Volume 5, Issue 1

vol 5, i.1

“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Spring Equinox, spring/summer 2024

Another issue, ahh… If you’re like me, you’ve noticed the world has a different weight (to it) lately. Perhaps imperceptible to some, but not most, if you look closely. Not a physical weight, though a weight in which everything has become heavier. A heavy that I have no name for, only to say I can feel its disturbance. A heavy in the way people breathe. A heavy in the way people walk. A heavy in the way people avoid conversation and engagement. We’ve become cut off. Disengaged. Detached.

So let’s connect!

This issue features 66 contributors from around the globe sharing stories, photography, art, and expressions of the human condition. Congratulations and a heartfelt thank you to all who have contributed and continue championing this literary adventure. We welcome spring with budding pages ready to burst open with emotion, understanding, and meaning. Let’s stow our heavy jackets for another season and hold a lighter, warmer space for spring.

view a sample

select the cover

"Emergence" cover photo by Candace Kubinec

Featured Contributors

Featured Prose Writer

Salvatore Difalco

“Flow State”

Life is either ascending or descending. My own life finds itself on a downward spiral, picking up speed, moment to moment, plunging headlong into the black foam of annihilation. “What’s wrong, man?” asks the billowy apparition floating in the middle of my living room. “Where do I start?” I hear myself say. The apparition lacks details, the face smoothed over. I am certain the presence is male, though, in the absence of comprehensive evidence, that conclusion remains provisional at best. I am not bothered by the appearance of these immaterial figures. I’ve told myself repeatedly that so long as I do not attempt to make physical contact with them, I will maintain my equilibrium. “The problem,” I say, “is a pessimism of weakness.” The figure bobs a little as though a playful air current nudges it. “We live in a moving reality,” he says, “so duration is but an illusion. Everything is terminally impermanent.” This isn’t helping. My crisis continues unabated. The status of my soul concerns me most, though I am not religious in the least, and deities have never brought me comfort or guided me to victory. And yet, instinctively, I feel peril for the immaterial part of me, and not just the musical buzz between my neurons, but a deeper part that aches and has ached and cannot find relief. “You’re a romantic,” says the floater. “I feel bad for you. There’s no future in it.” All this fucks with my head. I need to cleanse it of dead and corrupt ideas. But it might be too late for that. I should have taken action long ago. But sometimes, we think we’re riding high and shielded from the arrows of decline. No reason to think otherwise until your flesh is pierced and perforated, and you’re leaking life force all over the place. “Do you have any suggestions?” I ask. “Nah,” he says, “at this stage you’re pretty much screwed.” Many truths stand on the shoulders of falsehoods.

Artist’s Statement

Admittedly, things look bleak out there these days. But I’m still optimistic that creatures who can laugh and love and create as marvelously as we sometimes do will eventually figure it out. Or perish. It may take some time. But we can’t let dickheads lead us anymore. I’d like to think my writing manifests that spirit, or attempts to do so.

Bio

Sicilian Canadian writer Salvatore Difalco lives in Toronto, Canada. His short work has recently appeared in Cafe Irreal, Third Wednesday, and RHINO Poetry.

Featured Poet

Brandon Shane

“Pilot”

The students swim down the halls,
surgical white like emergency rooms,
mourning dead relatives, euthanized animals,
thinking about lunch, where they disconnect
from the world for thirty minutes, healing
necrosis of lectures from solemn teachers
with buried spouses, heart attack fathers.

I gaze at the chalkboard & smile at their art,
everyone is hurting all the time, with no breaks
between tragedy, there is always a bone pain.
If not my stiffness as a teacher, then my failure
as an artist; reflecting on them as their grades
reflect on me. I cast a spell on my broomstick,
magic elixir, Necronomicon, candlelight room,
notebooks full of hellfire poems.

The end always comes, but we wish it to be late
for our interview; bartering our way into heaven.
I read their essays like glimpses into their souls,
look over their names as if passengers on a plane,
hoping to land safely on an unknown airport
in an unknown land. I’ll lie in bed and count the stars,
but it’s just a popcorn ceiling.

I’ll die one day, a few of them will leave before me.
Some accidentally call me dad, but it doesn’t seem
like a mistake when it happens every week. I don’t
see their dad at any parent meetings, just their mom.
The seasons change; most will never be seen again.
I’ll watch the flowers & wish they remain perennial.

Artist’s Statement

The reason I love teaching is because I was a horrific student, and every time existence feels mesmerizingly difficult, I remember many of my jubilant kids have it worse. Some writers can explain the elusive how and why, but life’s great mysteries have been so thoroughly sterilized that I never want to know; midnight lanterns, scribbling poems in the dark.

Bio

Brandon Shane is an alum of California State University, Long Beach. Now a writing instructor, you can see his work in the Berlin Literary Review, Acropolis Journal, Grim & Gilded, Messy Misfits, Remington Review, Mister Magazine, and Sophon Lit, among others.

Featured Artist

Amy Marques

“Easing the Spring”

Artist’s Statement

My goal with art (prose, poetry, painting, photography, listening, loving…) is to acknowledge raw, hold space for pain, and find room for hope that envisions better futures and builds – or flies – towards it. I think that’s what the early bees in the “Easing the Spring” poem do: find flowers, creating a pathway others can follow into clearer tomorrows.

Bio

Amy Marques has been known to call books friends and is on a first name basis with many fictional characters. She has visual art, poetry, and prose published in journals such as Streetcake Magazine, South Florida Poetry Journal, MoonPark Review, Bending Genres, Ghost Parachute, Chicago Quarterly Review, and Gone Lawn.

prose contributors

“Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works.” ~Virginia Woolf

Prose - vol 5, i.1

Includes 15 new and established prose contributors from around the world. Take a look at our talented contributors.

Coleman Bigelow

Prose

"Tall Barn" vol 5, i.1

Coleman Bigelow is a Pushcart Prize and Best MicroFiction nominated author whose work has appeared recently or is upcoming in Bending Genres, Cosmic Daffodil, Emerge Journal, and Jake.

William Cass

Prose

"Father’s Day" vol 5, i.1

William Cass has had over 300 short stories appear in literary magazines and anthologies. A nominee for Best Small Fictions and Best of the Net, he’s also had five Pushcart nominations. His first short story collection was published by Wising Up Press in 2020, and a second collection has recently been released by the same press.

Cor de Wulf

Prose

"A Small Wooden Box, Lined in Velvet" vol 5, i.1

Cor de Wulf divides their life between the Pacific Northwest, Normandy, and the Zuid-Limburg region of the Netherlands—that idiosyncratic Dutch province being De Wulf’s home port for decades. De Wulf’s short fiction has appeared in Every Day Fiction.

Salvatore Difalco

Prose

"Flow State" vol 5, i.1

Sicilian Canadian writer Salvatore Difalco lives in Toronto, Canada. His short work has recently appeared in Cafe Irreal, Third Wednesday, and RHINO Poetry.

Mary Horner

Prose

"Lydia" vol 5, i.1

Mary Horner is the author of Strengthen Your Nonfiction Writing and teaches communications at St. Louis Community College. Her short stories and poems have appeared in various literary journals. She is the former managing editor of the Journal of the American Optometric Association and Solutions Magazine. She is a former writer at Decor Magazine and for Art Business News.

G. Tarsiscis Janetka

Prose

"A Consultation" vol 5, i.1

G. Tarsiscis Janetka is a writer based in Central Florida. His work has been featured in Lit. 202, Helix, Hawaii Pacific Review, and others. More of his writings can be found at gregorytjanetka.com. He is currently seeking representation for his first novel.

Firdaus Parvez

Prose

"Finders Keepers" vol 5, i.1

Firdaus Parvez lives in Aligarh, a town close to New Delhi, India. She writes short stories, flash fiction, and poems about love and loss, family and relationships, stumbling across them in folds of ordinary lives. Currently, she’s the associate editor of haikuKATHA, a monthly online journal.

Keith J. Powell

Prose

"Sweet Nothings Are a Diary..." vol 5, i.1

Keith J. Powell is co-founder of Your Impossible Voice

James Reed

Prose

"Plans" vol 5, i.1

Stories by James Reed have appeared in such journals as Quick Fiction, Book of Matches, Puerto del Sol, and The Gettysburg Review, and among other honors, he holds a Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Elodie A. Roy

Prose

"Towers and Valleys" vol 5, i.1

Elodie A. Roy is a French-born writer living in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Her stories and poems have appeared in The Stinging Fly, Flash Frog, New World Writing, The Oxonian Review, Masks Literary Magazine, RAUM, and elsewhere. As a cultural theorist, she’s the author of two nonfiction academic books.

JoAnna Scandiffio

Prose

"Fractions" vol 5, i.1

JoAnna is a gemologist living in San Francisco Her poems are associative, one thought leading to another direction. They are active, disarrayed, young ponies eager to leap off the page. Her work has appeared in Calyx, The Poeming Pigeon, Poets 11, Odes to Our Undoing, The MacGuffin, Sugared Water, Naugatuck Review, and other journals.

Robert Steward

Prose

"Shorebird Song" vol 5, i.1

Robert Steward teaches English as a foreign language and lives in London. His stories have appeared in Scrittura, Literally Stories, Across the Margin, The Ogilvie, The Door Is A Jar, and others.

Meg Tuite

Prose

"Can You Wrap Up This Gift?" vol 5, i.1

Meg Tuite’s latest collection is Three By Tuite. She is author of six story collections and five chapbooks. She won the Twin Antlers Poetry award for her poetry collection, Bare Bulbs Swinging, and is included in Best of Small Press 2021 and Wigleaf’s Top 50 stories for 2022, 2023. She teaches writing retreats and online classes hosted by Bending Genres.

Sage Tyrtle

Prose

"Church of the Righteous Lamb of God" vol 5, i.1

Sage Tyrtle’s work is available in New Delta Review, The Offing, Lunch Ticket, and Apex among others. She is the author of the novella The King of Elkport. Her words have been featured on NPR, CBC, and PBS.

Wolfgang Wright

Prose

"Single, Alone, Depressed" vol 5, i.1

Wolfgang Wright is the author of the comic novel Me and Gepe and the forthcoming science fiction novel Being. His short work has appeared in over thirty literary magazines, including Oyster River Pages, The Collidescope, and Waccamaw. He doesn’t tolerate gluten so well, quite enjoys watching British panel shows, and devotes a little time each day to contemplating the Tao.

poetry contributors

“Poetry, I feel, is a tyrannical discipline. You’ve got to go so far so fast in such a small space; you’ve got to burn away all the peripherals.” ~Sylvia Plath

Poetry - vol 5, i.1

Includes 39 new and established poetry contributors from around the world. Take a look at our talented contributors.

J.T. Atwin

Poetry

"Creation" vol 5, i.1

J.T. Atwin lives in Seattle with his adorable but undeniably stupid Pomeranian, who very much takes after her owner. This is his first publication.

Anne Bannon

Poetry

"Evolution" vol 5, i.1

Anne Bannon is a student at Scripps College in Claremont, California. She has been writing poetry for ten years, and painting still lifes for two. Some of her writing can be found published in Ink in Thirds.

Heath Brougher

Poetry

"Crash and Burn"

"Fake Human Tree"

"My Rippling Face" vol 5, i.1

Heath Brougher is editor-in-chief of Concrete Mist Press as well as poetry editor for Into the Void Magazine. He was the recipient of Taj Mahal Review’s 2018 Poet of the Year Award.

C.W. Bryan

Poetry

"Driftwood" vol 5, i.1

C.W. Bryan is a student at Georgia State University. He lives in Atlanta, GA, where he writes poetry, nonfiction, and short fiction. He is currently writing his weekly series, Poetry is Plagiarism, with Sam Kilkenny at poetryispretentious.com. His debut chapbook, Celine, was published with Bottlecap Press in 2023.

PH Coleman

Poetry

2 Haiku

Tanka [65] vol 5, i.1

Philip H. Coleman is the long way around–fine arts at Yale, to decades convincing Vermont high schoolers of the symmetric beauty of chemistry, to the molecular science of poetry. His work has appeared in Eunoia Review, Trouvaille Review, Quail Bell Magazine, Dillydoun Review, The Ekphrastic Review, Hyacinth Review, Ink In Thirds, and others.

Galen Cunningham

Poetry

"Romancing" vol 5, i.1

Galen Cunningham is originally from New York (the North Country) but currently lives in Boulder, Colorado. His poetry has been published by Literary Yard, The Creativity Webzine, and Blue Unicorn (forthcoming).

Jon Davis

Poetry

"A Marriage"

"Windchimes" vol 5, i.1

Jon Davis is the author of 13 books and chapbooks, including Above the Bejeweled City (Grid Books, 2021) and Choose Your Own America (FLP, 2022). Davis also co-translated Iraqi poet Naseer Hassan’s Dayplaces (Tebot Bach, 2017). He has received a Lannan Literary Award, the Lavan Prize, and two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships.

John Delaney

Poetry

"Reading with the Cat" vol 5, i.1

John’s publications include Waypoints (2017), a collection of place poems; Twenty Questions (2019), a chapbook; Delicate Arch (2022), poems and photographs of national parks and monuments; and Galápagos (2023), a collaborative chapbook of his son Andrew’s photographs and his poems. He lives in Port Townsend, WA.

Steve Denehan

Poetry

"The Pebble" vol 5, i.1

Steve Denehan lives with his wife, Eimear, and daughter Robin in Kildare, Ireland. He is the author of two chapbooks and four poetry collections. Winner of the Anthony Cronin Poetry Award and twice winner of Irish Times’ New Irish Writing, his numerous publication credits include Poetry Ireland Review and Westerly.

Ojo Olumide Emmanuel

Poetry

"Shattered" vol 5, i.1

Ojo Olumide Emmanuel is a Minna-born Nigerian Poet, Educationist, and Book Editor. He is the author of the Poetry Chapbook Supplication For Years in Sands (Polarsphere Books, 2021) and How Flowers Pollinate Before the Arrival of Butterflies (Authorpaedia, 2022). He is the winner of the WeNaija Literary Contest (Non-Fiction, 2023) and first runner-up for the Abubakar Gimba Prize for Non-fiction.

Ben Goodman

Poetry

"Made of Life" vol 5, i.1

Ben Goodman is a poet, counselor, and educator currently residing in the Hudson Valley. His work currently appears in Strange Matters Magazine and is forthcoming in Ginosko Literary Journal and The Healing Muse.

William Ogden Haynes

Poetry

"Getting Lucky" vol 5, i.1

William Ogden Haynes is a poet and author of short fiction from Alabama who was born in Michigan. He has published ten collections of poetry and one book of short stories, all available on Amazon.com. Over two hundred and thirty of his poems and short stories have appeared in literary journals, and his work is frequently anthologized.

Thomas Holton

Poetry

"Light Sleeper"

"My Limerence — to look at later"

"Room with Friends" vol 5, i.1

Thomas Holton is a Florida-born writer and poet based in Chicago. He has poems published in Red Ogre Review, hu the zine, and The Rappahannock Review.

Mary Horner

Poetry

"Summer’s End" vol 5, i.1

Mary Horner is the author of Strengthen Your Nonfiction Writing and teaches communications at St. Louis Community College. Her short stories and poems have appeared in various literary journals. She is the former managing editor of the Journal of the American Optometric Association and Solutions Magazine. She is a former writer at Decor Magazine and for Art Business News.

Jen Horsfall

Poetry

"Triumphs" (a found poem) vol 5, i.1

Jen Horsfall is a critic and poet who teaches English in East London. She has reviewed poetry for Poetry London and facilitates writing workshops between established poets and young adults through the First Story charity organisation and is currently completing her MA in Literature and Critical Theory at Goldsmith’s.

CJ House

Poetry

"serpent's repentance" vol 5, i.1

CJ House is a student at the Philippine High School for The Arts.

Michael Kfoury

Poetry

"Binge Drinking (Shipper’s Delight)" vol 5, i.1

Michael Kfoury studied Political Science and Creative Writing at Suffolk University. An emerging writer, he has been previously published in the Venture Literary Arts Magazine and Stripes Literary Magazine. An old soul, Michael enjoys classic rock, classic movies, and classic literature.

Sam Kilkenny

Poetry

"How to be Happy (to remind myself)" vol 5, i.1

Sam Kilkenny is a nonfiction writer and poet. He lives in Atlanta, GA, where he writes every day. He is currently writing with C.W. Bryan at poetryispretentious.com. His work can be found on the website, most notably his poems for the Poetry is Plagiarism Series. When he isn’t writing, you can find him biking around Atlanta like a madman.

John Kojak

Poetry

"Falling Down" vol 5, i.1

John Kojak lives in Houston, Texas, with a nice woman and a mean cat. His poetry has been published in Poetry Quarterly, Dime Show Review, The American Journal of Poetry, Peach Fuzz Magazine, California’s Best Emerging Poets 2019, Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival’s Boundless Anthology 2020, and Pure Slush Publishing’s The Beautifullest Anthology, among others.

Emily Lyon

Poetry

"Great Barrier Reef" vol 5, i.1

Emily Lyon is a creative writing student from the UK. When she isn’t reading or writing, she can usually be found in a bookshop somewhere, volunteering and/or buying most of their stock.

Amy Marques

Poetry

"Long Story Short" vol 5, i.1

Amy Marques grew up between languages and places and learned, from an early age, the multiplicity of narratives. She penned children’s books, barely read medical papers and letters before turning to short fiction and visual poetry, published in journals including Streetcake Magazine, Bending Genres, Gone Lawn, Ghost Parachute, Chicago Quarterly Review, and Reservoir Road Literary Review.

Norman Wm. Muise

Poetry

3 Haiku vol 5, i.1

Norman Wm makes his home in southern Ontario. He’s been writing haiku/senyru for a few years now.

Jeffrey Ogochukwu

Poetry

"We’re Truly Free When We Are Lost" vol 5, i.1

Jeffrey Ogochukwu is a poet and writer who lives in Nigeria. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in numerous places, including: Fabula Argentea, The Kalahari Review, 2022 Kepressing Anthology Prize, Rat’s Ass Review, Thirteen Podcast, D’Lit Review, Spillwords, and The Red Mud Review.

Temidayo Okun

Poetry

"somewhere, somewhere" vol 5, i.1

Temidayo Okun (he/him): is a Nigerian poet who prefers to be referred to as 19. He likes catching snowflakes & writing flowerbombs. His works have been published or forthcoming in literary blogs & magazines such as Hey Young Writer, Afrocritik, Pawners Paper, and The Serulian. He was also shortlisted for the Akachi Chukwuemeka prize.

A.J. Parker

Poetry

"duck" vol 5, i.1

A.J. Parker grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and then spent some time on the East Coast trying to make up for all that water she lost. She’s won journalistic awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association as well as the Arizona Interscholastic Press Association and the National Scholastic Press Association. Now, she’s venturing into the literary world.

Firdaus Parvez

Poetry

2 Three Line Poems vol 5, i.1

Antonio Perez

Poetry

"Bridging Hearts" vol 5, i.1

Antonio Perez is 17 years old and lives in Utah. He is currently a senior in high school. Writing is a hobby of his which he likes to do in his free time.

John RC Potter

Poetry

"Enigma" vol 5, i.1

John RC Potter is an international educator from Canada, living in Istanbul. His poems, stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in a range of magazines, most recently in The Serulian (“The Memory Box”, September 2023). The author has several upcoming publications in the coming months, including an essay in The Montreal Review.

Lee Potts

Poetry

"Key Jar" vol 5, i.1

Lee Potts is founder and editor-in-chief of Stone Circle Review. A Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, his work has appeared in The Night Heron Barks, Rust + Moth, Whale Road Review, UCity Review, Firmament, Moist Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. In 2021, his chapbook, And Drought Will Follow, was published by Frosted Fire Press.

Diana Raab

Poetry

"The Trigger"

"Windows" vol 5, i.1

Diana Raab, MFA, PhD, is a poet, memoirist, blogger, speaker, and award-winning author of thirteen books. Her latest book is Hummingbird: Messages from my Ancestors. She also blogs for Psychology Today, The Wisdom Daily, Thrive Global and is a guest blogger for many others.

William Ryan

Poetry

"The Casual Death of Someone You..." vol 5, i.1

William Ryan is an Irish-born, Los Angeles-based writer, photographer, and videographer. He prefers works about drifters and scoundrels and will always root for the underdog. Always.

Brandon Shane

Poetry

"Pilot"

"The Moirologist" vol 5, i.1

James Siegel

Poetry

"Ghosts Again" vol 5, i.1

James J. Siegel is a Pushcart-nominated poet and arts organizer. He is the author of the poetry collections The God of San Francisco (Sibling Rivalry Press) and How Ghosts Travel. His poems have been featured in several journals and anthologies, including the Cortland Review, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, HIV Here & Now, Foglifter, and more.

Marjorie Thomsen

Poetry

"Road Trip Postcards" vol 5, i.1

Marjorie Thomsen is the author of Pretty Things Please (Turning Point, 2016). Poems from this collection were read on The Writer’s Almanac. Her poem about hiking in a dress and high heels has been made into a short animated film. She has served as Poet in Residence in schools throughout New England and is a psychotherapist in the Boston area.

Zac Walsh

Poetry

"Afterbirth" vol 5, i.1

Zac Walsh’s work has appeared in journals such as Blue Unicorn, LUMINA, Gulf Stream, Cimarron Review, Oakwood, Alligator Juniper, The Awakenings Review, The Other Journal, The Charleston Anvil, Light/Dark, Pissior, Inscape, Big Lucks, Lime Hawk, Spectre Magazine, DuPage Valley Review and The Platte Valley Review, as well as in the anthologies Blood on the Floor and Small Batch. He lives in a small, unincorporated town in Southern Oregon with his wife and a very old dog.

Olivia Wanat

Poetry

"our morning oj"

"what a timely death" vol 5, i.1

Olivia Wanat is an undergraduate student at the University of Maryland, College Park, pursuing her English bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing. This is her first publication.

Frank Weber

Poetry

"Suppressed By Silence" vol 5, i.1

Frank Weber is a freelance writer from Erie, Pennsylvania. He is a published author and is currently a Staff Writer for Bare Back Magazine. Frank draws inspiration from the Kerouac-Bukowski-Thompson vein, and his work encompasses a firm conviction, simple honesty in written word, and enough of a raw edge to make people feel what they read.

Scott Wylie

Poetry

"Natural Remedies" vol 5, i.1

Scott Wylie is a multifaceted creative writer. He was awarded a master’s degree in creative writing from Reinhardt University in 2023.

James Wyman

Poetry

"Without An Echo" vol 5, i.1

James teaches at the Community College of Vermont. His poetry has been published in Maya’s Review: The Closed Eye Open, Poem City by Burlington Free Press, and displayed on the “Poetry Path” by the Burlington Writers’ Workshop. His writing reflects a love of nature’s beauty and the human condition.

photographers

“In photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality.” ~Alfred Stieglitz

Photography - vol 5, i.1

Includes 11 new and established photographers from around the world. Take a look at our talented contributors.

Michael Anthony

Photography

Barn 05

Chasing The Sun

Marine Denizen

Moonrise

Orchid No25

Michael Anthony is an artist and writer living in New Jersey. He has published fiction, poetry, illustrations, and photographs in literary journals and commercial magazines. Most recently, these include Fly Over Country, On-The-High Literary Journal, Drunk Monkeys, Bodega Magazine, Pigeon Review, The Coil Magazine, Dove Tales, and Raw Lit.

Martin Brechtl

Photography

yellow flower on brown stick

Free to use under the Unsplash License: Source

Susana Case

Photography

Fish Tongue

Susana H. Case is the award-winning author of nine books, most recently, If This Isn’t Love, Broadstone Books, 2023, and co-editor with Margo Taft Stever of I Wanna Be Loved by You: Poems on Marilyn Monroe, Milk & Cake Press, 2022, awarded Honorable Mention for the Eric Hoffer Book Prize.

Clarissa Cervantes

Photography

Equinox

Friends

Clarissa Cervantes is a travel researcher photographer. Clarissa also supplies freelance articles on a variety of topics for newspapers, websites, and magazines such as USA Today and LA Times. Clarissa’s photo gallery includes images from all over the world, where she finds inspiration to share her photographs with others, inviting the viewer into exploration and observation.

Andrea Damic

Photography

Broken Whispers

Let There Be Light

Once Upon Nautilus

Andrea Damic is an amateur photographer who loves turning ordinary into something unexpected, unique. Her photographs can be found in Fusion Art and Light, Space & Time Online Art Exhibitions, and various online and print magazines. She’s especially proud of having been published on the covers of Door Is A Jar, Rat’s Ass Review and Molecule: A Tiny Lit Mag.

John Delaney

Photography

Reading (ekphrastic photograph)

Ellen Harrold

Photography

Remnant

Ellen Harrold is an artist, writer, and editor of Metachrosis Literary. She is currently exploring the connections between science, art, and storytelling. She has recently published poetry and art with Die Leere Mitte, Orion, and Skylight 47. She also published her first book, The Aesthetics and Conventions of Medical Art.

Candace Kubinec

Photography

Cosmos

Drip Drop

Emergence (cover art)

In a Field of Flowers

Life Saver

Morning Shadows

Candace is a photographer and poet from western Pennsylvania. She tries to capture the quiet moments and overlooked things in the world around her.

Amy Marques

Photography

Almost Home

Bicycle Shadow

Mirja Paljakka

Photography

Arctic Starflower

Drops on Flower

Mirja, the Finnish artist and photographer, operates from the countryside town of Ylojarvi with great passion and creativity. For her, photography is a never-ending journey that imparts new lessons every day, much like being a playful child and an everyday explorer.

Soulhearts

Photography

3 selections untitled

Soulhearts’ love for Haiku and poetry awakened the creative spirit in her. She started writing micro-poetry on love, loss, nature, and emotions that touch the human soul. She also dabbles in photography, multi-media art, and paper crafts. Her poetry is part of the published anthologies, Into the Void issue 2, Luminous Echoes, Yearnings, and Metaphorphisis.

artists

“A true artist is not one who is inspired but one who inspires others.” ~Salvador Dalí

Visual Art - vol 5, i.1

Includes 7 new and established artists from around the world. Take a look at our talented contributors.

Afra Ahmad

visual art

(visual art) - "The Missing Element"

Afra Adil Ahmad is a writer, poet, artist and calligrapher. Based in Taiwan, she holds a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature. Her works have appeared in various magazines, including Iman Collective, MYM, Rather Quiet, Ice Floe Press, Olney Magazine, The Malu Zine, The Sophon Lit, Blue Minaret, Melbourne Culture Corner, Her Hearth Magazine, The Hot Pot Magazine, and Ghudsavar Magazine.

Kevin R. Farrell, Jr.

visual art

(mixed media) - "Love Bug"

Kevin R. Farrell, Jr. is a Brooklyn, NY based artist, poet, and educator. His artwork is neo-neo-expressionist with a focus on getting out what he can no longer hold in. His life is a work in progress.

Ellen Harrold

visual art

(hybrid art) - "Imprint"

Amy Marques

visual art

(mixed media)

"Resilience"

"Soap Face"

(mixed media) - Mimics the Moon Series

Mimics the Moon Series: “The words for the poems in this collection were sourced from my personal correspondence. The handwritten words are from old letters, and the typed words are torn from loose pages of an old poetry book sent by a friend. Most of the words are from the book Immortal Poems of the English Language, 1983 edition, pages around 610-20.”

"Borrowed Remains"

"Easing the Spring"

"Easing the Spring Again"

"Possible Miracles"

"Voices of Verbs"

(mixed media) - from PARTS

From PARTS: (full erasure book to be published by Full Mood Publishing later in 2024): This collection of erasure poems transformed an old copy of a Thomas Wolfe novel (THE PARTY AT JACK’S becomes PARTS)into a book of erasure poetry and visual art. While each page is stand-alone, they are thematically thread together. The work is done directly on the book and includes collage and painting, mostly with acrylics. The overarching goal is to find or create rays of hope and beauty, particularly by subverting the text where it describes ennui or angst.

"Little Words"

"Musically Danced"

Irina Tall Novikova

visual art

(mixed media)

"dragon"

"Forgotten Dreams"

"Sirin"

Irina Tall Novikova is an artist, graphic artist, and illustrator. She graduated from the State Academy of Slavic Cultures with a degree in art and also has a bachelor’s degree in design. The first personal exhibition, “My soul is like a wild hawk” (2002), was held in the Museum of Maxim Bogdanovich. In her works, she raises themes of ecology.

Sally Simon

visual art

(photo collage) - "Love Birds"

Sally Simon lives in upstate NY, where she plays with words and, more recently, pictures. Self-taught, she started making collages for her kids’ apartment walls, and she hasn’t stopped. Her hybrid art/words have been published in Ink in Thirds and Cutbow Quarterly. Her writing can be found

Goran Tomic

visual art

(collage) - from the Series “Neither/Nor” 2 selections

Goran Tomic is a Collisionist Autodidact Artist from Sydney, Australia, who has exhibited his Collages, Video Installations, and Performance art over the past 20 years. Raised on Rauschenberg and born posthumously, he flâneurs the urban decay, searching for his Wilderness robe.