Virginia native Phyllis Johnson fell in love with the rhythm and sound of words at an early age. A toy typewriter reinforced that love of words. Today she is a newspaper columnist, photojournalist, and published author of three books. Her fourth book, cowritten with Nancy Naigle (Until We Meet Again), is a young adult suspense […]

Joseph Murphy won the Eisner Prize for poetry in the early 1970s, UC Berkeley’s highest award in the arts. He began writing again about 10 years and recently began sending his work out. He has been published in The Tower Journal, Chantarelle’s Notebook, and Umbrella. Upcoming publications include SP Quill, WestWard Quarterly, and Pure Francis. […]

NC-based writer Bettie Coffin gave us something to wonder about with her poem Choices. She continues the trend here. At this very busy time of year, when it feels like the world will cease to spin if we don’t … get … EVERYTHING … done, this poem might grant us a moment of sanity-saving peace. […]

Ailill is a teacher and a traveler. His poem demonstrates sensory layering. Read the poem with an eye for the line breaks and word placement and an ear for the consonants and the pacing. It relies upon image to bolster the visual experience of the words. Does it make you feel celebratory or somber? Clang […]

Neil Ellman’s poetry has appeared here before (The Morning After). You can also read one of his poems at Astropoetica. He writes in New Jersey. In this poem, Neil finds the magic in the mundane and adds humor to underscore the insight. An Excerpt From the Diary of a Man Growing Old By Neil Ellman […]