Yes, Poetry

Marcin Majkowski is 36 years old and from Poland. He is a performance/spoken word poet/writer. He lives in Krakow in Poland.

Download the issue here for free!

Contributor’s Notes

L. Ward Abel, poet, composer and performer of music, teacher, lawyer, lives in rural Georgia, has been published hundreds of time in print and online, and is the author of Peach Box and Verge (Little Poem Press, 2003), Jonesing For Byzantium (UK Authors Press, 2006), The Heat of Blooming (Pudding House Press, 2008), Torn Sky Bleeding Blue (erbacce-Press, 2010), and the forthcoming American Bruise (Parallel Press, 2012). He has just completed his latest poetry collection, The Crater.

Ann Cummings has had work published previously in a few select religious magazines, and Yes, Poetry. For about a year, writing has come to her as poetry. Brevity appeals to her now, packing the most into a few words. Briefly, her life experience has included motorcycle riding, mountain climbing, and other sports. Married twice, now widowed,she has one daughter. Confined to her home, she writes what she sees.

Robert Laughlin lives in Chico, California. His poems have appeared in Bryant Literary Review,Camroc Press Review, elimae, The Orange Room Review and Pearl. His website is at: www.pw.org/content/robert_laughlin.

My name is Sophia Le Fraga, I am a New York based poet finishing my studies in Poetry and Linguistics this December at NYU. Thank you so much for your consideration.

Most recently, Kristi Nimmo has been painting with scrub brushes in watercolor. She writes poetry to feel the softness of a bending heart. She also teaches meditation and loves to travel. You can read more about her in DC Books and Authors Blog: http://dcbooksandauthors.com/2011/08/25/kristi-nimmo-elephant-rides-beautiful-bags-and-poetry/

Simon Perchik is an attorney whose poems have appeared in Partisan Review,

The New Yorker, and elsewhere. For more information, including his essay

“Magic, Illusion and Other Realities” and a complete bibliography, please

visit his website atwww.simonperchik.com.

Sophie Playle studied English Literature with Creative Writing at UEA, and has an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London. She has previously worked in the publishing industry, and continues to freelance. Passionate about writing and publishing, she runs Inkspill Magazine (www.inkspillmagazine.com) and blogs regularly about creative living at: www.sophieplayle.com.

Emmalea Russo is a poet and visual artist who grew up in Eastern Pennsylvania. She holds a BA from Antioch University Los Angeles and is pursuing an MFA in Poetry at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her work has appeared most recently in the Bicycle Review and Blood Lotus.

Carly Susser is a writer and mfa candidate at Sarah Lawrence College. She loves art, animals, and warm climates. Carly has been journaling since 1997 and is working on a memoir (or possibly several all at once) based loosely on the meaning of life. She is also the non-fiction editor of The Boiler Journal: http://theboilerjournal.wordpress.com/.

Christian Ward is a 31 year old UK-based poet who recently completed an MA in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Editor Biographies

Joanna C. Valente is a MFA candidate in Poetry Writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is also a part-time mermaid. More can be found at her website: http://joannavalente.com

Stephanie Valente lives and writes in New York. Her work has appeared in Italics Mine and other journals. She is currently working on a collection of short stories and as always, poetry. She enjoys candlelit smiles and diamond cut laughter. One day, she would like to become a silent film star. Her favorite desserts are crème brûlée and strawberry-rhubarb pie. She can be found at: kitschy.tumblr.com.

G. Taylor Davis, Jr is from the Milky Way.

Photographer Biography

Marcin Majkowski is 36 years old and from Poland. He is a performance/spoken word poet/writer. He lives in Krakow in Poland.

Yes, Poetry is happy to announce its first issue of 2012! We welcome you into the new year with these wonderful poems, which can be downloaded for free here. 

Contributor’s Notes

Christian Belz has been a practicing architect in the Metro Detroit area for 27 years. He has been published in Writers’ Journal and The Storyteller and is currently writing an Architectural Murder Mystery.

Tyler Bigney was born in 1984. He lives, and writes in Nova Scotia, Canada. His short stories, poetry, and non-fiction have appeared in Pearl, Poetry New Zealand, Third Wednesday, The Meadow, and Neon, among others.

Ariana D. Den Bleyker is a Pittsburgh native currently residing in a small town in New York where she is a wife and mother of two. She is a graduate of William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ where she earned a B.A. in English. She is passionate about poetry and writing because it speaks to her, influences her daily life, and encourages her to write. She draws much of her energy from her own life experiences. Her poetry was most recently featured in The Homestead Review and Stone Highway Review and will soon be featured in Burnt Bridge, scissors and spackle, Grey Sparrow Press, and Heavy Hands Ink.

Jack Foster is the Editorial Manager of A Few Lines Magazine. He currently attends school at Cal Poly Pomona as an English Literature and Language major. When he is not editing or in class, he can be found at the bars in Claremont, CA.

Margaret Graber grew up in Valparaiso, Indiana, a city 45 minutes southeast of Chicago. She is a lifelong friend of Lake Michigan, the avocado, and pop-up books. She is currently pursuing her M.F.A. at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

Nick Hranilovich is a writer, musician, visual artist, and several other things that leave one poor, lazy, and beautiful. He currently resides in Williamston, Michigan, where he is working on pieces for the Michigan Nature Association, as well as maintaining day-jobs for the sake of humility and seeking transcendence of the physical realm. More of his poetry can be found at: http://clutchingatstraws.wordpress.com/category/nick-hranilovich/

Justin Hyde lives in Iowa.

Mark Jackley is the author of several chapbooks, including Every Green Word, forthcoming from Finishing Line Press, and a full-length collection, There Will Be Silence While You Wait (Plain View Press). He lives in Sterling, VA.

Robert Laughlin lives in Chico, California. His poems have appeared in Bryant Literary Review,Camroc Press Review, elimae, The Orange Room Review and Pearl. His website is at: www.pw.org/content/robert_laughlin.

Austin McCarron is from New Zealand but has lived in London for many years.  His work has appeared in various poetry magazines in the United Kingdom, France and America in recent years.

Vincent McGillivray lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. His poetry has appeared in Grain, CV2,Misunderstandings Magazine, Ascent Aspirations, Skidrow Penthouse, Juked and All Rights Reserved. Vincent has recently decided to undertake a (self-imposed) project to rediscover his province, via its backroads.

Michael Tugendhat has a memoir due out by Turquoise Morning Press in 2012. He’s been published in Poetry SZ and has poems forthcoming in Blue and Yellow Dog. He’s dedicated to writing about mental illness to educate and inspire.

Matt Prater is a poet from Saltville, VA. His writing has appeared in Now & Then: The Appalachian Magazine, NANO Fiction Magazine, and Alcalines, among other publications. He is currently studying towards an MA in English at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina.

Christine Reilly lives in New York City. She is getting her MFA at Sarah Lawrence College and won full scholarships to the Sarah Lawrence Poetry Seminar and Bucknell University Seminar for Younger Poets. Her poems will be featured in “The Clearing: Forty Years with Toni Morrison”. Her chapbook of poetry, “The Blue Of”, was a finalist in the Pulled Pork Susquehanna University Contest. She has been published in 31 journals. She was named Breadcrumb Scabs’ Editor’s Pick. She has just finished her first novel. She teaches poetry to teenagers on the Lower East Side. Her website is: www.christinejessicamargaretreilly.com

Shriram Sivaramakrishnan likes to call himself as a budding poet who is trying to learn the art called Poetry. A fan of John Keats, he is a true slave to poetry and boast himself for that. His works have appeared in journals such as Short Fast and Deadly, Right Hand Pointing, Dirt Cakes, Wingposse, and so on. He writes a blog called “Thought Pebbles” and publishes poems on other poetry communities. His blog link is: http://thoughtpebble.blogspot.com/

Parker Tettleton’s work is featured in &/or forthcoming from Gargoyle, elimae, > kill author, Mud Luscious, & PANK, among others. His chapbook SAME OPPOSITE is available from Thunderclap! Press. More or less is here.

Robert Vaughan’s plays have been produced in N.Y.C., L.A., S.F., and Milwaukee where he resides. He leads two writing roundtables for Redbird- Redoak Studio. His prose and poetry is published in over 150 literary journals such as Elimae, Metazen and BlazeVOX. He has short stories anthologized in Nouns of Assemblage from Housefire, and Stripped from P.S. Books. He is a fiction editor at JMWW magazine, and Thunderclap! Press. He co-hosts Flash Fiction Fridays for WUWM’s Lake Effect. His blog: http://rgv7735.wordpress.com.

Michael Uhall, Jr., lives in Champaign, Illinois.

Editor Biographies

Joanna C. Valente is a MFA candidate in Poetry Writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is also a part-time mermaid. More can be found at her website: http://joannavalente.com

Stephanie Valente lives and writes in New York. Her work has appeared in Italics Mine and other journals. She is currently working on a collection of short stories and as always, poetry. She enjoys candlelit smiles and diamond cut laughter. One day, she would like to become a silent film star. Her favorite desserts are crème brûlée and strawberry-rhubarb pie. She can be found at: kitschy.tumblr.com.

G. Taylor Davis, Jr is from the Milky Way.

Photographer Biography

Brett Stout is a 32 year old punk rock artist and writer living in Myrtle Beach, SC. He is a high school dropout and former construction worker turned college graduate and paramedic. He creates art while mainly hung-over from a small cramped apartment in Myrtle Beach, SC. He is the owner and operator of the Anti Condo Art group and puts on controversial art projects throughout the Southern U.S.

The December issue is now online for a free download here!

Contributor’s Notes

Charles Bassey lives in Abuja, Nigeria, where he works full-time with a financial services regulatory agency and writes part-time. As a creative writer with the sociological imagination, he stares at life actively and reflects on human existence and emotions through poetry, essay and creative fiction. His poetry has appeared in an anthology and on the internet. As a life traveller as well as a path follower who believes in parenting as a child, he envisions a world of radiant people living their best. He is a member of Abuja Literary Society.

Kory Beach is an undergraduate student at Colgate University; he is 18 years old and previously unpublished. He writes and reads frequently and hopes to one day be a well-known poet.

Les Bernstein has been published in the California Poetry Society Quarterlies, The Marin Poetry Center Anthologies, and other small presses. His chapbook, Borderland, was published by Finishing Line Press. He lives in Mill Valley, California with his very large and boisterous family

Ann Cummings, who lives in Florida, has had work published previously in a few select religious magazines. This is her first attempt at submitting to a secular magazine.

For about a year, writing has come to her as poetry. Brevity appeals to her now, packing the most into a few words. Briefly, her life experience has included motorcycle riding, mountain climbing, and other sports. Married twice, now widowed, she has one daughter.

Andrew P. Dillon received his bachelor’s of arts in English from the University of Tennessee. He has been published in Phoenix Literary Arts Magazine of the University of Tennessee, and Siren and Tourist, both of Knoxville, Tennessee. He writes poetry and short fiction, but not as often as he discusses music with his father, attempts to become fluent in Korean, and plays soccer. He strongly supports the use of semi-colons, dashes, and the serial comma. He can be reached at andrewpdillon@gmail.com

Casey Francis is currently pursuing a graduate degree in English at New Mexico Highlands University, but he’s desperate to get back to the humid summers and frigid winters of the Midwest. He has published or has work forthcoming in Boston Literary Magazine, Red River Review, Verse Wisconsin, and the Blog for Rural America (www.cfra.org/blog).

Will Greenway’s tenth collection, Everywhere at Once, won the Poetry Book of the Year Award from the Ohio Library Association, as did his eighth collection Ascending Order. Both are from the University of Akron Press Poetry Series. His publications include Poetry, American Poetry Review, Southern Review, Georgia Review, Missouri Review, Southern Poetry Review, Prairie Schooner, Poetry Northwest, and Shenandoah. He is currently Distinguished Professor of English at Youngstown State University.

John Grey is an Australian born poet, US resident since late seventies. Works as

financial systems analyst. Recently published in Poem. Kestrel and Writer’s Bloc with work upcoming in Caveat Lector, Prism International, and the Cider Press Review.

John Grochalski’s poems and stories have appeared in several journals including The Lilliput Review, Underground Voices, Zygote In My Coffee, The Big Stupid Review, and Bartleby Snopes. Grochalski is the author of two books of poems The Noose Doesn’t Get Any Looser After You Punch Out (Six Gallery Press 2008) and Glass City (Low Ghost Press, 2010). Grochalski currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, where he constantly worries about the high cost of everything.

Born in Windsor, Ontario in 1960,Gregory Gunn grew up in small towns before settling in London in 1970. A graduate of Fanshawe College in 1982 as an electronics technician, he has worked in that field ever since. Mr. Gunn began writing during his tenure at Fanshawe and has done so for over thirty years. He is most passionate about poetry.

Some of his credits include: Cyclamens & Swords, The Toronto Quarterly, Glimpse Magazine, Ascent Aspirations, Butterflies Are Free To Fly, Carcinogenic, Psychopoetica, Afterthoughts, Ditch Magazine, One Earth, and myriad others. His other interests comprise music, astronomy, foreign languages, psychology, gardening, photography, and philosophy.

Joe Massingham was born in the UK but has lived the second half of his life in Australia. Major employment has been as a Navy officer, university student from first degree to PhD, tutor, lecturer and Master of Wright College, University of New England, NSW. Has run his own writing and editing business but retired early because of cancer and heart problems and now spends time waiting to see medical practitioners, writing poetry and prose and smelling the roses.He has had work published in Australia, UK, Eire, USA ,NZ and India.

Jeffrey Park is a native of Baltimore, Maryland. He has been a movie theater manager, an IT specialist and a middle school English teacher. He currently lives in Munich, Germany where he works as an educator in a private secondary school and teaches business English to adults.

Vincent Renstrom lives with his wife and daughter in Middletown, Ohio. He received his Ph.D. in Hispanic Literature from Indiana University in 1996 and spent a decade chasing that elusive tenure-track position before packing it in in 2006 to become a full-time househusband and stay-at-home Dad. He is one lucky son-of-a-gun. Since 2008 his poems have appeared in MARGIE/The American Journal of Poetry, Vol. 7, as well as in the online journals Alba, The Centrifugal Eye, Silenced Press, Slow Trains, and Tertulia.

Doris Shores, a New Yorker, has been a college-level English teacher, a pharmaceutical-advertising copywriter, and a freelance editor. Her earlier publications were feature articles, mostly in newspapers. More recently, a poem and an essay of hers appeared in 14th Street Gold.

Alyssa Grace Sorresso is a post grad student in London, studying for an MA in Applied Theatre. She ran away from her home in Chicago only to discover that she likes writing and making videos much more, and laughs about it sometimes. You can find more of her writing and videos at www.tactlessgrace.com, and follow her on twitter at tactless_grace.

M. G. Stephens has published eighteen books, including the novel The Brooklyn Book of the Dead (“a great, great book,” says Roddy Doyle) and the essay collection Green Dreams, which Joyce Carol Oates picked as one of the notable nonfiction books of the 20th century in Best American Essays of the Century.

Patrice M. Wilson’s poetry has been published by the Journal of New Jersey Poets, Nimrod, Barbaric Yawp , Hawai‘i Review, Hawai‘i Pacific Review, Byline, and Common Ground among others, and is forthcoming in Eclipse. She has three chapbooks by Finishing Line Press, On Neither Side (2009), When All Else Falters (2003) and A Different Current (2011). Her ancestors are African-American, Tsalagi (Cherokee), and Irish. She is an assistant professor of English at Hawai‘i Pacific University.

Amos Jasper Wright is a native of Birmingham, Alabama. After two years drifting hand-to-mouth in Boston, he returned to Birmingham and recently completed a master’s in English at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. Upon realization that he must work for a living, and after acquiring experience in architecture and planning, he applied and was accepted to Tufts University, where he will enroll in the fall of 2011 to begin a master’s degree in urban planning. He has high hopes that two master’s degrees will equal a PhD.

Editor Biographies

Joanna C. Valente is a MFA candidate in Poetry Writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is also a part-time mermaid. More can be found at her website: http://joannavalente.com

Stephanie Valente lives and writes in New York. Her work has appeared in Italics Mine and other journals. She is currently working on a collection of short stories and as always, poetry. She enjoys candlelit smiles and diamond cut laughter. One day, she would like to become a silent film star. Her favorite desserts are crème brûlée and strawberry-rhubarb pie. She can be found at: kitschy.tumblr.com.

G. Taylor Davis, Jr is from the Milky Way. 

The October issue can be downloaded for free here!

Contributor’s Notes

Matthew James Babcock teaches at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg. He has a PhD in Literature and Criticism from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. His book, Private Fire: The Ecopoetry and Prose of Robert Francis, is available from the University of Delaware Press.

Martin Burke is an Irish poet/playwright living in Belgium (with 12 books of verse published in the USA, UK, Ireland & Belgium.)

George Coombs is sixty four years of age and is from Hove on the south coast of England. Nowadays he is a semi retired university lecturer whose main subject areas are social sciences and philosophy. George has been writing and painting for much of his life and has had a few stories, articles and poetry published. George also does a lot in England and America to help people in prison and he is presently writing a book about this George is a long standing admirer of the work of Sylvia Plath and is pleased that this piece written in her memory is going to be published.

Brian Fanelli is the author of the chapbook Front Man, published in late 2010 by Big Table Publishing. His work has also appeared in a number of journals and websites, including Pennsylvania Literary Journal, Chiron Review, Blood Lotus, Word Riot, Indigo Rising Magazine, San Pedro River Review, and other publications. He has an M.F.A. in creative writing from Wilkes University and currently resides in Pennsylvania. Visit him at www.brianfanelli.com.

Born in Windsor, Ontario in 1960, Gregory Gunn grew up in small towns before settling in London in 1970. A graduate of Fanshawe College in 1982 as an electronics technician, he has worked in that field ever since. Mr. Gunn began writing during his tenure at Fanshawe and has done so for over thirty years. He is most passionate about poetry. Some of his credits include: Cyclamens & Swords, The Toronto Quarterly, Glimpse Magazine, Ascent Aspirations, Butterflies Are Free To Fly, Carcinogenic, Psychopoetica, Afterthoughts, Ditch Magazine, One Earth, and myriad of others. His other interests comprise music, astronomy, foreign languages, psychology, gardening, photography, and philosophy.

R. W. Haynes leads an academic life in South Texas. His book The Major Plays of Horton Foote appeared in 2010 from the Mellen Press. Texas had its hottest June in history in 2011, but it was not his fault. A fair amount of his poetry can be be googled.

David Levine grew up in the poorly named town of New City, NY. After bouncing between Salt Lake City and Seattle for a year, he settled into the role of a graduate student in Boulder, Colorado. He hopes to do more in the future.

Corey Mesler has published in numerous journals and anthologies. He has published four novels, Talk: A Novel in Dialogue (2002), We Are Billion-Year-Old Carbon (2006), The Ballad of the Two Tom Mores (2010) and Following Richard Brautigan (2010), 2 full length poetry collections, Some Identity Problems (2008) and Before the Great Troubling (2011), and 2 books of short stories, Listen: 29 Short Conversations (2009) and Notes toward the Story and Other Stories (2011) . He has also published a dozen chapbooks of both poetry and prose. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize numerous times, and two of his poems have been chosen for Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac. He also claims to have written, “Countin’ Flowers on the Wall.” With his wife, he runs Burke’s Book Store in Memphis TN, one of the country’s oldest (1875) and best independent bookstores. He can be found at www.coreymesler.com.

Rich Murphy was born in Lynn, Massachusetts. He raised four children and taught writing and literature for 22 years at Bradford College and Emmanuel College before coming to Richmond. He lives in Marblehead Massachusetts and (for the last four years) Richmond where he teaches at VCU. His credits include two books of poems Voyeur (2008 Gival Press Poetry Prize winner) and The Apple in the Monkey Tree; chapbooks Great Grandfather, Family Secret, Rescue Lines, and Hunting and Pecking; poems in hundreds of journals, including Rolling Stone, Poetry, Grand Street, Trespass, New Letters, Negative Capability, Segue, Big Bridge, Trespass, foam:e, and Confrontation; and essays on poetics in Folly Magazine, Fulcrum, The International Journal of the Humanities, Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning, Reconfigurations: A Journal for Poetics Poetry / Literature and Culture, Fringe, Big Toe Review, and Journal of Ecocriticism. Currently, his chapbook manuscript “Crib Sheets” is a 2011 finalist Teacher’s Voice Poetry Chapbook Prize and his chapbook manuscript “Body of Evidence” is a 2011finalist Eudaimonia Poetry Review Chapbook Prize.

Carl Palmer lives in University Place WA., without wristwatch, cell phone or alarm clock. Long Weekends Forever.

Anil CS Rao is a graduate of Pratt Institute. Currently, he is a distance student of Architecture through the San Francisco Institute of Architecture & Ayurveda (C.A.S.) student at the California College of Ayurveda, and has worked in the Untied States from 1988 to 2003 in New York, Los Angeles and Washington DC in the capacity of an engineer. He is presently residing in Bethesda, Maryland (United States) with his family.

Zachary Straub is a visual artist, writer, and human rights activist based out of Upstate New York, where he received his BA from Ithaca College. His work has been showcased at the Handwerker Gallery in Ithaca NY, the Partners in Art Gallery in Western New York, and published in StillWater Magazine, the Niagara Gazette, and in press releases issued by Niagara University.

Pia Taavila teaches in the English Department at Gallaudet University and live in Virginia. Recent work has appeared in Birmingham Poetry Review, Southern Women Review, The Potomac Review, storySouth, and The Bear River Review, The Southern Review, Threepenny Review, 32 Poems and Measure, among others.

Robert Wexelblatt is professor of humanities at Boston University’s College of General Studies. He has published essays, stories, and poems in a wide variety of journals, two story collections, Life in the Temperate Zone and The Decline of Our Neighborhood, a book of essays, Professors at Play; his recent novel, Zublinka Among Women, won the Indie Book Awards First Prize for Fiction.