THE EXHIBITION
•
THE EXHIBITION •
‘Rainy Night’
Steven Downer Jr. is a guy from Tunbridge, Vermont, who wants to make a name for himself. More than just making a name, through his writing he wants to make an impact on the readers. He wants his poetry to be thought about years from now, something that makes the reader think
‘Fawn’
A. X. is an emerging mixed-race poet from Texas. Having simple roots from the homegrown suburbia of The Colony, they have been writing poetry since the age of 12. They enjoy playing guitar and lounging at home with their cat.
‘Tune of Tranquility’
Jessica Reyes is a graduate of Kennesaw State University, holding a BA in English and a Professional Editing and Publishing Certificate. Her work focuses on editing and creative writing, with interests in gender and women’s studies and queer theory. When not writing, she explores visual storytelling through post-production filmmaking and engages in her other hobbies such as music, gaming, and other narrative-driven media.
‘Pleas’
Cassady O’Reilly-Hahn is a poet with an MA from Claremont Graduate University. He is an editor for Foothill: A Poetry Journal that highlights graduate student voices. He works for Deluxe, a company that localizes TV and Film for a global audience. In his free time, Cassady writes Haiku for his personal blog, orhawrites and his Instagram @cassady_orha. Cassady currently lives in Redlands, California, with his wife, Anabelle, and their two pugs, Wyatt and Jasper.
‘A FRIEND?’
Hunter Prichard is a writer from Portland, Maine.
“A CARD FROM THE OREGON COAST”
Lynn D. Gilbert's poems, twice nominated for Pushcart Prizes, have appeared in such journals as After Happy Hour Review, Blue Unicorn, carte blanche, The MacGuffin, Ponder Review, Sheepshead Review, and Southwestern American Literature. Her poetry volume has been a finalist in the Gerald Cable and Off the Grid Press book contests. A founding editor of Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, she lives in an Austin suburb and reviews poetry submissions for Third Wednesday journal.Lynn D. Gilbert
‘Apology Unraveled Before Burning’
Cady Wu is a poet, writer, and artist of all sorts based in the Seattle area. She is a seventeen-time Scholastic Art & Writing Awards winner, and her work has similarly been recognized by Saints & Fleurs and the Chinese American Citizens Alliance, among others. She ultimately aspires to use her works to express the sentiment of being humanly beautiful. In her free time, she enjoys stargazing, baking, and hugging her tabby cat.
‘Sarabande’
James Ducat’s poetry has appeared in Penn Review, Carve, Bellingham Review, CutBank, Apogee, and elsewhere, has been featured on Verse Daily, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. His chapbook A Field of Nopes is from Bamboo Dart Press. His full-length collection Debris Orbits was a 2025 semi-finalist for both the Ashland Poetry Press Richard Snyder Memorial Prize and the 2025 Word Works Washington Prize. James holds an MFA from Antioch University Los Angeles and is professor of English and creative writing at Riverside City College, where he advises the literary journal MUSE. Find him at jamesducat.com.
‘grievances of schrödinger's cat’
Helena Wang (she/her) is a high school junior from Connecticut, USA. Though she's a previously unpublished writer, her work has been commended by Scholastic Writing and has made Finalist for DePaul's Blue Book: Best American High School Writing. Her hobbies include playing the viola, listening to indie-rock, and drinking overpriced lattes.
‘A Bench For One’
David Lavenda is a poet and physical therapist from Islandia, New York, with thirty years of experience working closely with patients through pain, recovery, and resilience. Drawing from both personal experience and a career spent witnessing the quiet courage of the human body and spirit, his poetry explores bullying, complicated love, legacy, and parenting. His work has been published in Academy of the Heart and Mind.
‘FRAGMENTS OF A DREAM’
Tamara Pantović is the author of the poetry collection "Shadows of our Shadows". Her iconic essay "I am not my hair" was published on the Montenegrina.net portal.
‘Nurse’
James B. Nicola is the author of eight collections of poetry, the latest three being Fires of Heaven: Poems of Faith and Sense, Turns & Twists, and Natural Tendencies. His nonfiction book Playing the Audience: The Practical Actor’s Guide to Live Performance won a Choice magazine award.
‘Is This Love?’
Devon Balwit edits for Works in Progress and broods.
‘Mountains’
Bella Melardi is a poet and author. She writes about the political and personal. She attends OCADU.
‘Wasp, On Bricks’
Emelia Delaporte is a recent graduate of Virginia Tech, where she studied English. In her time at the university, she served as editor-in-chief of Silhouette Literary & Art Magazine. Her work has been published in the Silhouette, the Shenandoah Avalon and the Floyd County Moonshine. She has work upcoming in Saw Palm, Mantis, Strip Mall and Nova Magazines. She currently lives, works and creates in Virginia.
‘A Satirical Study on the Linear Process of Grief (Or Lack Thereof)’
Krysha Santiaguel is a sixteen-year-old aspiring writer based in New York City. Her work has been recognized nationally by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. She enjoys writing poetry and experimenting with bold formatting. You can find more of her work on Instagram, by the username @kreeshei.