Special FeatureJoanna ValenteCatie Hannigan, poetry, special feature

Catie Hannigan: Endlessly into Nowhere

Special FeatureJoanna ValenteCatie Hannigan, poetry, special feature
Catie Hannigan: Endlessly into Nowhere
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PRELUDE

 

Despite the histories

that loom over

the moment

we are born

we are handed

a pattern despite

cars driving

endlessly

into nowhere

like any infant

screaming for

what we need

smashing

the compass

of language

at the foot

of Desire's staircase

scaring the priests

away like receding

shadows of trees

the sunset is

but a slow scream

trampling the dirt

which despite its girth

no one notices

brevity ask

the clouds

birds trains rain

how to dance

a way out

and into

a resounding

yes

Catie Hannigan is a poet and visual artist from Maine. Her first chapbook, What Once Was There Is The Most Beautiful Thing, was published by DIAGRAM / New Michigan Press in 2015. Her second chapbook, Water Fragments, is a poetic essay on water and islands, and is forthcoming from Tammy Journal in 2017. She received her MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. More work can be found at www.catiehannigan.com.

Special FeatureJoanna ValenteTara Shea Burke, poetry, special feature

Tara Shea Burke: Who Lives and Who Dies

Tara Shea Burke is a queer poet from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. She served as poetry editor and co-creator for several small literary journals, and is a guest editor and board member for Sinister Wisdom, a Multicultural Lesbian Literature and Arts Journal. Her chapbook Let the Body Beg was published in 2014, and recent poems can be found in Adrienne, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Minola Review, Public Pool, The Fem, and Whale Road Review. She has taught in Virginia, New Mexico, and Colorado. She lives in Denver. www.tarasheaburke.com

Special FeatureJoanna ValenteTara Shea Burke, poetry, special feature
Tara Shea Burke: Who Lives and Who Dies
Special FeatureJoanna ValenteAshley Bethard, poetry, special feature

Ashley Bethard: Make You Forget

Ashley Bethard’s writing has been published in The Rumpus, PANK Magazine, Hobart, Fanzine and others. She is the 2017 recipient of the Ohioana Walter Rumsey Marvin Grant, and her winning essay “Of Blood” was published in the Fall 2017 issue of Ohioana Quarterly. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from Ashland University. Currently she lives in Dayton, Ohio, where she’s working on her first book. She works in digital media, and was named to the Newspaper Association of America's "30 Under 30" list in 2016. Find her online at @ashleybethard and ashleybethard.com.  

Special FeatureJoanna ValenteAshley Bethard, poetry, special feature
Ashley Bethard: Make You Forget
Special FeatureJoanna ValenteNatalie Solmer, poetry, art, special feature

Visual Poetry by Natalie Solmer

Natalie Solmer grew up in South Bend, Indiana. She is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Indianapolis Review. After 13 years of working as a grocery store florist, she now teaches composition and writing in various institutions all over Indianapolis. Her work has been published in journals such as Willow Springs, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Cimarron Review, MidWest Review and forthcoming from North American Review. More of her work can be found at www.nataliesolmer.com.


Special FeatureJoanna ValenteNatalie Solmer, poetry, art, special feature
Visual Poetry by Natalie Solmer