Present Poetry

Pat Raia is a journalist who has covered crime and politics for the Chicago Tribune, international business for International Business magazine, legal and welfare issues in the equine industry for Horse Illustrated magazine a variety of topics for Rock & Gem magazine. She has been writing poetry since childhood and has published a pair of collections, including Basic Italian and Unvarnished Tr...

Saurin Desai is a creative writer, published author, award-winning podcaster, and creative writing & thinking coach. He's always been drawn to the big questions of existence. He writes science fiction & fantasy stories, poetry, comedy sketches, and comics. His works include Beyond the Looking Glass , a collection of thought-provoking fantasy stories, and Solitude and Other Obsessions ,...

Native New Yorker and Elgin Award winner, LindaAnn LoSchiavo is a member of the British Fantasy Society, HWA, SFPA, and The Dramatists Guild - - and a spooky Scorpio who loves Hallowe'en. Current books: “ Messengers of the Macabre: Hallowe'en Poems ,” “ Vampire Ventures, ” “ Always Haunted: Hallowe’en Poems ” [Wild Ink, October 1, 2024], “ Apprenticed to the Night ” [UniVerse Press, 2024],...

Tristan Buttigieg is a passionate poet, musician, singer-songwriter, and artist. His debut poetry collection, Have Nine Lives, explored the complexities of the human experience. In his follow-up collection, Pearlesque, Buttigieg delves deeper into themes of love, hope, loss, resilience, transformation, and self-discovery. With lyrical verses that blend beauty and raw emotion, Pearlesque invites re...

Rita S. Spalding has had poems published in 16 Calliope anthologies, National Library of Poetry, AX-POW Magazine, The Heartland Review, Kentucky Monthly Magazine, Keeping the Flame Alive, and her first book, Abstract Ribbons. Poetry will be featured in the 2024 Fallen anthology. A second book, The Eighth, is being published by Hydra Publishing, Pennington Press Division. She is currently working o...

M.E Bayelsa is a writer, author and prolific public speaker with topnotch oratorial skills. He is a graduate with a First Class Hons in Biochemistry from the University of Africa, Toru-Orua, Bayelsa State in South-South, Nigeria.

Alshaad Kara is a Mauritian poet who writes from his heart. He won first place for the Boney Cultural Center Valentine's Day Poetry Competition 2024 and was also a winner of the Flapper Press Poetry Café Valentine's 2024 Juliet Poetry Contest. His latest poems were published in "Stygian Lepus", "Poetry for Mental Health", "The erozine", "100subtexts magaz...

Terje Theiss is the author of four books, exploring various facets of conflict resolution and prose. In "Scenario Training," he imparts his wisdom on crafting effective teaching that caters to individual student needs, rooted in self-defense principles. "Kombatan Self Defense Training" offers a practical guide to conflict resolution within the martial arts world, specifically d...

*SLIGHT TRIGGER WARNING for traumatic birth experiences and premature babies in NICU* Whitnee Coy, from Lexington, Kentucky, now resides in South Dakota with her family and enjoys doing stick-poke tattoos with her husband. An MFA graduate from the Bluegrass Writers Studio at Eastern Kentucky University, she is pursuing an Ed. D in Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership. Whitnee is an award...

Michael is a poet, writer and photographer from Magna, Utah where he lives with his wife and son and enjoys looking out on the Great Salt Lake every day. He is the author of Rocky Mountain Reflections and Grasshoppers in the Field . His writing has appeared in Blue Lake Review, The High Window, Seashores Haiku Journal, The Penwood Review and in anthologies at Pure Slush and Echoes of the Wild. One...

H.L. Dowless has been a writer for more than 30 years. He also enjoys traveling, writing, and living life on the edge.

"My name is Jacob Phillips. I am thirty three years old. I’m born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee. I enjoy fishing, thrift stores, estate sales, vintage clothing and antiques. I love old items because I myself am an old soul. My friends call me papaw. I’ve been writing for about fifteen years now. I have never been published. It’s always been such a good outlet for me. I struggle with bi polar...

Ant Mac has been a poet/writer for over thirty years. He writes for both adults and children. He has been published in a number of poetry magazines, journals and anthologies, including: The Coffee People, The Pavement magazine, Eclipse Lit, ANU, Open Door, The Wise Owl and The Space Cadet Review. He has written two children's books: The Tale of Little Beak and Toby and Ben . He has also publis...

J. Matthew Giles (or Gillespie) is a Canadian/American author, artist and musician. He has a BS in Language Arts and MS in Education, and he started his career with crayons and worked his way up to arts editor for the early midwestern literary newspapers: Sound and End Process. When not teaching, he enjoys spending long evening in his studio with family and friends. He currently resides in Little...

Faiza Anum is a poet and occasional translator from Lahore, Pakistan. Her work has appeared in RAFT Magazine, The Pinch Journal (US), Transnational Literature (Australia), Stoneboat Literary Journal (US), The Stonecoast Review (US), Essential Voices: A Covid-19 Anthology (West Virginia University Press), The Ghazal Page, Eastern Structures, and elsewhere. Her poem “Travelling Tales” was a finalist...

Tom Ward (often credited as Thomas Ward) is a writer living in Atlanta, GA in the Kirkwood neighborhood. A major theme of his work is the deconstruction of faith, breaking free of evangelicalism, and mental health. He wrote the screenplay for the independent film INTERNATIONAL FALLS starring Rachael Harris and Rob Huebel. His first self-published collection of poetry, BICENTENNIAL BABY is availabl...

Tamer Said Mostafa (he/him/his) is a therapist, poet, and storyteller from Stockton, California. His work has appeared in literary journals and magazines such as Guernica, Confrontation, Prairie Schooner, and Freezeray, among others. Tamer is a Best of the Net and Pushcart nominee, and a graduate of the Creative Writing program at University of California, Davis.

Come hear some poetry from this year's edition of the Talon Literary Journal! Read by members of the publication team. Poems read in this episode: "Infested" by Lily Miller "Trapped in My Bed" by Eleanor Manning "What is Fear" by Alayna Nightingale "Skin and Bones" by Maddie Barnes "Unvisited Mentors" by Laurence Foshee "Advanced Composition: by Kathleen Garrison "In Cedar" by Liam McAlpin "Gadu"...

Born and residing in Greece, she holds a degree in English Literature, has completed postgraduate studies in Ethics, and earned a Ph. D. in Philosophy. Her literary work includes poetry, prose, and theatrical plays that explore deep existential themes.

A.S. Coomer is a writer & musician. He was commissioned a Kentucky Colonel for his social & creative work. Books include BIRTH OF A MONSTER, THE FETISHISTS, SONGS FOR LEAVING, FLIRTING WITH DISASTER, SHINING THE LIGHT, MEMORABILIA, & many others. He runs Lost, Long Gone, Forgotten Records , a "record label" for poetry. Follow him at ascoomer.com We're reading poems from Songs for Leavi...

A.J. Brown is a southern-born writer who tells emotionally charged, character driven stories that often delve into the darker parts of the human psyche.  Though he writes mostly darker stories, he does so without unnecessary gore, coarse language, or sex. More than 200 of his stories have been published.

Karen Southall Watts, teaches, consults, and writes in North Carolina. Her works have been featured in multiple online publications as well as the North Carolina Bards Poetry Anthology 2023 and 2024, Gathering 2024, and Letters I’ll Never Send. Karen is a three-time Pushcart nominee for poetry. Her poetry chapbook, Desire, Dreams and Dust was released in April of 2023.

Jenean McBrearty is a graduate of San Diego State University, who taught Political Science and Sociology, and received her Masters of Fine Art from Eastern Kentucky University in 2021. Since 2006, her fiction, poetry, book reviews, and photographs have been published in over two-hundred sixty-five print and on-line journals. She won the EKU Award for Graduate Creative Non-fiction in 2011 for her C...

Mary McCarthy is a retired Registered Nurse who has always been a writer. Her work has appeared in many journals and anthologies, including "The Ekphrastic World," edited by Lorette Luzajic, "The Plague Papers," edited by Robbi Nester, and recent issues of Gyroscope, 3rd Wednesday, Caustic Frolic, Inscribe, and Verse Virtual. Her collection "How to Become Invisible," chronicles a bipolar journey a...

For forty years Paul Tait performed both as a band leader and as a singer/songwriter/pianist. He independently released a series of critically acclaimed recordings, including: "Pop Musician", "Television City", "I Still Believe", “Back In Business”, “Angels Of The City”, "Song to the Moon" “1975”, “Frenemies”, and “I Didn’t Quit I Surrendered”. All of his music is available online. As a poet Paul...