issue Two

“The Little Girl and the Gorilla” by Brian Barker

Brian Barker is the author of three books of poetry, Vanishing Acts, The Black Ocean, and The Animal Gospels. His poems have appeared in such journals as Poetry, The Gettysburg Review, American Poetry Review, TriQuarterly, The Washington Post, Indiana Review, The Cincinnati Review, Blackbird, and Pleiades. He teaches at the University of Colorado Denver, where he is a poetry editor of Copper Nickel. Learn more at www.brianbarker.net.

“Side porch” by lauren camp

Lauren Camp served as the second New Mexico Poet Laureate (2022-25). She is the author of nine poetry collections, including Is Is Enough (Texas Review Press, 2026) and In Old Sky (Grand Canyon Conservancy, 2024), which grew out of her experience as Astronomer-in-Residence at Grand Canyon National Park. Her poems have appeared in The Nation, Kenyon Review, and Poem-a-Day, and have been translated into Mandarin, Turkish, Spanish, French, and Arabic. Other honors include fellowships from the Academy of American Poets and Black Earth Institute, a Dorset Prize, the New Mexico Book Award, and finalist citations for the Arab American Book Award and Adrienne Rich Award. www.laurencamp.com

“Dear west virginia” by sage short

Sage Short is a poet from South Carolina. She is currently finishing her MFA at UNC Greensboro where she is the Poetry Editor for The Greensboro Review. Her poetry is forthcoming from pinky and The Winyah Bay Watershed: A Literary Field Guide.

“sardines” by Davin Malasarn

Davin Malasarn received his MFA in creative writing from Bennington College. He was a PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow, a Plympton Writing Downtown Fellow, and a Bennington Alumni Fellow. His work has appeared in The Los Angeles Review, Rosebud, Night Train and other literary journals. In 2020, he co-founded The Granum Foundation to support writers in the completion and promotion of major literary works. His debut novel, The Outer Country, will be published by One World/Random House in May 2026.

“no one is coming” by Elise Toedt

Elise Toedt is a researcher, poet and teacher. She is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Writing Studies at the University of Minnesota. Elise writes about reproductive labor in capitalist systems and about embodied experiences of being human. Her wider research interests include: The experiences of teachers in schools as they navigate time, space, and workplace policies; critical creative writing pedagogies; and feminist, arts-based research methodologies. Her poetry chapbook Making Home was published by Finishing Line Press in 2025. Her book Teachers Pumping in Schools: Feminized Bodies, First-hand Accounts, and Advocacy was published by Routledge in 2026. Find out more about her creative writing and research at https://elisetoedt.com