Quintin Collins (he/him) is a writer, editor, and Solstice MFA Program assistant director. His work appears in many print and online publications, and his first full-length collection of poems, The Dandelion Speaks of Survival, is forthcoming from Cherry Castle Publishing in 2021. His second collection of poems, Claim Tickets for Stolen People, selected by Marcus Jackson as winner of The Journal’s 2020 Charles B. Wheeler Prize, is forthcoming from The Ohio State University Press/Mad Creek Books in 2022. See more of his work on qcollinswriter.com.

 

Peter Filkins is the author of five collections of poetry, the most recent of which, Water / Music, will be published by Johns Hopkins UP in April 2021. His previous volume, The View We’re Granted, received the Sheila Margaret Motton Best Book Award from the New England Poetry Club, and his poems, essays, translations, and reviews have appeared in The Paris Review, The Yale Review, The Sewanee Review, Poetry, The American Scholar, The N.Y. Times Book Review, and numerous other publications. He teaches writing and literature at Bard College at Simon’s Rock, and courses in translation at Bard College. https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/water-music

 

R.J. Keeler was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and grew up in the jungles of Colombia. He holds a BS in Mathematics from North Carolina State University, an MS in Computer Science from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, an MBA from the University of California at Los Angeles, and a Certificate in Poetry from the University of Washington. An Honorman in the U.S. Naval Submarine School, he was Submarine Service (SS) qualified. He is a recipient of the Vietnam Service Medal, Honorable Discharge, and a Whiting Foundation Experimental Grant. He is a member of IEEE (technological society), AAAS (scientific society), and the Academy of American Poets. A former Boeing engineer.

 

Katharyn Howd Machan, author of 39 collections of poetry (most recently, in 2020, A Slow Bottle of Wine, winner of the Jessie Bryce Niles Chapbook Competition) has lived in Ithaca, New York, since 1975 and, now as a full professor, has taught Writing at Ithaca College since 1977. After many years of coordinating the Ithaca Community Poets and directing the national Feminist Women’s Writing Workshops, Inc., she was selected to be Tompkins County’s first poet laureate. Her poems have appeared in numerous magazines, anthologies, textbooks, and stage productions, and she has edited three thematic anthologies, most recently, with Split Oak Press, a tribute collection celebrating the inspiration of Adrienne Rich. In 2018 FutureCycle Press published her Selected Poems and selected it as their Best Book of the Year.

 

Karla Linn Merrifield has had 900+ poems appear in dozens of journals and anthologies. She has 14 books to her credit. Following her 2018 Psyche’s Scroll (Poetry Box Select) is the newly released full-length book Athabaskan Fractal: Poems of the Far North from Cirque Press. She is currently at work on a poetry collection, My Body the Guitar, inspired by famous guitarists and their guitars; the book is slated to be published in December 2021 by Before Your Quiet Eyes Publications Holograph Series (Rochester, NY). She is a frequent contributor to The Songs of Eretz Poetry Review.

 

After Nils Nelson left the University of Arizona with a Janitorial Certificate (and a B.A. in English), he earned an M.A. in Creative Writing at Cal State Fresno, ’74.  His poems have appeared in Seneca Review, Ironwood, Crazyhorse, Partisan Review and other usual suspects, more recently Salt Hill and Drunk Monkeys. An avid golfer and award-winning golf writer and editor, his articles have been in numerous national golf magazines. Nils is wrapping up a full-length poetry manuscript, burning through sunscreen in Tucson, Arizona. hardpan@cox.net

 

Jae Nichelle is one of the few people from Lafayette, Louisiana, who has never met Cupid. Her work has appeared in Best New Poets, The Offing Magazine, Muzzle Magazine, and elsewhere. She also loves Taco Bell and is not afraid to admit it. Her chapbook, The Porch (As Sanctuary), is available from YesYes Books.

 

 

Alison Palmer is the author of the poetry chapbook, The Need for Hiding (Dancing Girl Press, 2018). To read an interview visit http://www.thepoetsbillow.org. Alison’s work appears or is forthcoming in FIELD, The Cincinnati Review, River Styx, Columbia Review, The Journal, Ovenbird Poetry, Rogue Agent, The Night Heron Barks and elsewhere. She received her MFA from Washington University in St. Louis and currently writes outside Washington, D.C. Find Alison on the web at alisonpalmer.org.

 

 

Cassandra Rockwood-Ghanem self-publishes a small art and literary zine called “Rag,” she is interested in borders, identity, diaspora, and confession. Her poems have been published in The New Delta Review, Rip Rap, Hawaii Review, The Lifted Brow, and elsewhere. She holds a BA from California Institute of Integral Studies and MFA from California College of the Arts. 

Claire Scott is an award winning poet who has received multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her work has appeared in the Atlanta Review, Bellevue Literary Review, New Ohio Review, Enizagam and The Healing Muse among others. Claire is the author of Waiting to be Called and Until I Couldn’t. She is the co-author of Unfolding in Light: A Sisters’ Journey in Photography and Poetry.       

 

 

Poetry is something I have nurtured throughout my adult years both individually and as an educator.
Along with being a writer, I am a visual artist having studied painting in college.  I often include the
written word in my pieces.  I have participated in writers’ groups, and poetry workshops and
my recent retirement has allowed me to pursue both passions with unfettered time.
I live in eastern Connecticut which is mostly rural and enjoy using its natural environment
as inspiration for my painting and poetry.

 

Ashley Robles is an artist currently residing in San Antonio, Texas. She is a recent graduate from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in English and Creative Writing. Her work is forthcoming in The South Carolina Review. She can be found online at ashleyrobles.me