstall, Hudson, OH.
Hudson has been writing poetry since college with the support and inspiration of teachers and mentors such as Hollis Summers, Wayne Dodd, and more recently Maj Ragain. Now retired from corporate communications, Michael is working to find his own poetic voice.
Gerard Donnelly Smith, Kalama, WA
His poems have appeared in The Adirondack Review, hummingbird, River Wind, Icon, Talking Leaves and his work appears in the anthologies War (Green Haven, 2007), The X-Y Experience (2001), and Playing with a Full Deck. Ekphrastic book with artists Jude Bischoff, Coyote e and Bear Discuss Modern Art (2023).
Claudia M. Stanek, Knoxville, TN
Her work has been turned into a libretto, been part of an art exhibition, and been translated into Polish. She is the author of the chapbooks Beneath Occluded Shine and Language You Refuse to Learn. She holds an MFA from Bennington College. Claudia resides in East Tennessee.
Mark Strohschein, Oak Harbor, WA
A Pushcart Prize-nominated poet, his poems have appeared in Cincinnati Review, Cirque Journal, Flint Hills Review, Bryant Literary Review, Barren Magazine and many other journals and anthologies. His chapbook, Cries Across Borders (Main Street Rag, 2025), was a semifinalist for Button Poetry’s 2023 chapbook contest.
Thomas E. Strunk, Cincinnati, OH
The author of the poetry collection Transfigurations (Main Street Rag 2023), his literary work has appeared in RavensPerch, Pensive, Northern Appalachian Review, and East Fork Journal among others. Thomas has an MFA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University and teaches classical literature and history in Cincinnati.
Thea Swanson, Suquamish, WA
Swanson holds an MFA in Writing from Pacific University. She is the Founding Editor of Club Plum Literary Journal, and her flash-fiction collection, Mars, was published by Ravenna Press. Her work can be found in Cutbank, Fugue, World Literature Today, Mid-American Review and elsewhere.
Teresa Testrake, Ripley, NY
Teresa comes from two old Erie and Western New York families. As a child, she was inspired to begin writing by her Grandfather’s readings of the Bible and Shakespeare. She was educated at Hunter College, CUNY, and Yeshiva University.
Eric Torgersen, Mt. Pleasant, MI
Torgersen has published eight books and chapbooks of poetry, two of fiction, and Dear Friend, a study of Rainer Maria Rilke and Paula Modersohn-Becker. He is completing his translation of all Rilke’s most important longer poems in a single volume.
Kerry Trautman, Findlay, OH
A lifelong Ohioan, lover of theater and bodies of water, and author of eight books, her additional forthcoming titles for 2026 are: Things to Say When You Have Nothing to Say (Roadside Press) and Days of Bees (Dancing Girl Press.) Find her books/socials at: https://linktr.ee/OhioKerry
Veronica Tucker, Gilford, NH
An emergency and addiction medicine physician and poet, her work appears in One Art, Eunoia Review, and Berlin Literary Review, with additional works forthcoming. She spent her early childhood summers on the St. Lawrence River, a place that continues to shape her writing.
Timothy Walsh, Madison, WI
Walsh’s poems and short stories have appeared widely. His awards include the Grand Prize in the Atlanta Review International Poetry Competition, the Kurt Vonnegut Fiction Prize from North American Review. He is the author of a book of literary criticism, The Dark Matter of Word, and several poetry collections. Find more at: timothyawalsh.com
Caroline Wellman, Quincy, IL
Her chapbook, Presences, was published by Parallel Press in 2014, and her recent poetry has been nominated for Best of the Net. She currently lives in Illinois, on ancestral lands of the Sac and Fox, and works for the US Postal Service. You can read more at https://www.carolinewellman.com.
Eric Weil, Raleigh, NC
He grew up in Mentor, Ohio, his poems have appeared in Pinesong, Bookends Review, The Main Street Rag, River and South Review, Brillig, Had I a Dove, and Kakalak 2025. He has three chapbooks in print.
George Wallace, Huntington, NY
Wallace is Writer in residence at Walt Whitman Birthplace, author of 44 chapbooks and 6 spoken word albums. Winner of PEN OAKLAND Josephine Miles Literary Award 2025. Honorary Doctorate, CiESART/Royal Academy of Spain 2024. Travels widely across the US and internationally to perform at major international poetry festivals.
Michael Whitney, Cincinnati, OH
From Navy Pier, the Indiana Dunes to the Light House in Huron, Michael, his wife, and two sons have made it a priority to visit the Great Lakes as often as possible. His work has appeared in several anthologies including For a Better World, Pine Mountain Sand and Gravel, and All Else Pales 2.
Lisa Wiley, Williamsville, NY
An English professor in Buffalo, NY. A finalist for the London Independent Story Prize, she is the author of four chapbooks including Eat Cake for Breakfast (Dancing Girl Press, 2021). Her work has appeared in The Healing Muse, Journal of the American Medical Association, SWWIM Every Day, and Thimble among others.
Warren Woessner, Minneapolis, MN
Woessner has authored six collections of poetry; most recently Exit ~ Sky (Holy Cow! Press). He has received fellowships in poetry from the NEA, the McKnight Foundation and the Wisconsin Arts Board. Woessner co-founded Abraxas Press and WORT-FM, a community radio station, in Madison, Wisconsin.
Rachel Ahrens, Mark James Andrews, Lake Angela, M.J. Arcangelini, Cathy Barber, Erin Bastow, C.W. Bigelow, Kimberlyn Blum-Hyclak, Loukia Borrell, Dianne Borsenik, Greg Brown, Jennifer Browne, Milenko (Miles) Budimir, John Burroughs, Jennifer Campbell, Pen Campbell, Rick Campbell, Dan Carpenter, Eric Chiles, Lynn Ciesielski, Patricia Clark, Nick Conrad, Barbara D. Crone, Mary Ellen Dahlkemper, B. Harlan Deemer, Michelle DeRose, Diana Dinverno, Lorrie D. Divers, Mary Alice Dixon, Deborah H. Doolittle, Sara Ries Dziekonski, Donna Wojnar Dzurilla, Alice Edwards, Angela Williamson Emmert, Debra Ewing, Cal Freeman, Diane Funston, Cynthia Gallaher, Elise Geither, John Glowney, Peter M. Gordon, Rachel Greve, George Guida, Bob Gulick, Ian Hall, Gwen Hart, Linda Polk Haslanger, Furaha Henry-Jones, Karin Hoffecker, Karen Paul Holmes, Patricia Hope, Mark Sebastian Jordan, Kara Knickerbocker, Janna Knittel, Leonard Kress, Paula J. Lambert, Nathan Large, Joan Leotta, Jennifer Litt, George Looney, Nan Lundeen, Thasia Anne Lunger, Kate MacQueen, Preston Martin, Dona McCormack, Mariana Mcdonald, Charissa Menefee, Berwyn Moore, Marty Muller, Abbie Bradfield Mulvihill, Joey Nicoletti, Hannah Faith Notess, Joe Oswald, Valerie Nieman, Margery Parsons, Terez Peipins, Jeannine M. Pitas, David James Poissant, Gary V. Powell, Molly Prosser, William Pruitt, Seth Rosenbloom, Laura Rutland, Kelly Boyer Sager, Chuck Salmons, Alissa Sammarco, Rikki Santer, Trish Saunders, John Savoie, Michael Shoffstall, Claudia M. Stanek, Mark Strohschein, Thomas E. Strunk, Thea Swanson, Teresa Testrake, Kerry Trautman, Veronica Tucker, George Wallace, Timothy Walsh, Caroline Wellman, Eric Weil, Michael Whitney, Lisa Wiley, Warren Woessner.
