CONTRIBUTORS
(Still Under Construction–bios to follow)
Lake Angela, Warrington, PA
Angela is a poet, translator, and choreographer from Lake Erie. Her latest book is Scivias Choreomaniae (Spuyten Duyvil), or Know the Ways of the Dancing Madness. She holds a PhD in intersemiotic translation and MFA in poetry and was poet laureate of Bucks County, PA. Poems appear in The Common, Seneca Review, ANMLY, Passages North, and others.
Cathy Barber, Cleveland Heights, OH
Barber’s poetry has been published across four continents and anthologized many times including in North Coast Voices Vol.1. She is a graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program and has served on the board of Literary Cleveland for many years. Once: A Golden Shovel Collection (Kelsay Books).
Kimberlyn Blum-Hyclak, Lancaster, SC
Blum-Hyclak grew up near the headwaters of the Olentangy River, in rural north central Ohio. One special memory is walking along ‘the creek’ with her dad, looking for frogs and snakes. Kim now lives in rural South Carolina but still writes from her Buckeye roots. She’s a Pushcart nominated poet, and editor for Kakalak, a poetry and art anthology.
Loukia Borrell, Portsmouth, VA
Borrell is a native of Toledo, Ohio, and she is a first-generation American born to Greek-Cypriot immigrant parents. Her work appears in Talking River Review, North Coast Voices, Silk Road Review, and Eclectica Magazine, among others. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English, with a journalism concentration, from Elon University. She is a former newspaper reporter.
Dianne Borsenik, Elyria, OH
Borsenik is active in the northern-Ohio and mid-Ohio poetry communities. Her collection Raga for What Comes Next (Stubborn Mule Press, 2019) was featured in the Modern and Contemporary American Poetry course at Muskingum University. She is Poet Laureate at Speak of the Devil Cocktail Bar in Lorain, Ohio.
Jennifer Browne, Frostburg, MD
Browne is the author of American Crow (Beltway Editions) and the poetry chapbooks Dearest, Disaster, 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
Budimir’s newest book of poems is Nowhere to Go but Everywhere: Travel Poems (Roadside Press). He’s also the author of several poetry collections including Licorice Heart (Roadside Press), Departures (Burning River) and Rustbelt Romance (deep cleveland). He hails from Cleveland, Ohio and works as a philosophy lecturer and a technical writer and editor.
Jennifer Campbell, Lancaster, NY
Campbell’s poetry books include What Came First, Supposed to Love, and Driving Straight Through. She is a writing professor at SUNY Erie in Buffalo and served as an editor of Earth’s Daughters for nearly 20 years. New work is forthcoming in Healing Muse, Slipstream, and New York Quarterly.
Jan Chronister, Maple, WI
Chronister has spent almost fifty years living close to Lake Superior. It is a challenging and inspiring environment. Jan has authored three full-length poetry collections and thirteen chapbooks. She helps fellow poets publish under the imprint of Poetry Harbor.
Patricia Clark, Grand Rapids, MI
Clark is the author of O Lucky Day and Self-Portrait with a Million Dollars. “What My Father Wished For” (from O Lucky Day) won a Pushcart Prize and appears in the Pushcart Anthology 2026. She has work in Plume, North American Review, and I-70 Review. Patricia’s first collection of short stories is coming out in 2027 from Cornerstone Press.
Nick Conrad, Sylvania, OH
Conrad’s first book, Lake Erie Blues (Urban Farmhouse), appeared in 2020. His podcast for All Write in Sin City aired in 2021. Poems have recently appeared in Clackamas Literary Review, Fourth River (Tributaries), Orbis (U.K.), Red Rock Review Literary Journal, Stand (U.K. Spring 2025), and Talking River Review.
MaryEllen Dahlkemper, Erie, PA
Dahlkemper is writing more in retirement than the decade when her feature articles on local/regional/state leaders were published in Erie & Chautauqua Magazine. In 2023, she authored Origins, a history of NWPA Poets and Spoken Word Artists. Her poems appeared in the 2026 editions of North Coast Voices and Iconic: The Anthology of Erie Poets.
Albert DeGenova, Elmwood Park, IL
Albert DeGenova is a poet and blues saxophonist. He is the author of five books of poetry and two chapbooks. In June 2000, he launched the Chicago literary/arts journal After Hours; he continues as publisher and co-editor. He is the retired Executive Director of Write On, Door County, a Wisconsin writing center.
Michelle DeRose, Grand Rapids, MI
Professor Emerita of English, DeRose has taught poetry and poetry writing to students age three to eighty. Her full-length collection, Listening for Lovesongs, is forthcoming in 2027 from the Grand Rapids Poetry Collective.
Derek Jon Dickinson, Blaine, MN
Dickinson’s work has appeared in or is forthcoming in Transformations: An Oxford Flash Fiction Prize Anthology (UK), Fourth Genre, TriQuarterly, New Ohio Review, The Manhattan Review, Zone 3, Poet Lore and elsewhere. He is currently working on his first full-length collection of poetry & lyrical short prose.
Sara Ries Dziekonski, Gulfport, FL
Dziekonski was Runner-Up for the 2024 Press 53 Award for Poetry for her most recent collection, Today’s Specials, which was selected as a finalist for the Woodrow Hall Top Shelf Award. Her poems have appeared in American Life in Poetry, Slipstream, Potomac Review, Mom Egg Review, ONE ART, Jabberwock Review, and elsewhere.
Roselyn Elliott, Richmond, VA
Elliott was born in Watertown, NY, and grew up in Jefferson County, NY on a dairy farm with 8 siblings. She is the author of The Pause Between Inhale and Exhale, a collection of poems from Main Street Rag, and four poetry chapbooks. A retired writing teacher and mentor, she lives in Richmond, VA.
Cal Freeman, Dearborn, MI
Freeman (he/him) is the author of several books and chapbooks, most recently The Weather of Our Names (Cornerstone Press 2025). His writing can be found in many publications, including The Glacier, Berkeley Poetry Review, Willow Springs, Oxford American, and North American Review. He teaches at Oakland University.
Lynn D. Gilbert, Pflugerville, TX
Gilbert’s poems, twice nominated for Pushcart Prizes, have appeared in such journals as After Happy Hour Review, Arboreal, Blue Unicorn, carte blanche, Ponder Review, and Sheepshead Review. A founding editor of Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, she lives in an Austin suburb and is an associate editor for Third Wednesday literary journal.
Carol Gloor, Savannah, IL
Gloor has been writing poetry for 55 years. Majoring in English almost killed poetry for her, but she recovered. Her work has appeared in many journals, most recently in The Dilletante. Her latest book is a full-length poetry collection, Falling Back.
John Glowney, London, UK
Glowney’s poetry has appeared in many poetry journals and several collections: Visitation (Broadstone Books, 2022), Cold-Hearted Boys (Main Street Rag, 2024), A Fish Child’s Songbook, winner of Jacar Press’s full-length contest ( 2026); Ghosts of the Bright Light (novel) (Pierian Springs Press, 2026). Notable awards: Pushcart Prize, Richard Hugo Prize, Robert H. Winner Memorial Award. johnglowney.com.
Peter Gordon, Orlando, FL
Gordon is an award-winning poet with three collections and over 200 individual poems published. He’s a founder and past President of Orlando Area Poets and has taught writing and publishing workshops in Florida. He’s also contributed over 22 articles about baseball to SABR publications. Peter was wed in Wayne and still loves to visit Michigan.
Susan Grimm, Cleveland, OH
Grimm has been published in Sugar House Review, The Cincinnati Review, South Dakota Review, and Field. She has had two chapbooks published. In 2004, BkMk Press published Lake Erie Blue, a full-length collection. In 2022, she received her third Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Grant.
George Guida, Dansville, NY
Guida is author of thirteen books. His sixth poetry collection, The Fulfillment Center (FootHills Pubishing), his award-winning chapbook Bloom and the Blitz (Bright Hill Press), and his memoir The Walking Amoeba (Bordighera Press) appeared in 2026. He teaches writing and literature at New York City College of Technology and curates the Finger Lakes Arts Series in Dansville, New York.
Robert Gulick, Erie, PA
Gulick received his MFA from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Following a career guiding teachers of autistic children, he resumed creating original artwork and began writing poetry. His artwork was included in the Erie Art Museum’s 2026 Spring Show. His poetry has appeared in The 2024 Erie County Poetry Anthology, Iconic: The Anthology of Erie Poets 2025, and North Coast Voices.
Linda Polk Haslanger, South Bend, IN
Haslanger’s work has been published in The Main Street Rag, Purple Aardvark Press, Amethyst Press, Pan-O-Ply Magazine, and Gut Punch Literary, among others. Now retired, she enjoys volunteering and taking nature walks in addition to writing. Her recently published book Offerings is available on Amazon.
Roberta Hatcher, Pittsburgh, PA
Hatcher’s poems have appeared in The Comstock Review, The Main Street Rag, St. Petersburg Review, Storm Cellar and Vox Populi among others. After decades spent in Minnesota and Wisconsin, including forestry work on the Iron Range and bartending on Madeline Island, she currently makes her home in Pittsburgh. She is the author of the chapbook French Lessons.
Kathryn P. Hayden, Lake Bluff, IL
Named runner-up for Best Poet in Chicagoland in Chicago Reader’s 2025 Culture Poll, Haydon’s poetry and haiku have been published internationally in leading journals and anthologies. Poems from her Lake Michigan-inspired collection, Unsalted Blue Sunrise, are featured in Lakenotes: Seasons of Lake Michigan which premiered at Ravinia Festival. Kathryn is the poet-in-residence at Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods.
Patricia Hope, Oak Ridge, TN
Hope’s award-winning writing has appeared in North Coast Voices, 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 more.
David James, Linden, MI
James has published ten books; his most recent is The Cup of Living (Main Street Rag, 2026). In addition to writing poems, James’ one-act plays have been produced in the U.S., Ireland and England.
Patricia Ann Joslin, Charlotte, NC
Joslin grew up in southern Wisconsin, raised her family in Minnesota, and now calls Charlotte, North Carolina home. Her poems have appeared in a variety of publications. Patricia’s poetry collection, No Packing Necessary was published by Main Street Rag in 2026. She travels widely, often alone, seeking immersive experiences that inspire her poetry. Online: patriciajoslin.com
Chuck Joy, Erie, PA
Joy was born in Cleveland, raised and resides in Erie, both parents from western New York. Fordham University. University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Writing poetry since 1980. Current poetry release: White and Blue (Main Street Rag, 2026). Erie County PA Poet Laureate 2018-2021. Host: Chuck Joy Presents . . . at Werner Books. More at www.chuckjoy.com
Fred Kirchner, Dayton, OH
Kirchner has worked with teens at the Dayton Metro Library for the last 20 years. His chapbook, Platform of an Unacknowledged World Legislator¸ won the Main Street Rag Chapbook Contest. His family hails from Allegan, Michigan—just a 20-mile bike ride from the Great Lake. In the town’s Presbyterian Church, a stained-glass window honors his great grandfather.
Yarrow Knittel, Minneapolis, MN
Knittel 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). Yarrow has also published poems in multiple journals and anthologies. Learn more at www.jannaknittel.com.
Tricia Knoll, Williston, VT
Knoll grew up near Lake Michigan on the Illinois side. Her poems appear widely in journals, anthologies and nine published collections – the most recent being a chapbook The Unknown Daughter and a full-length book Wild Apples. She now writes primarily prose poems. She serves as a Contributing Editor to Verse Virtual. Website: triciaknoll.com
Leonard Kress, Blackwood, NJ
Kress has work in Iowa Review, American Poetry Review, Harvard Review, etc. Collections include The Orpheus Complex, Living in the Candy Store, Craniotomy Sestinas, and Foxholes. Has received multiple grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Ohio Arts Council.
Nathan Large, Erie, PA
Large is a storyteller working in speculative fiction, poetry, live storytelling, and tabletop games. He often combines allegory, fable, and satire in a style he calls ‘Bardic Punk’. Nathan is the current Bard Laureate of Ár nDraíocht Féin, a druidic organization, and contributes regularly to its magazine, Oak Leaves.
Celia Lewis, Linwood, NY
Lewis is a naturalist, ornithologist, and educator, her poems have been published in First Literary Review, Le Mot Juste, and Guilford Poets Guild Anthology. Always curious about intersections between nature and culture, she often writes about the spaces we share, or try not to share, with other forms of life.
George Looney, Erie, PA
Looney’s 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.
Preston Martin, Chapel Hill, NC
Martin’s 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, “I Thought I Heard a Cardinal Sing” Ohio’s Appalachian Voices and other anthologies and journals He facilitates classes in poetry and literature at Duke Continuing Education.
Gary McEnery, Erie, PA
McEnery is a life-long gardener, having worked his mother’s vegetable and flower gardens since he was old enough to distinguish a weed from “a keeper.” Throughout his life, he has cultivated gardens wherever he called home; and, after having founded the Sisters of Saint Joseph Community Garden in Erie, Pennsylvania, has advised many other groups about establishing community gardens.
David Mihalyov, Webster, NY
Mihalyov lives with his family near Lake Ontario in Webster, NY. He is the author of A Safe Distance (Main Street Rag, 2022) and his poems have appeared in Tar River Poetry, Ocean State Review, and many other journals. He is a peer reviewer for Whale Road Review.
Aimee Noel, Dayton, OH
From Buffalo, NY, Noel now lives with her wife in Dayton, OH where she is First Vice-President of the Ohio Poetry Association. Her poems have appeared in Witness, Ecotone, Michigan Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. Two-time recipient of Ohio Art Council’s Individual Excellence Award for poetry, Aimee is the author of Slag (Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, 2025). Find more at aimeenoel.net
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 Barstow & Grand, Compose Journal, Hippocampus, The Last Leaves, and White Wing Doves: A Stevie Nicks Poetry Anthology, among others.
Kara J. Page, Austin, MN
Page is a writer, educator, and artist originally from the Rocky Mountains who now calls the Midwest home. Her work has appeared in Make Magazine, Palooka, and Pink Panther Magazine. One of her favorite pastimes is listening to the frog opera in spring and summer months.
Jeannine Marie Pitas, Swissvale, PA
Pitas is a teacher, writer, and Spanish-English literary translator. She teaches at Saint Vincent College and is on staff at Eulalia Books, a small press publishing experimental Latin American poetry. She is the author of the poetry book Or/And (Paraclete Press 2023) and the translator of thirteen books by Latin American writers.
Gary Powell, Cornelius, NC
Powell is a Pushcart Prize nominee for both poetry and short fiction. His chapbook, Super Blood Wolf Moon, won Kallisto Gaia Press’s 2020 Contemporary Poetry Prize. A second poetry chapbook, Permafrost, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2023. His most recent chapbook is The Largesse of the Maidenhair Fern (Main Street Rag, 2026).
David Radavich, Charlotte, NC
Radavich has published a variety of poetry, drama, and essays. His plays have been performed across the U.S. and in Europe. His latest books are Unter der Sonne / Under the Sun: German Poems (Deutscher Lyrik, 2021) and Here’s Plenty (Cervena Barva, 2024).
Jane Richards, Spring Grove, IL
Richards’ poetry has appeared in Gyroscope Review, After Hours, East on Central, and The Best of Choeofpleirn Press, among others. It has been twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her chapbook, The Feather Variations: poems, was published in 2024. She holds masters degrees in social work and creative writing.
Laura Rutland, Erie, PA
A transplant from Georgia, Rutland is Emeritus Associate Professor of English at Gannon University. Her poems have appeared in Mississippi Review, Anglican Theological Review, and Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, among others. Her fantasy poetry chapbook, A Dragon Woman’s Journey, was published by Alien Buddha Press in 2024.
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 Surviving the Eremocene. A past recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award for poetry, Salmons performs with the trio Concrete Wink. chucksalmons.com
Alissa Sammarco, Cincinnati, OH
Sammarco is an attorney and poet. Her poems capture the extraordinary moments of our everyday lives. A two-time winner of the International Impact Book Award, you can find her work in print and online journals including The Main Street Rag, Sheila-Na-Gig, Quiet Diamonds, Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, and elsewhere. Paper Doll (Main Street Rag, 2026) is her seventh book.
John Savoie, Edwardsville, IL
Savoie grew up just north of Buchanan, Michigan. Long ago his poems won two Hopwood Awards and more recently have appeared in Poetry, Rattle, and Poetry in Motion. His first collection Sehnsucht (for which “Indian Springs” inspires the cover image) won the Prize Americana. He teaches great books at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
Gerard Donnelly Smith, Kalama, WA
Smith taught at Clark College for 30 years and published poems in literary journals including, The Adirondack Review, hummingbird, River Wind, Icon, Talking Leaves. His work appears in the following anthologies War (Green Haven, 2007), The X-Y Experience (2001), and Playing with a Full Deck. Ekphrastic book in collaboration with artists Jude Bischoff, Coyote and Bear Discuss Modern Art (2024).
Thasia Anne, Erie, PA
Thasia Anne is a poet and author of numerous novels and short story collections. Thasia is the director, and producer of Poet’s Know It, and WOW-Women of Word with a few Man Made Words which is a live arts poetry production including dance, and humor. She lives in Erie with beloved husband Bear.
Elaine, Thomopoulous, Burr Ridge, IL
Thomopoulos is a writer, historian, psychologist, and self-taught artist. Has had her work exhibited at the Box Factory for the Arts MAAC exhibition, the Krasl Art Center, and the Hellenic Museum of Michigan. Her images have also appeared in her books, History of Greece and Modern Greece, as well as in The National Herald and The New Buffalo Times.
Felicia Tsao, Hoboken, NJ
Tsao is a poet based in NYC/NJ whose work explores the Asian American experience, cultural tradition, and contemporary American life. Her poems meditate on love, belonging, and the resilience of inhabiting many worlds at once. She is the recipient of the Adam Gordon Poetry Prize, and her work has appeared in The Amazine and Lucky Jefferson.
James Fleet Underwood, Nakhon Nayok, Thailand
Underwood writes poems rooted in memory, landscape, and working-class experience. His work is often shaped by childhood, faith, family, and the natural world, where ordinary moments become lasting stories.
George Wallace, Huntington, NY
Wallace is writer in residence at the Walt Whitman Birthplace, author of 46 chapbooks of poetry, and winner of the 2025 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award. He travels regularly and has won top honors and laureateships in poetry festival gatherings on every continent. In 2024 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Royal Academy of Spain (CIESART)
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
Brit Washburn, Asheville, NC
Brit Washburn is the author of Homing In: Attempts on a Life of Poetry and Purpose (Alexandria Quarterly Press, 2023), Notwithstanding (2019) and What Is Given (2025), both from Wet Cement Press. She teaches at UNC Asheville and Virginia Tech and serves as Associate Editor for The Great Smokies Review and as Nonfiction Editor for Only Poems.
Eric Weil, Raleigh, NC
Weil was raised near Lake Erie’s southern shore, east of Cleveland. Journals ranging from American Scholar to Poetry and from The Greensboro Review to The Louisville Review have published his poems. Three chapbooks: A Horse at the Hirshhorn, Returning from Mars, and Ten Years In.
Lisa Wiley, Williamsville, NY
Wiley teaches English in Buffalo, NY where she received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities in 2026. Her most recent book is Dear Pancreas (Main Street Rag, 2026). Her poetry has appeared in Journal of the American Medical Association, Mom Egg Review, SWWIM Every Day, and Thimble. Find her on X @wileymoz.
Warren Woessner, Minneapolis, MN
Woessner has authored six collections of poetry. His seventh book and most recent is What Flies (Main Street Rag, 2027). Woessner has received fellowships in poetry from the NEA, the McKnight Foundation and the Wisconsin Arts Board.
Linda Mills Woolsey, Rushford, NY
Woolsey is a Western Pennsylvania native who has spent much of her life in Appalachia, north and south. Her poems have appeared in Northern Appalachia Review, Presence, One Art, Quartet, About Place, Wild Roof and other journals. She is an Assistant Poetry Editor for River Heron Review and a member of Rochester NY’s Just Poets.
Janice Zerfas, Eau Claire, MI
Grief Mapping, a co-winner of the 2026 Celery Chapbook Competition was Zerfas’s second chapbook. She also won first place in the 2026 Art at Westminster Presbyterian Church’s Eco-Poetry competition. Janice resides in Southwest, Michigan, home of orchards, close to Chicago, and a landscape for writing. She also writes romance-mysteries with her partner, Michael R. Hill.
