Robert Demaree

Robert Demaree is the author of three book-length collections of poems, including Mileposts (2009) and After Labor Day (2014), both published by Beech River Books. In 2013 his poems received first place in competitions sponsored by the Poetry Society of New Hampshire and the Burlington Writers Club. A retired school administrator with ties to North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, he has had over 700 poems published or accepted by 150 periodicals, including Cold Mountain Review, Red Wheelbarrow, Homestead Review and Paris/Atlantic, and in four anthologies including the 2008 and 2010 editions of Poet’s Guide to New Hampshire and Celebrating Poets over 70. He lives in Burlington, N.C. and Wolfeboro, N.H.

Read Robert's Poetry: 

• MYRTLE BEACH

• WEEDEATING JUNE 2013

• INDIANA TABLE RED

Rosa Farrington

Rosa Farrington is a self-affirmed book nerd living in South Florida with her husband of 15 years, her two beautiful children and their very cute dog.

Rosa has written poetry since adolescence, but has recently discovered the mid-life courage to submit her work for publication.  Writing has been her saving grace; she finds comfort in the rhythm and rhyme of words and has found that it is much cheaper and more gratifying than conventional therapy.

Read Rosa's poetry: 

• #ferguson

Gil Hoy

Gil Hoy received a B.A in Philosophy from Boston University, an M.A. in Government from Georgetown University, and a law degree from the University of Virginia. Gil also is an elected member of the Brookline, MA Democratic Town Committee, and served as a Brookline Selectman for 12 years.

Gil studied poetry at Boston University, and started writing his own poetry in February of this year.  Since then, Gil’s poems have been published in Soul Fountain, The New Verse News, The Story Teller Magazine, the Clark Street Review, Eye On Life Magazine, Stepping Stones Magazine, Harbinger Asylum and The Penmen Review. 

Read Gil Hoy's poetry: 

• A Sense of Self

• Small Packages

• Which?

• Gun Control

• Red, White and Blue

• Cover to Cover

Not Far From Ferguson

Not far from Ferguson
in South St. Louis,
a Bosnian man
was murdered days ago
by four teens--three Black
and one Hispanic.
They pounded Zemir Begic
with hammers
while his fiancée watched.

The newspaper claims
race didn’t play a role
in Zemir’s death but
the Bosnian community
felt otherwise as they
marched peacefully down
the main thoroughfare
in their neighborhood.

Today the newspaper teems
with articles about Ferguson,
something it has offered daily
in the three months since
the killing of Michael Brown.
But three days after the death
of Zemir Begic the paper offers
no further explanation.

No word either as to whether
the Reverend Al Sharpton
will come to St. Louis to meet
with the Bosnian community.
President Obama has yet
to offer condolences.

Most Bosnians in St. Louis
are immigrants who understand
hatred and discrimination,
having come to the city
to escape death in Bosnia
at the hands of Serbs.

This is not a good time
to be either Black or Bosnian
in metropolitan St. Louis.
It’s not a good time
to be anyone else either.
We are at best observers
in an urban forest
surrounded by
anger and gossip.

Many of us would prefer
a  bridge to crawl under
provided it’s home to trolls
who offer a silent night.
That might be the best place
to spend Christmas this year,
better perhaps than  
almost anywhere else
in St. Louis.

-- Donal Mahoney

http://www.stltoday.com/news/multimedia/bosnians-march-on-gravois-road-to-protest-the-murder-of/image_21f8ced9-50fa-5cc3-94fa-3b3cc6b7f967.html

Missouri Is a Sorry State

The woman, 81, is sightless.
She receives a blind
pension check from Missouri
and has for 60 years.
Her first check was for $51.
She received that every month!
Now, 60 years later, she gets $718.
And she gets that every month!
Some see the ogre of inflation rising.

Amid the cacophony
surrounding the death of
Michael Brown, the governor
has announced that this January
blind pension checks will be cut
$33 a month, saving the state $730,000.

In quieter times, the governor
might have found
the savings elsewhere.
He might wisely look again
because advocates for the blind
are livid to the max.

Normally the blind are quiet,
just trying to get along but
one can almost see them
with their German Shepherds
and their tapping canes
descending on the state capitol,
scattering the Governor,
Congress and the lobbyists.
Missouri is a sorry state.

-- Donal Mahoney

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/nixon-plans-cut-in-missouri-pensions-for-the-blind/article_c15d938c-4dde-5bc9-8840-ac7fd8567d7b.html

Joan McNerney

Joan McNerney’s poetry has been included in numerous literary magazines such as Camel Saloon, Seven Circle Press, Dinner with the Muse, Blueline, Spectrum, and included in Bright Hills Press, "Kind of A Hurricane" and "Poppy Road Anthologies."  She has been nominated three times for Best of the Net.  Poet and Geek recognized her work as their best poem of 2013.  Four of her books have been published by fine small literary presses and she has three e-book titles.

Read Joan's Poetry: 

• Present

• Movement of Pink Flowers

Nabeela Altaf

Nabeela is a twenty-one year old female hailing from Karachi, Pakistan, currently in her third year of medical school.  She has been a writer since the tender age of nine, adores books and can often be found among them.

“Books made me the writer that I am today, helping me in my grammar and spelling.  While other children were running away from words and anything that even resembled books, I was being raised on them. As a result of cutting my teeth on books written by Charles Dickens, Enid Blyton and even some Sidney Sheldon, I am able to elaborate my creativity to aspiring heights and reproduce my imagination on paper.  When I am not at my laptop writing, I enjoy quiet soliloquies and Need for Speed: Underground.” 

Her poem “Jar of Smiles” will be published in the literary magazine Poetry Pacific, November, 2014.  Her work has also appeared in The Screech Owl and Right Hand Pointing magazines.

Read Nabeela's poetry: 

• Attic City

• Waiter Boy

• 120 Days

• Lightning by the fir tree

Cindy O'Nanski

Cindy O'Nanski comes from a large family in the small town of Renfrew, Ontario, Canada.  Her passion has always been reading and writing poetry. She has written for many online publications, including a Facebook poetry group called Apoetseye. Her poems "Young For Years",  and "Unspoken Words" have been published in one of the group's collaborative books titled "Sonnets APE/APLS 2013."   Her poem, "Halloween Dreams," won a poetry contest in 2012 and appears in the book, "Spooky Poems" by Soapbox Publishing.   "Halloween Dreams" was also a finalist in the Mattia Family 15th Annual Poetry Contest in 2012.

Read Cindy's Poetry: 

• Under the Red Maple Tree

Gary Beck

Gary Beck has spent most of his adult life as a theater director.  His poetry collections include "Days of Destruction" -  Skive Press; "Expectations",  - Rogue Scholars Press;  "Dawn in Cities", "Assault on Nature", "Songs of a Clerk" - Winter Goose Publishing;  and "Civilized Ways", "Perceptions" and "Displays" will also be published by Winter Goose Publishing. His novel "Extreme Change" was published by Cogwheel Press;  and "Acts of Defiance" was published by Artema Press. His collection of short stories, "A Glimpse of Youth" was published by Sweatshoppe Publications.  His original plays and translations of Moliere, Aristophanes and Sophocles have been produced Off Broadway.  His poetry, fiction and essays have appeared in hundreds of literary magazines. He currently lives in New York City. 

Read Gary's Poetry: 

• Direct Current