Poem:

The Absence of Strange

Alex Andy Phuong (the Poet) earned his Bachelor of Arts in English from California State University—Los Angeles in 2015. Emma Stone inspired Alex to write passionately after hearing the Oscar-nominated song, Audition (The Fools Who Dream) from the “Best Picture” nominee La La Land (2016). He writes to inspire dreamers everywhere.

Poem:

Long Meg and Her Daughters

Ben Macnair is an award-winning poet and playwright from Staffordshire in the United Kingdom.

• Twitter: @benmacnair

Art:

Ablaze

Carolyn EJ Watson is an interdisciplinary artist, who is drawn to the useless and unusual. She takes what she can find to tell a story, using a mixture of unconventional materials. Through her art, Watson strives to advocate and educate, particularly focusing on concepts such as identity, trauma, abstraction, chaos and conservation.

• Instagram: @poppydovedesigns
• Tiktok: @poppydovedesigns
• Facebook: @poppydovedesigns
• Threads: @poppydovedesigns

Poem:

Strangers Once Again

Douglas Twells served in the Peace Corps in India, 1968-72, and later returned to India with his family on a research fellowship. Retired from a career in university administration, Twells lives with his wife in St. Louis. His poems have appeared in several journals including Nixes Mate Review, Of Rust and Glass, and The Bookends Review.

Art:

Carapace

Edward Michael Supranowicz is the grandson of Irish and Russian/Ukrainian immigrants. He grew up on a small farm in Appalachia.  He has a grad background in painting and printmaking. Some of his artwork has recently or will soon appear in Fish Food, Streetlight, Another Chicago Magazine, The Door Is A Jar, The Phoenix, and The Harvard Advocate. Edward is also a published poet who has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize multiple times.

Prose:

After an Afternoon Snack, Almost Imperceptibly

James B. Nicola’s latest of seven full-length poetry collections are Fires of Heaven: Poems of Faith and Sense and Turns & Twists. His nonfiction book Playing the Audience won a Choice award. His poetry and prose have received a Dana Literary Award, two Willow Review awards, Storyteller’s People’s Choice award, one Best of Net, one Rhysling, and ten Pushcart nominations—for which he feels both stunned and grateful. His children’s musical Chimes: A Christmas Vaudeville premiered in Fairbanks, Alaska, where Santa Claus was rumored to be in the audience on opening night. A graduate of Yale, James hosts the Writers’ Roundtable at his library branch in Manhattan: walk-ins are always welcome.

Cover Art:

J’aimerais quil soit ici – I wish he were here

Art:

Lauditeur est un fragment dobscurité – The listener is a fragment of darkness

Jeffrey Alfier’s (they/them) most recent book of poetry, The Shadow Field, was published by Louisiana Literature Press (2020). Journal credits include The Emerson Review, Faultline, New York Quarterly, Notre Dame Review, Penn Review, Southern Poetry Review, and Vassar Review. They are also an artist doing collage and double-exposure work.

Art:

Cavernous Maw

Jennifer Weigel travels the mindscape of the infinite abyss from the comforts of her sofa, where she can still be easily roused by her cat whenever the kibble chalice gets low, or when pets are required. She is a regular contributor for Haunted MTL and can be found hanging out in some of those shadowy back alleyways here.

• Author Page: https://hauntedmtl.com/author/jennifer-weigel/

Prose:

Windfall

J.J. Stewart is the current pen name of a writer in the San Francisco Bay Area. J.J. Stewart has been published previously in Blink-Ink, Booze League, and Mockery Press under different pen names. They spend most of their time elbow-deep in grammar questions and helping their partner garden.

Art:

Offseason

John Repp is a poet, fiction writer, and folk photographer/collagist living in Erie, Pennsylvania. Seven Kitchens Press will soon publish his latest chapbook, Star Shine in the Pines.

• Website: www.johnreppwriter.com

Prose:

The Unwelcome Guest

Kenneth M. Kapp was a Professor of Mathematics, a ceramicist, a welder, an IBMer, and yoga teacher. He lives with his wife in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, writing late at night in his man-cave. He enjoys chamber music and mysteries. He was a homebrewer for more than fifty years and runs whitewater rivers on the foam that’s left. His essays appear online in havokjournal.com and articles in shepherdexpress.com.

• Website: www.kmkbooks.com

Prose:

Strangers in a Bar

Liz Lydic is a mom, writer, and local government employee in the Los Angeles area. She also does theatre stuff.

• Website: www.lizlydic.com

Poem:

Drunk Girls in the Bathroom

Madeira Miller is a writer and poet pursuing a creative writing degree at Missouri State University. Her work has been published in various anthologies, magazines, and literary journals, including ANGLES Literary Magazine, Arkana Literary Magazine, and Barely South Review.

• Instagram: @madeiramiller

Poem:

I Didn’t Think Happiness Would Cost Me This Much

Maggie Bowyer (they/he) is a poet, cat parent, and the author of various poetry collections including Homecoming (2023) and When I Bleed (2021). They are a co-host of the podcast Baked and Bookish. They have been featured in The Abbey Review, Chapter House Journal, The Elevation Review, The South Dakota Review, Wishbone Words, and more. They were the Editor-in-Chief of The Lariat Newspaper, a quarter-finalist in Brave New Voices 2016, and a Marilyn Miller Poet Laureate.

• Instagram: @maggie.writes

Poem:

I’ve Been Waiting

Robin Young works in mixed media focusing mostly on Collage and contemporary art making. Her focus on collage art using magazine clippings, masking tape, wallpaper, jewelry, feathers, foil etc. allows her to develop deep into the whimsical and intuitive. From large, life-sized pieces and 3D sculptures to small postcard-sized arrangements, Robin’s keen eye and gripping esthetic guide her viewers into her own semi-readymade world. Repurposing these nostalgic images for lighthearted and sometimes disquieting messages; Robin’s artistic universe is strange, funky, sometimes perverse and always alluring. She lives in the California desert with her creative husband John and lazy dog Comet.

• Instagram: @2songbird

Poem:

Ghosting

Robyn Braun isan artist and writer living at the northern edge of Canada’s Treaty 6 territory in Edmonton with a kick-ass 12-year-old and cat named Fuzzy. She earned an MFA from the University of British Columbia’s School of Creative Writing in 2022 and her essay, “The Stutter of Emmett’s Stutter,” won subTerrain’s 2021 Lush Triumphant Prize for CNF. Their art has appeared in Backwards Trajectory and Academy of the Heart and Mind.

Prose:

Reunion

Serge Lecomte was born in Belgium. He came to the States where he spent his teens in South Philly and then Brooklyn. After graduating from Tilden H. S. he joined the Medical Corps in the Air Force. He earned an MA and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in Russian Literature with a minor in French Literature. He worked as a Green Beret language instructor at Fort Bragg, NC from 1975-78. In 1988 he received a B.A. from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Spanish Literature. He worked as a language teacher at the University of Alaska (1978-1997). He worked as a house builder, pipe-fitter, orderly in a hospital, gardener, landscaper, driller for an assaying company, bartender.