Issue 136 Contributors
Megan Bresnahan (she/her) is a poet from rural Virginia who now lives in Laguna Beach, CA. She earned a BA as part of the Area Program in Poetry Writing from the University of Virginia. She has work forthcoming in electric pink and Anti-Heroin Chic. You can find her on instagram at @disaffected_niece.
Laura Donnelly is the author of Midwest Gothic (Ashland Poetry Press) and Watershed (Cider Press Review), and her poems have appeared in Colorado Review, Missouri Review, Poets.org, SWWIM, Harvard Review, and elsewhere. Originally from Michigan, she lives in Upstate New York and teaches at SUNY Oswego. Further info available at Laura Donnelly's website.
Meghana John (she/they) is a poet and screenwriter from Houston, TX. She has her BFA from NYU’s Dramatic Writing program, where she was a finalist in the Fusion Film Festival’s undergraduate feature film category. In all forms of writing, she focuses on themes of the physical body, adolescence, longing, and identity.
J.I. Kleinberg lives in Bellingham, Washington, USA, and on Instagram @jikleinberg. Her work has been published in print and online journals and anthologies worldwide. Chapbooks of her visual poems, How to pronounce the wind (Paper View Books) and Desire’s Authority (Ravenna Press Triple Series No. 23), were published in 2023; a full-length volume, She needs the river (Poem Atlas), was published in 2024.
Jade Kleiner is a trans writer and mental health worker from New England. Her poetry, haiku, and fiction can be found in Free the Verse, manywor(I)ds, Cold Moon Journal, Bright Flash Literary Review and elsewhere. She is currently revising her post scarcity novella Ship of Plenty. She has practiced in the Plum Village Tradition since 2020.
Laura McCullough is a poet and Professor of English with a doctorate in Medical Humanities. Her research centers on the nexus between narrative and trauma theories and the vital role of story in healing intergenerational and personal trauma. Her forthcoming collection, The Resurrection Jar, delves into themes of grief, caregiving, and renewal. She is the author of Women & Other Hostages (2021), The Wild Night Dress (2017), Jersey Mercy (2015), Rigger Death & Hoist Another (2013), Panic (2011), winner of the Kinereth Gensler Award, Speech Acts (2010), What Men Want (2009), and The Dancing Bear (2007). Her work consistently explores identity, trauma, and transformation through a deeply lyrical and narrative lens. Most recently, her bonsai practice has influenced the theme of nature and our relationship with the non-human world in her work. Find her at www.lmccullough.org or on Instagram @lauramccullough11.
Erin Murphy is the author or editor of sixteen books, most recently Human Resources, Mother as Conjunction: Lyric Essays, and Fluent in Blue, winner of the 2025 American Book Fest Best Book Award in Poetry. Swoon: New and Selected Poems is forthcoming in 2026. She is poetry editor of The Summerset Review and professor of English at Penn State University where she has been named the 2026-27 Penn State Laureate. Website: www.erin-murphy.com
Naz Noktehporkar is a Persian-American poet based in California. Her work explores identity, displacement, and the tension between personal experience and larger political and cultural forces. Her poetry has been featured in Rattle. She writes at the intersection of memory, language, and power.
Miracle Ogechukwu Okpala is an MA student in English (Creative Writing) at Kansas State University, where she serves as president of Creative Writing Enthusiasts (CreWE). She will commence her PhD in English (Creative Writing) at University of North Texas in August 2026. Her work explores memory, selfhood, and the generational body. She is recipient of Touchstone Literary Magazine Debut Prize in Poetry. She has been nominated for the Best New Poets anthology (2025 and 2026).
Jennifer McKeen Rodrigues (she/her) lives on Powhatan land of Fairfax, VA. She is a certified trauma-informed yoga therapist & instructor, queer & neurodivergent military spouse, & mom. Her poetry or photography have been featured in Passengers, Susurrus, FERAL, The Jelly Bucket, Mid-Atlantic Review, Paper Dragon, America’s Future anthology by WWPH, & several military anthologies. Her debut chapbook, Estate Sale, is forthcoming (2025) with Kelsay Books. Her photography has been nominated for Best of the Net.
BACK TO CONTENTS
prev