Matthew Dickman was born on August 20, 1975, in Portland, Oregon. He attended Portland Community College and graduated with a B.A. from the University of Oregon in 2001. Matthew and his twin brother, Michael, also a poet, studied creative writing at the University of Texas at Austin. They both went on to have brief stints…
Louise Glück was a poet who created art out of words. She wrote many books which won many awards, most famously the Nobel Prize in Literature. Many of her pieces were written based on her life. She lost her father, went through two divorces, and often struggled with her self-identity. In her early teenage years,…
Alina Stefanescu is a present-day poet and writer born in Romania. She currently lives in Alabama with her spouse. She constantly involves herself in the literary community, participating in workshops and holding leadership positions in many literary societies, such as Poetry Editor for Pidgeonholes, board member of the Alabama Writers Cooperative, and co-founder of 100,000 Poets for Change Birmingham, the town…
For as long as I can remember, I have had a great interest in mystery and hidden meanings; they have always been a subject that intrigues me and makes me want to know more or even solve it. When I read the title of the poem “Morning on the Island” by Carolyn Forché, I found…
When reading the poem “I Do Not Know Myself” by Hugh Seidman, I felt a sense of loneliness. The poem itself explores ideas of identity and belonging, and challenges the reader to think about their basic human existence and refers to the topic of discovering one’s self. This is a topic I can relate to,…
When I first visited Italy, I was excited to find out a temple-turned-church, complete with Latin inscriptions, was a mere brisk evening walk from my hotel. I also found there was a McDonald’s next to the temple. The irony felt deliberate, as if the universe had tired of subtlety, as if the collision of the…
Danielle DeTiberus, born in Connecticut, teaches creative writing at the Charleston School of the Arts. In 2016, she received a poetry fellowship from the South Carolina Academy of Authors. Her work has appeared in Best American Poetry, Arts & Letters, Missouri Review, Rattle, River Styx, The Southeast Review, Spoon River Poetry Review and elsewhere. She…