Common Disaster No. 2 by M. Cynthia Cheung
“Today another patient
chokes: Don’t
let me die—
When her heart stops, there is so much
noise in the room—so many people
swarming, and then things
inserted—
Her legs jerk with every compression.”
Being AMANda and AMANDA to Be by Prison Poet
“An itch for HE-ness
SHE-ness cannot scratch.
Men are here who are reborn as women,
they swallow pills & take hormone-shots.
He-paint peeled off
so She comes toward void.”
Clarinet Lessons by Stephanie Early Green
“Dad and Mom got divorced two years ago. Mom says they split up because Dad is selfish and wants to sow his wild oats, two decades too late, and doesn’t want to be burdened by the demands of a family. Dad says they split up because of Sarah. Dad says that the death of a child strips the skin off a marriage, and if the bones underneath aren’t strong, everything falls apart.”
What They Wore by Shutta Crum
“the women turn pages slowly, so slowly
unsure if that is the vest Katya knitted for uncle
before he went for milk, never came back
each numbered photograph a too-bright gasp of light
the book, a first step with each mass grave
do you recognize this apron? this belt? these boots?”
The Paper Anniversary by Nicole Callihan
“Paper gowns are not as soft as cloth gowns are not as soft
as silk as milk which is only soft until it sours”
Last Things by Rebecca Ellis
“But still it was done,
the last thing, really, they made
together. When the morphine
wasn’t enough, I said to her,
Think of those lilies,
all the colors they’ll bring.”
The Day Before Her Daughter’s BRCA Test Is Positive, Grammy Has an Egg-Bound Chicken by Carla Panciera
“In her old life, Grammy shelved books via the Dewey Decimal,
never imagined she would need a YouTube video on how to probe a vent.
So much science reduced to the withstanding of unease,
an ISA Brown hen upside down under her arm.”
Be Here, Softly by Claire Atkinson
“I looked myself over, the version of me across the table. I was a year younger then, but I was in rough shape. January was obviously only shaving once every few days. His face was covered in that awful black stubble. His hair was a mess. His eyes were tired and vacant behind the glasses. He slouched in the chair, thinking me over. He tapped his fingers on the table, the gears turning, trying to figure out what to say.
‘This doesn’t make sense,’ he said. ‘It’s not possible that we’re trans. It shouldn’t be possible.’
I nodded sympathetically. ‘I get what you’re saying. I understand. Yet here we are.'”
Betty LaDuke Exhibition Comes to Corvallis
CALYX Celebrates Fire, Fury, and Resilience with Oregon Artist Betty LaDuke Please join us in ekphrastic appreciation of the artist Betty LaDuke, whose most recent exhibition, Fire, Fury, and Resilience: Totem Witnesses and Turtle Wisdom, will be at the Corvallis Museum from October 7, 2022 – January 22, 2023. The exhibit opens with an artist’s
Sit-In by Arleta Little
“Two women in hijabs and abayas approach us. One of the women asks, ‘How long will this be going on?’ ‘It’s the community that’s doing this,’ Zenzele answers. ‘So, I guess, as long as the community keeps coming. This is all different people. There’s no one group organizing it.’ The draped women speak to one another in a language that sounds like the wind over the surface of water before they smile at us, nod, and walk on.”
Ramazan in Tajrish by Rooja Mohassessy
“You nudged me with a whisper,
to rise an hour before azan,
from under the thick
of dove feathers warm with your love
for God, and me, the musty grandchild”
Dobsonfly by Claire McQuerry
“Hideous beauty, I shake you loose
from a cushion of the wicker chair
where, it seems, you’ve gone to die.”
My American Dream by Farha Mukri
“There are many versions of the American Dream, I want to tell my parents. The one involving a large house with a picket fence and two-car garage is just one of them. Just as there are many versions of your daughter. There’s a version that prays four times a day and recites the Quran. There is a version that enjoys hanging out with friends, including men, on Saturday nights with cans of beer and board games. There is a version that fasts during the month of Ramadan. There is a version that gets pepperoni on her pizza during the rest of the year.”
Barber Shop by Abigail Goodhart
“Announce me, let them know I am coming. Carry me into the arena on a King Carrier. I come from a lineage of linebackers. My knuckles are a mountain range. Your booing only makes me more powerful.”
Mending by Anna Stacy
“’Two weeks,’ Tamara echoes, like she’s mulling it over. Her legs are dangling over the arm of the chair. ‘Why don’t you just break up with him the normal way?’
‘Because that would require confrontation,’ I explain.
‘And knitting an entire sweater is easier than confrontation.’
‘Yes.’
Tamara turns to Lark for support, but he’s nodding solemnly. ‘Yeah, that holds up,’ he says.”
Breathwork, I by Kristin Berger
“Something reminded me today that a parent of mine had died
and the barometric pressure fell, and rain began to touch the river.”
My Only Bangle by Rooja Mohassessy
“Today I celebrate my only bangle
my one-hand applause
the gold leaf on my family tree
my hand-hammered heritage
my blood.”
The BADASS Study (Behavior and Demographics of Actively Sexual Seniors) by Sue Pace
“‘How come they don’t ask about costumes?’ Carly Beth asked.
‘Costumes?’
‘This one guy I was dating a while ago only wanted to do it if I wore a pantsuit and he wore a Donald Trump mask.’
Karen kept her head down and said in a voice she hoped was neutral, ‘You can always type in your own comments. Just press F4.'”
White Moths Everywhere by Cortney Davis
“a white moth arrives rising and falling
on the warm breeze, lingers on the headstone
then on my bare arm, clinging as if
searching for moist skin or the scent of me.”
Evelin by Ann Bauleke
“I imagine Evelin, her flour-sack print dress, brandishing stick dolls with her younger cousin, whose rash and persistent fever earlier that month no one mentioned. I imagine Evelin waking near dawn, whimpering, coughing, hot to the touch. Grandma takes her into their bed, Grandpa having left to cart fuel to farmers. The child sleeps fitfully, radiating heat.”
Hope is the vixen fox by Jenna Rindo
“I stare out the window
over the sink, the citrus soap promising
something pure as we shelter in place.
A rolling fog smokes the green
grass. The vixen glides her grizzled gray
between orchard and rock wall border.”
Aubade with Nipple Shield & Liquid Moon by Geula Geurts
“Milk passes through me like liquid moons,
wet stars on her tongue. She sucks
till I’m emptied of all the white
cells in my celestial body.”
Your Lips by Micki Blenkush
“Because this is endearment not indictment
I’ll say that I admire the commitment you’ve recently made
to eating your berries with the knife used to clean them
rather than using a spoon.”
Kitchen Idyll by Robyn Groth
“Bored, my children open me up, like a fridge,
to find out what’s inside. I glow and show them
leftovers, mostly, some of them over a week old.”
Calladita Te Ves Más Bonita/You Look Prettier With Your Mouth Shut by Amelia Díaz Ettinger
“The expression that rubbed Luz raw was the one her mother used more often than all of her Ave Marías and all of her Ay Benditos—and she said those a lot. The one proverb that always made Luz feel ill at ease—and she was not too sure why—was: Con la boca cerradita te ves más bonita: you look prettier with your mouth shut.”
To Hanna Komar, Minsk, Belarus, September 2020 by Mary E. Kollar
“Your voice slips like smoke
between prison bars,
a jailer lights a cigarette,
considers the burning stub.”
Last time I saw my sisters by Angela Patten
“one was peering at a recipe
for risotto, the other
at the microscopic script
in an obsolete telephone book.”
I come from women who made love by Molly Pershin Raynor
“Each with a man
that stuck, waxy & scarlet as their lips on my
cheek, anointing me with gentle warnings &
measurements for the perfect chicken soup.”
Subject to Change Without Notice by Barbara Saunier
“You salt the egg anticipating
the salt. Count on the hill
for the view, and, when you get to the top,
there’s the view.”
You, I Said by Jennifer Pratt-Walter
“This is a place, I thought,
where words cannot bring us
safely back home.”
As If the World Might Hold Another by Allison Adair
“We approach
middle age as undiscovered country when
really it’s the same old alley, the bowling pin
that wobbles like a drunk but won’t go down.”
Toward Evening, Teton River by B.J. Buckley
“Polyglot wind: her too many voices,
her tangled tongues,
all of them sharp.”
Lake Macbride by Kathleen Maris Paltrineri
“In quietude I feel I am everywhere at once—my own body rehearsing its wintering act, too. I look up from the table to the far side of the lake to see a buck limping, his hind legs sixteenth-notes in the dry leaves. From far off, a shot sounds like an encyclopedia falling to a wooden floor and like the echo of its striking.”
I don’t know what to do for my own sons by Jessica Pierce
“One of my first shifts in the ER, I looked down the throat
of a young boy and saw a nail. The boy smiled. He coughed.
The nail quivered.”
Your Body, Still Your Body by Donna Prinzmetal
“It’s too good to last, this early sunshine in April,
this smell-of-cut-grass morning
and this body, with its mirage of infinite breaths,
its lie of immortality.”
My Mother Says She Won’t Outlive the Dog by Rebecca Brock
“My own heartbeat
neither wants or doesn’t want to live.
It just does.”
Passage by thandiwe Dee Watts-Jones
“It’s official: dementia and medication. Not unexpected. But getting the ICD code is like being pinned. Mom does not protest.
The transitions before me are not unique, I know. Yet the fact that they’re universal and part of life matters as much to me as cocktail party chitchat.
What I treasure are tiny pearls that appear in mundane surroundings, a particular moment between particular people.”
toward the south, past st ives by Livia Meneghin
“past weatherworn bluffs and farther than any bird known, the swift sleeps on the wing, leaving grief behind“ Enjoy this audio recording of “toward the south, past st ives” by Livia Meneghin from Vol. 32:2 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Livia Meneghin is a current MFA candidate and writing instructor at Emerson College. She
I Tell My Dying Cat Stories About His Food by Kristine Nowak
“He half-licks at the food, turns away, or shifts, licks at himself and tears out patches of gray fur. This food was living light, green where it drank from the sunlight.” Enjoy this audio recording of “I Tell My Dying Cat Stories About his Food” by Kristine Nowak from Vol. 32:2 of CALYX Journal! Buy the
La Femme by Nicole Miyashiro
“They tried to scratch off the paint. A portrait. They tried to scratch. A woman. The paint. A woman with a long face.” This audio recording of “La Femme” by Nicole Miyashiro from Vol. 32:1 of CALYX Journal was inspired by Diane Samuels’ art piece, “Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas/Testimony Against Gertrude Stein”, 2011 (ink
Soapstone by Courtney Huse-Wika
“We didn’t hear what she couldn’t say because the prairie stitches women’s mouths shut.” Enjoy this audio recording of “Soapstone” by Courtney Huse-Wika from Vol. 31:3 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Courtney Huse-Wika teaches writing in the Black Hills of South Dakota. She believes in the art of collection: overheard quotes, bird facts, forgotten stories,
Decisions by Livia Meneghin
“consider the (curious)(strained) way she admires the hummingbirds (hovering)(swirling) above her head, and the air now saturated with (teargas)(sun)(clementines)“ Enjoy this audio recording of “Decisions” by Livia Meneghin from Vol. 32:2 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Livia Meneghin is a current MFA candidate and writing instructor at Emerson College. She is the author of
What I Mean by “I Love You. Goodbye.” by Kristine Nowak
“When I imagine a life after this one, I imagine a field. And in this field, there are people running toward each other, delighted to be able to.“ Enjoy this audio recording of “What I Mean by ‘I Love You. Goodbye.’” by Kristine Nowak from Vol. 32:2 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Kristine Nowak
Absentee Ballot by Willa Schneberg
“You are tired of pretending to be the authority on democracy when you believe all governments stink, some just smell more rank than others. As you sing the praises of the secret ballot, you pray that no one will step on newly laid land mines walking to the polling site.“ Enjoy this audio recording of
Rings of Pink, Enheduanna by Nicole Miyashiro
“revolve this landscape encased by pulverized petals the stories round the wood in areola waves” This audio recording of “Rings of Pink, Enheduanna” by Nicole Miyashiro from Vol. 32:1 of CALYX Journal was inspired by Diane Samuels’ art piece, “Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas/Testimony Against Gertrude Stein”, 2011 (ink on handmade paper, coated in pulverized
Aubade with Hot Cross Buns by Siobhan Mulligan
“Unasked, she doesn’t think to pray. Half a bun is gone before she makes time, not for a holy act, but an attentive one, attuned to the soft chew of raisins on molars” Enjoy this audio recording of “Aubade with Hot Cross Buns” by Siobhan Mulligan from Vol. 32:2 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here.
Just Nerves by Caroline M. Grant
“The dentist reassures me that my tongue looks fine, that the sensation I feel of its edge fraying against my teeth is “just nerves.” He assures me that it won’t choke off my breathing. Mostly he has answered “I don’t know” to my questions, but I trust this (I don’t have much choice.) The pain
The Why Nots and The Whys by Marcie Roman
Enjoy this audio recording of “The Why Nots and The Whys” by Marcie Roman from Vol. 31:3 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Marcie Roman lives in Evanston, IL. Her stories have been published in Split Lip Magazine, Black Fox, The Gravity of the Thing, and Blotterature. Her collection, Residential Units, was a finalist in the 2019 Autumn House Press fiction
Facedown by Sherri Levine
Enjoy this audio recording of “Facedown” by Sherri Levine from Vol. 31:3 of CALYX Journal! “Facedown” was the winner of the 2019 Lois Cranston Memorial Poetry Prize. Read the full poem here and buy the issue here. Sherri Levine is a poet and teacher. She lives in Portland, OR, where she teaches English to immigrants
Sausage by Ilene Rudman
Enjoy this audio recording of “Sausage” by Ilene Rudman from Vol. 31:3 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Ilene Rudman is a psychotherapist and career counselor living in Maynard, MA. Her work and poems focus on remembering, nourishing silence, and naming the unnamable. For fifteen years she has been in a weekly poetry master class
The Rape of the Sabine Women by Judith Sanders
Enjoy this audio recording of “The Rape of the Sabine Women” by Judith Sanders from Vol. 31:3 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Judith Sanders’ work has been published in journals such as The American Scholar and on the website Full Grown People. She won the Hart Crane Poetry Prize and Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Prize. Her manuscript, The Universe
Isako Isako Review by Katharine Coldiron
Enjoy this audio recording of a review of Mia Ayumi Malhotra’s book, Isako Isako, by Katharine Coldiron from Vol. 31:2 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Buy a copy of Isako Isako here. Katharine Coldiron’s work has been published in Ms., the Times Literary Supplement, BUST, the Rumpus, and elsewhere. She lives in
The Multiverse by Emma Bolden
Enjoy this audio recording of “The Multiverse” by Emma Bolden from Vol. 31:2 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Emma Bolden is the author of House Is an Enigma (Southeast Missouri State UP), medi(t)ations (Noctuary Press), and Maleficae (GenPop Books). The recipient of a 2017 NEA Fellowship in Poetry, her work has been published in
Language Acquisition by Jung Hae Chae
Enjoy this audio recording of “Language Acquisition” by Jung Hae Chae from issue 27:2 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Jung’s poetry and prose have appeared in the CALYX Journal, Crab Orchard Review, Georgetown Review, MiPoesias, Third Coast and elsewhere. She teaches writing and lives in northern New Jersey.
Her Voice by Iris Dunkle
Enjoy this audio recording of “Her Voice” by Iris Dunkle from issue 27:2 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Iris Jamahl Dunkle was the 2017-2018 Poet Laureate of Sonoma County, CA. Her poetry collections include Interrupted Geographies (Trio House Press, 2017) Gold Passage (Trio House Press, 2013) and There’s a Ghost in this Machine of Air (Word Tech,
Reasons For & Against Dating Tyrannosaurus Rex by Emari DiGiorgio
Enjoy this audio recording of “Reasons for & Against Dating Tyrannosaurus Rex” by Emari DiGiorgio from issue 27:2 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Emari DiGiorgio is the author of Girl Torpedo (Agape, 2018), the winner of the 2017 Numinous Orison, Luminous Origin Literary Award, and The Things a Body Might Become (Five Oaks Press, 2017). She’s
Family Fest by Lynn Casteel Harper
Enjoy this audio recording of “Family Fest” by Lynn Casteel Harper from issue 27:2 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Lynn Casteel Harper is a writer, minister, and chaplain. She is the author of On Vanishing (Catapult, April 2020), a nonfiction book that explores the dimensions of spirituality, social justice, and dementia. Lynn received a Barbara Deming Fund grant
Halfway In by Judy Halebsky
Enjoy this audio recording of “Halfway In” by Judy Halebsky from issue 27:2 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Judy Halebsky is the author of the poetry collections Sky=Empty, Tree Line and the chapbook Space/Gap/Interval/Distance. Fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Millay Colony, and the Vermont Studio Center have supported her work. Her passions include the Moth-style storytelling
Saturday by Emily Tuszynska
Enjoy this audio recording of “Saturday” by Emily Tuszynska, the runner-up in the 2018 Lois Cranston Poetry Prize contest. Read the poem here. Emily Tuszynska’s poetry can be found in many journals, recently including Poetry Northwest, Salamander, The Southern Review, and Water-Stone Review. She lives in Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C.
What Hummingbirds Do by Louise Cary Barden
Enjoy this audio recording of “What Hummingbirds Do” by Louise Cary Barden from issue 31:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. “What Hummingbirds Do” was the winner of the 2018 Lois Cranston Poetry Prize. The poem can be read here. Louise Cary Barden is the author of Tea Leaves, winner of the North
Aubade for Dreamland by July Westhale
Enjoy this audio recording of “Aubade for Dreamland” by July Westhale from Vol. 31:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. July Westhale is the award-winning author of Via Negativa, Trailer Trash, The Cavalcade, and Occasionally Accurate Science. Her most recent poetry can be found in The National Poetry Review, Prairie Schooner, and Quarterly West. Her essays have been nominated for Best American Essays.
Burlesque by Hannah Fries
Enjoy this audio recording of “Burlesque” by Hannah Fries from Vol. 26:3 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Hannah Fries is a poet, writer, and editor. She is the author of the poetry collection Little Terrarium as well as the book Forest Bathing Retreat. She grew up in New Hampshire, went to Dartmouth College, and later
Women of a Certain Age by Penelope La Montagne
Enjoy this audio recording of “Women of a Certain Age” by Penelope La Montagne from Vol. 27:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Penelope La Montagne was poet laureate emerita of Healdsburg, CA. (2004-2006). She lived on the banks of the Russian River and learned most of what she knew from watching the
Thoughts on Gay Marriage While Visiting My Lover’s Parents by Judy Ireland
Enjoy this audio recording of “Thoughts on Gay Marriage While Visiting My Lover’s Parents” by Judy Ireland from Vol. 27:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Born and raised in the Midwest, Judy Ireland’s poetry benefits from the verdancy and barefaced authenticity of that working class culture which keeps her work grounded and
The Script by Rosa del Duca
Enjoy this audio recording of “The Script” by Rosa del Duca from Vol. 27:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Rosa del Duca is a writer, journalist, teacher and musician. A California transplant, she grew up in Montana, where she joined the National Guard at seventeen years of age. Four years later she
The Death of Chang and Eng 1811-1874 by Jennifer Fandel
Enjoy this audio recording of “The Death of Chang and Eng 1811-1874” by Jennifer Fandel from Vol. 27:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. In graduate school, Jennifer Fandel taught both at the university-level and the community, and she also began working in publishing at that time. Her work in the publishing field
The Air by Sandra Kohler
Enjoy this audio recording of “The Air” by Sandra Kohler from Vol. 27:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Sandra Kohler’s third collection of poems, Improbable Music, (Word Press) appeared in May 2011. Earlier collections are The Country of Women (Calyx, 1995) and The Ceremonies of Longing, winner of the 2002 Associated Writing Programs Award Series in
My Brother Who Doesn’t Speak to Our Mother Comes to Visit by Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor
Enjoy this audio recording of “My Brother Who Doesn’t Speak to Our Mother Comes to Visit” by Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor from Vol. 27:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Professor of TESOL and World Language Education in the Department of Language and Literacy Education, Dr. Cahnmann-Taylor’s honors include a 2017 Richard Ruiz Scholar-Artist Residency
Layl-tul-Qadr (The Night of Power) by Aisha Sharif
Enjoy this audio recording of “Layl-tul-Qadr (The Night of Power)” by Aisha Sharif from Vol. 27:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Aisha is a Cave Canem fellow who resides in Shawnee, Kansas, a suburb that borders Kansas City, Missouri. Her debut poetry collection, To Keep From Undressing, is available here. As an
Impossible Questions by Eugenia Leigh
Enjoy this audio recording of “Impossible Questions” by Eugenia Leigh from Vol. 27:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Eugenia Leigh is the author of Blood, Sparrows and Sparrows, winner of the 2015 Debut-litzer Prize in Poetry and finalist for both the National Poetry Series and the Yale Series of Younger Poets. The
If This Looks Odd by M.L. Brown
Enjoy this audio recording of “If This Looks Odd” by M.L. Brown from issue 27:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. M. L. Brown is the author of Drought, winner of the Claudia Emerson Poetry Chapbook Award, forthcoming from jmww in 2016. Her poems have been published in various journals and anthologies including Blackbird, PMS PoemMemoirStory, Gertrude,
How Does the Dog Spend Her Day by Margaret Hasse
Enjoy this audio recording of “How Does the Dog Spend Her Day” by Margaret Hasse from Vol. 27:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Margaret Hasse’s five books of poems are Stars Above, Stars Below; In a Sheep’s Eye, Darling; Milk and Tides; Earth’s Appetite; and Between Us. The books have been prizewinners and bestsellers. Hasse is
Good Friday by Sandra Kohler
Enjoy this audio recording of “Good Friday” by Sandra Kohler from Vol. 27:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Sandra Kohler’s third collection of poems, Improbable Music, (Word Press) appeared in May 2011. Earlier collections are The Country of Women (Calyx, 1995) and The Ceremonies of Longing, winner of the 2002 Associated Writing Programs Award Series in
after ten years, a net by Tamiko Beyer
Enjoy this audio recording of “after ten years, a net” by Tamiko Beyer from Vol. 27:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Tamiko Beyer writes to shape change: thought-provoking essays, poetry that pushes boundaries, and hard-hitting articles that challenge the status quo. She is the author of the award-winning poetry collection We Come Elemental (Alice James
A Wendy House by Molly Spencer
Enjoy this audio recording of “A Wendy House” by Molly Spencer from Vol. 27:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Molly Spencer’s poetry has bee published or is forthcoming in Copper Nickel, FIELD, Georgia Review, Gettysburg Review, The Missouri Review online, New England Review, Ploughshares, and other journals. Her critical writing has appeared at Colorado Review, Kenyon Review Online, Tupelo Quarterly, and The Rumpus. She holds an
After Reading a Letter from the Addict by Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor
Enjoy this audio recording of “After Reading a Letter from the Addict” by Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor from Vol. 27:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Professor of TESOL and World Language Education in the Department of Language and Literacy Education, Dr. Cahnmann-Taylor’s honors include a 2017 Richard Ruiz Scholar-Artist Residency Award (Guanajuato, MX); 2015
The Penelope Metaphor by Kyla Marshell
Enjoy this audio recording of “The Penelope Metaphor” by Kyla Marshell from Vol 27:2 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Kyla Marshell is a creative writer whose poems, essays, articles and interviews have appeared in Bookforum, BuzzFeed, Ebony.com, ESPNw, Gawker, The Guardian, Hannah Magazine, Kinfolk Magazine, O, the Oprah Magazine, PEN America, the Poetry Foundation, REVIVE Music, and elsewhere.
Collision by Jenna Rindo
Enjoy this audio recording of “Collision” by Jenna Rindo from Vol. 27:2 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Jenna Rindo’s work has been published in Crab Orchard Review, Crab Creek Review, and Blood and Thunder: Musings on the Art of Medicine. She lives in rural Wisconsin with her family, and small flocks of Shetland
The Farm Floats, It Disappears by Joni Lee
Enjoy this audio recording of “The Farm Floats, It Disappears” by Joni Lee from Vol. 27:3 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Joni Lee’s poems have been published in PMS: Poemmemoirstory, Juked, H_NGM_N, and elsewhere. She is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer and lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband and fellow poet,
Each Day I Open the Door to Damage by Emily Pérez
Enjoy this audio recording of “Each Day I Open the Door to Damage” by Emily Pérez from Vol. 27:3 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Emily Pérez is the author of Backyard Migration Route and a recipient of grants and scholarships from the Artist Trust, Jack Straw Writers, Bread Loaf Writers’ Workshop, Summer Literary Seminars, and
Entirely Lit Up from Within by Natalie Bryant Rizzieri
Enjoy this audio recording of “entirely lit up from within by Natalie Bryant Rizzieri” from Vol. 27:3 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Natalie Bryant Rizzieri’s poems have been published in journals such as Salamander Review, Crab Orchard Review, Oklahoma Review, Sugar House Review, Connotation Press, Redactions, Ascent, Permafrost, and Spec – Journal of
Cosmovore Finds Pluto Less Palatable Than Imagined by Kristi Carter
Enjoy this audio recording of “Cosmovore Finds Pluto Less Palatable Than Imagined” by Kristi Carter from Vol. 27:3 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Kristi Carter’s poems have appeared in publications including Alyss, Gertrude, So to Speak, poemmemoirstory (now Nelle), Nimrod, Naugatuck River Review, North Carolina Literary Review, Not Somewhere Else But Here:
Quantum Theory by Victoria Kelly
Enjoy this audio recording of “Quantum Theory” by Victoria Kelly from Vol. 28:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Victoria Kelly was born in New Jersey and graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University. A U.S. Mitchell Scholar, she received her M.Phil. in Creative Writing from Trinity College in
Resentment of the Dead Toward The Living Ann Gearen
Enjoy this audio recording of “Resentment of the Dead Toward The Living” by Ann Gearen from Vol. 28:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Ann Gearen is from Oak Park, IL, and worked for twenty-five years as a psychotherapist at a shelter for battered women. Her work is published in Primavera, Mobius, After Hours, and River
October Lines by Liz Minette
Enjoy this audio recording of “October Lines” by Liz Minette from Vol 28:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Liz Minette lives in Esko, MN, near Lake Superior. She’s been writing for about ten years. Publication credits include Abbey, Earth’s Daughters, Nerve Cowboy, and Many Mountains Moving, among others. She is part of a local writing
Kings of Metal by Erin Swan
Enjoy this audio recording of “Kings of Metal” by Erin Swan from Vol. 28:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Erin Swan is a writer of fiction and non-fiction whose work has been published in various journals, including Asia Literary Review, Bodega Magazine, and The Portland Review. She holds an MA in English Education from
How we Play with Dolls by Avital Gad-Cykman
Enjoy this audio recording of “How we Play with Dolls” by Avital Gad-Cykman from Vol. 28:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Avital Gad Cykman was born and raised in Israel, lives in Brazil, and writes in English. She is the winner of Margaret Atwood Studies Magazine Prize and first placed in The
Fall From the Sky by Kate Ver Ploeg
Enjoy this audio recording of “Fall From the Sky” by Kate Ver Ploeg from Vol. 28:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Kate Ver Ploeg has lived and biked throughout the United States and abroad. She now lives where she grew up and studies in the University of New Hampshire MFA writing program.
By His Grave Eight Years Later, Pete’s Hat by Catherine Freeling
Enjoy this audio recording of “By His Grave Eight Years Later, Pete’s Hat” by Catherine Freeling from Vol. 28:1 of CALYX Journal, available here. Catherine Freeling worked in theatre and as a public school teacher before finding poetry. She has been a finalist in the Rattle, Nimrod, and Bellevue Literary Review poetry contests, and a
Dali’s Clock by Tricia Knoll
Enjoy this audio recording of “Dali’s Clock” by Tricia Knoll from Vol. 28:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Tricia Knoll has degrees in literature from Stanford University (BA) and Yale University (MAT). Her poetry and haiku appear in numerous journals and several anthologies. Her most recent collection, How I Learned To Be
‘Twas Brillig at Marriage Counseling by Mary Moore Easter
Enjoy this audio recording of “‘Twas Brillig at Marriage Counseling” by Mary Moore Easter from Vol. 28:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Mary Moore Easter is a Cave Canem Fellow and poet/choreographer who mixes movement, text, and song, live and on video. Her chapbook is Walking from Origins. Professor of Dance Emerita at Carleton
The Second Son by Elizabeth Berlin
Enjoy this audio recording of “The Second Son” by Elizabeth Berlin from Vol. 28:2 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Elizabeth Berlin is a teacher, writer, and avid hiker in Tucson, AZ. Recent publications include a nonfiction piece, Death and the Canyon, featured in the Canadian literary, Room. The same piece was a headliner on the magazine’s website and
The Day We Searched for the Road with Our Name by Catherine Freeling
This interview with Catherine Freeling was conducted in 2016 and includes her poem “The Day We Searched for the Road with Our Name” from Vol. 28:1 of CALYX Journal, available here. Catherine Freeling worked in theatre and as a public school teacher before finding poetry. She has been a finalist in the Rattle, Nimrod, and
The Shear Magic Salon by Sharon Pretti
Enjoy this audio recording of “The Shear Magic Salon” by Sharon Pretti from Vol. 28:2 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Sharon Pretti lives in San Francisco, California. Her work has been published in Nostos, Spillway, MARGIE, The Bellevue Literary Review, The Comstock Review, The Healing Muse and other journals. She is an
Specified Tolerance by Carla Laureen Bollinger
Enjoy this audio recording of “Specified Tolerance” by Carla Laureen Bollinger from Vol. 28:2 of CALYX Journal! Buy the full issue here. Carla Laureen Bollinger is an author of cookbooks, Souper Skinny Soups and Vegetarians in the Fast Lane, travel, news editorials, and historical articles, but it is poetry that keeps her awake at night. She is a member of