Molecule

— a tiny lit mag —

 Molecule
Fall 2020
Issue 3

Founded & Edited by Kevin Carey & M.P. Carver

Cover Art: Image by Matt Blease
Issue Design: M.P. Carver
 TABLE OF CON TENTS

Artwork Prose
SARA ATKINS NANCY BREWKA-CLARK
Thumbtacks • 6 From the Little Book of Myths:
MIMI AYERS Adonis • 7
Flag Dragonfly • 10 JON FAIN
RENÉE COHEN Chef’s Table • 8
Stirred • 15 ROSALIND GOLDSMITH
MARTHA ENGBER Of Two Minds • 9
Castor Bean Tree Seed • 18 AUSTIN HENDRICKS
KRISTIN FAUSKE My Friends • 11
Insect on Shasta Daisy • 22 ALISON LOWENSTEIN
MELANIE FAITH Trick or Treat • 12
B.S. Gilbert Bottle • 27 NANDINI MAHARAJ
SHARON GAYEN Science Class • 13
Sans Extinction • 33 JENNIFER MOORE
MAHIMA GIRI Second Trimester • 14
Cashew Butterfly • 39 COREY PAJKA
KATHLEEN GUNTON Background • 16
Macrolophus Spider • 44 ANNA PERKINS
D.W. HIRSCH Odysseys • 17
Fortune • 49 CHRIS SOBCZAK
MAROUN RACHED Summertime, Lakeside • 19
Ant Feast • 53 SHAY WILLS
OORMILA VIJAYAKRISHNAN For Sale • 20
PRAHLAD EUGENE YAKUBU
Cherry Dusting • 60 My Uncle • 21
PAGE RHODES
Casino Magic • 64
DEBORAH CHAVA SINGER Translation
Danger Blooming • 69 RONY VÁSQUEZ GUEVARA
LOUIS STAEBLE Iluminación • 23
Nail in Place • 73 TRANS. BY LAWRENCE SCHIMEL
Enlightenment • 24
 Interviews Poetry (continued)
ALFRED NICOL CATHERINE A. COUNDJERIS
with Rhina P. Espaillat • 25 A Tuesday That Became a
JENNIFER MARTELLI Sunday • 41
with Kevin McClellan • 26 DOMINIC DEANGIO
A Trike Now a Bike • 42
OLIVIA DELGADO
Review Costillas/Ribs • 43
BLAKE CAMPBELL WINSTON DERDEN
The Blood of San Gennaro/Scott Karmic Physics • 45
Harney • 28 R.G. EVANS
Beauty • 46
JESSE FOWLER
Drama [Blank Verse] • 47
JUSTIN CHATWIN ROBBIE GAMBLE
Ring Shopping • 29 Untitled • 48
JESSE FOWLER JAMES GIFFORD
The Mirror Self: A Play • 31 Scansion • 50
HANK KIMMEL HOWIE GOOD
Worry About It • 32 Tramadol • 51
GARY KOPPEL JOHN GREY
Hope • 34 In a Texas Bar • 52
KATE MCMORRAN PAULETTA HANSEL
I Don’t Want To End Up As A While Googling Adrienne Rich
Douchebag Character In One Of the Internet Gives Me Adrienne
Your Plays: A Play • 35 Barbeau, Known for Her Two
TYLER POWELL Enormous Talents • 54
Today in Covid • 36 MARY ANN HONAKER
Sewing Circle • 55
J.I. KLEINBERG
Poetry It takes courage • 56
JESSE BAIRD KATE LADEW
Molecules • 37 tennessee williams choked to
YUAN CHANGMING death on a pill bottle top • 57
An Other Creation List • 38 K. T. LANDON
ROGER L. COLLINS February, 2:00 AM • 58
What happens when a neutrino ANTHONY LAWRENCE
crosses the Einstein-Rosen Intellectual Property • 59
Bridge? • 40 TAIN LEONARD-PECK
Something’s Cooking in Ocean
Park • 61
 Poetry (continued) Poetry (continued)
ANN MATTHEWS PAUL SZLOSEK
A Good Dance • 62 Suppose • 68
ALEX MACCONOCHIE PETER URKOWITZ
Dear Horoscope • 63 My Tiger Roommate • 70
ERMELINDA MAKKIMANE ELISABETH WEISS
Morning Offering • 65 The Resurrection • 71
RICK NEALE SARAH YASIN
taxes pay their salaries • 66 On the Libyan Revolution • 72
JERRY ROBBINS
The Alligator • 67
CONTRIBUTORS • 74
SARA A TKINS

Thumbtacks
 NANCY BREWKA-CLARK

From the Little Book of Myths:

Adonis

Adonis was so beautiful that his own mother

desired him. Fighting off women became his métier.
But then he got fat, drank too much, and moved back
home. Overjoyed, his mother removed all the mirrors
and baked him whoopee pies every day.

P RO SE 7
 JON F AIN

Chef’s Table

That is the point, isn’t it? The old story, the

defining difference between art and craft. Every
instant of the great chef’s life comes to the table with
each dish. That time his mother yelled at him for
wetting the bed? That’s in there. Somewhere in the
sauce.

P RO SE 8
 ROSALI ND GOL DSMITH

Of Two Minds

I have a friend who always tells me exactly what I

want to hear. I would like to tell him I know he’s
doing this, but I’m afraid that if I say anything, he
will stop telling me exactly what I want to hear.

P RO SE 9
 MIMI AYERS

Flag Dragonfly
 AUSTIN HENDR ICKS

My Friends

I live with six ghosts.

All of their names start with the letter “J”: James,
Jocelyn, Jill, Jonathan, Jose, and Johann. Johann is
the favorite, but don’t tell Jocelyn; she’ll hide the
forks for a week.

P RO SE 1 1
 ALISON LOWEN STEIN

Trick or Treat

Despite living alone, the chocolate bar was hidden in

the crisper underneath the fruit.

P RO SE 1 2
 NANDI NI MAHARAJ

Science Class

He says “yes” to being my lab partner. A fish

dissection under fluorescent lights makes for an
enchanted afternoon. Our scalpels touch. This must
mean we’re married now.

P RO SE 1 3
 JENNIFER MOORE

Second Trimester

Emma hated the changes pregnancy brought with

it: the wings, the feathers, the large egg nestling
between the sofa cushions.

P RO SE 1 4
RENÉE COHEN

Stirred
 COREY P AJKA

Background

He watched from his stoop as a young man with

a smartphone at the end of a stick walked past,
addressing an unseen audience.
“Did I just become a background actor in
someone’s web series?” he wondered.
Somewhere in the soil, Zhuangzi struggled to
comprehend.

P RO SE 1 6
 ANNA PERKINS

Odysseys

Half of The Odyssey takes place at home.

P RO SE 1 7
 MART HA ENGBER

Castor Bean Tree Seed

 CHRIS SOBCZAK

Summertime, Lakeside

It’s all bronze bodies on towels in the grass.

Then there’s me, the pig in a blanket. The sole,
leftover hotdog. My sweat slick skin is an ant’s one
stop shop for their picnic salts and grease. Everyone
is kissing. I’m slapping bugs.

P RO SE 1 9
 SHAY WILLS

For Sale

1997 Red Mustang GT (dad’s mid-life car), five

speed V-8 (flew attack helicopters in Vietnam, loved
fast) convertible (under SoCal sunshine) new top
(drunkenly crashed through garage door one 6 AM)
fair condition interior (fumbled cigarettes) low
mileage (neuropathy, suspended license) $2000 (half
price, just take it!).

P RO SE 2 0
 EUGENE YAKUBU

My Uncle

My uncle is in a catholic hospital dying. Cerebral

meningitis—what we tell everyone. For lack of a
more euphemistic word, we resolve to pick this
among a list of other diseases. We don’t say it is
HIV. We want friends to visit him on his sickbed.

P RO SE 2 1
 KRISTIN F AUSKE

Insect on Shasta Daisy

 RON Y VÁSQ UEZ GUEVAR A

Iluminación

Como todas las noches, Antonio y Morgana

salieron a pasear. Mientras caminaban por la acera
cogidos de la mano, un poste de luz interrumpió su
camino; ella avanzó por la derecha y él por la
izquierda. Luego de unos minutos, terminaron su
relación. Habían sido iluminados.

TR AN SL ATI O N 2 3
 TRANS . BY LAW RENCE SCHIMEL

Enlightenment

Like every night, Antonio y Morgana went out

for a walk. As they walked along the sidewalk
holding hands, a streetlight interrupted their path;
she walked to the right of it and he to the left. After a
few minutes, their relationship ended. They had been
enlightened.

TR AN SL ATI O N 2 4
 ALFRED NICOL

Interview:
with Rhina P. Espaillat

Q: Whitman asked, “Do I contradict myself?” Do

you?

A: Everyone does, and so does reality. Poetry is the

perfect way to reflect reality, because it can say
opposing truths simultaneously. Those who love
poetry learn that early, and choose poetry
subconsciously, to tell the truth as we experience it.

I NTE R VI E W 2 5
 JENNIFER MARTELLI

Interview:
with Kevin McClellan

Q: “I was raised by canaries.” True?

A: “Yes”, said the canary.

Q: What is “the throat/of a poem”?

A: Duende.

Q: What lies beyond your line?

A: Myself. The unknown. The past-reliant future. A

boyfriend who may need to find me.

Q: Poetry and film: sisters?

A: Unidentical and fraternal, but twins nonetheless.

I NTE R VI E W 2 6
 MELANIE F AITH

B.S. Gilbert Bottle

 BLAKE CAMP BELL

Book Review: The Blood of San

Gennaro/Scott
Harney/Arrowsmith
Press/$20.00/74 pgs

“I love this life because there is no other,” Scott

Harney writes in his first (and posthumous) book.
For all their flirtation with transcendence, these
luminous poems never relinquish their foothold on
the physical world. Turning from them, “we can face
/ the bright flat wash of just another day.”

RE VI E W 2 8
 JUSTIN CHATWI N

Ring Shopping

Jewelry shop. Afternoon.

ANA
Something for your wife?
ROB
No.
ANA
Daughter?
ROB
No.
ANA
Girlfriend?
ROB
(awkwardly) Um…
(Beat).
ANA
What’s the occasion?

DR AM A 2 9
 ROB
It’s…a…
ANA
…Anniversary?
ROB
No.
ANA
Engagement?
ROB
No.
ANA
(frustrated) So, what’s the occasion?
(Beat)
ROB
(brandishing revolver) It’s a robbery.
BLACKOUT

DR AM A 3 0
 JESSE FOWLER

The Mirror Self: A Play

ACT 1, SCENE 1

Bar restroom. At sink with mirror. Dim.

DRUNKARD: Hey.
REFLECTION: …
DRUNKARD: You solid?

Fade to black. Curtain.

DR AM A 3 1
 HANK KIMMEL

Worry About It

SETTING: A kitchen. WIFE disinfects everything in

sight, including Dog and HUSBAND who reads
newspaper.

HUSBAND
Worrying about it won't resolve it!!!

(A PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIAL enters, carrying a

sign that says "RESOLVED: YOUR WORRYING
HELPED." He gives the WIFE a trophy, and exits.
THE END.)

DR AM A 3 2
SHARON G AYEN

Sans Extinction]
 GARY KOPPEL

Hope

Book store, autumn.

ANNA
Can you direct me to the ‘Self Help’ section?

CLERK
Well, that would defeat the purpose, now wouldn’t
it?

DR AM A 3 4
 KATE MCMORR AN

I Don’t Want To End Up As A

Douchebag Character In One Of
Your Plays: A Play

Marie and Henry have just broken up.

Henry: I just... don’t want to end up as a douchebag

character in one of your plays.

Marie looks out at the audience.

END OF PLAY

DR AM A 3 5
 TYLER POWELL

Today in Covid

I sterilize my mail. A little soggy and hard to

read, but okay after getting out of five-day
quarantine. Job interview on Zoom. Coat and tie.
Told Fritz—my German shepherd, “No barking!
Even if someone’s breaking into the house, just lick
my leg.” No pants.

DR AM A 3 6
 JESSE BAIR D

Molecules

Have you seen my wife,

whose molecules late disbanded,

whose words flew into poems

when she was sad,
whose remembered words
are still my brain's best atmosphere?
Her prayers stood up for others.

Has she still a voice

or just whatever noise gold makes?

POE T RY 3 7
 YUAN CHANGMI NG

An Other Creation List

—In this info-age, every posting is a

new post of news.

Day one: Wall Street Crash

Day two: Wall Street Harsh
Day three: Wall Street Chars

Day four: Wall Street Cash

Day five: Wall Street Rash
Day six: Wall Street Ash

Day seven: Blackout for e.rest

POE T RY 3 8
 MAHIM A GIRI

Cashew Butterfly
 ROGER L. COLL INS

What happens when a neutrino

crosses the Einstein-Rosen
Bridge?

Weightless subatomic sigh,

Breathed into a black hole,
Spiraling back through time—
Destiny’s loophole.
Because intrusion on the past,
Transforms the present to perhaps.

POE T RY 4 0
 CAT HERINE A. COUNDJERIS

A Tuesday That Became a

Sunday

A Tuesday afternoon
that became Sunday morning
in the coffee shop
over scones and latte
with the shopkeeper
next door,
looking for his tabby
snuggled in my lap.
The park across the street
is full of people,
tearing off their clothes
and lying down in pools of sunlight.

POE T RY 4 1
 DOMINI C DEAN GIO

A Trike Now a Bike

Front yard full of toys

Outgrown, overgrown
Kudzu tombs

POE T RY 4 2
 OLIVI A DELGADO

Costillas/Ribs

A cage behind which paces

a lion, un tigre,
a snapping, swamplandic, scaled
alligator
she slithers between bones
my serpent, Black Mamba
my Heart.

POE T RY 4 3
KAT HLEEN GUN TON

Macrolophus Spider
 WINSTON DERD EN

Karmic Physics

Why does the p-b & j

always land goo-side down?

Gravity, mostly,
but it could still mean

the universe
hates you.

POE T RY 4 5
 R.G. EVANS

Beauty

isn’t
the rose

it’s
the thorn

its kiss
upon

the
fingertip

the gift
of one red

drop
that’s

traveled
through

the
heart

POE T RY 4 6
 JESSE FOWLER

[Blank Verse]

, . :
, , , . .
( ). —
, . . .
,“ ?” –
“ ?” — “ …” —

POE T RY 4 7
 ROBBIE GAM BLE

[one dry leaf]

one dry leaf

catching

branch
after branch

as it falls

POE T RY 4 8
D.W. HIRSCH

Fortune
 JAMES GIFFORD

Scansion

Wrap tight your slight

form on me, deaf
to my want, like
stone. Might I
write no bawdy
tome in tune to
your taut form.

For I’m taught with

form in mind—but
lessons lessen
if you wrap warm
and break the
syncopations of
sclerotic skin-song.

POE T RY 5 0
 HOWIE GOOD

Tramadol

The label very clearly states

alcohol may intensify the effect.
I wash the pills down with beer.
Angels hoot all night in a tree outside
the National Museum of Death.

POE T RY 5 1
 JOHN GREY

In a Texas Bar

no masks

drink up

shout and laugh

and spit and cough

no one near
gets out alive

POE T RY 5 2
MAR OUN R ACHED

Ant Feast
 PAULETTA H ANSEL

While Googling Adrienne Rich

the Internet Gives Me Adrienne
Barbeau, Known for Her Two
Enormous Talents

“No one was even listening to me.

They were just watching my breasts precede me.”

POE T RY 5 4
 MAR Y ANN H ONAKER

Sewing Circle

He modded all his clothes:

added leather, velvet, ornate buttons.
He was handy with thread and needle.

Imagine walking into The Pit

to see him sitting back against
Out of Town News

surrounded by a group
of gutter punks, all
earnestly sewing.

POE T RY 5 5
J.I. KLEINBERG

It takes courage

POE T RY 5 6
 KATE LADEW

tennessee williams choked to

death on a pill bottle top

so just about anything can happen to anybody

and when anything someday happens to us
I want you to know
of all the world's incomprehensibilities
you were my favorite

POE T RY 5 7
 K. T. LAND ON

February, 2:00 AM

The field of snow reveals the stars

to themselves in the blue dark
of late winter, while the trees,
limned in ice, shimmer and dread
the crack of spring.

POE T RY 5 8
 ANTHONY L AWRENCE

Intellectual Property

I swear I left the right

hemisphere of my brain
along with my pangolin
scale cuff links
& A Field Guide to Self-
Illumination
on this table
beside the folds & scars
of Brontosaurus thighs
on a Moreton Bay fig.
Correction.
Self-Immolation.

POE T RY 5 9
OORMIL A VIJAYAKRIS HNAN
PRAHL AD

Cherry Dusting
 TAI N LEONAR D -PECK

Something’s Cooking in Ocean

Park

The free-for-all heated up. Cooking meat smells

filled the oasis. Everywhere coals burned, a thousand
crimson eyes in the darkness.

On the Fourth, freedom is a burned hot dog, potato

salad warming nearby, washed down by an ocean of
hot spilt blood.

POE T RY 6 1
 ANN MATT HEWS

A Good Dance

She liked the shadow

that her dessert fork
made on her paper towel.

She imagined
that she was dancing
in the negative space
between the dark tines.

POE T RY 6 2
 ALEX MACCON OCHIE

Dear Horoscope

Please, define soon

POE T RY 6 3
PAGE RHODES

Casino Magic
 ERMELINDA MAKKIMANE

Morning Offering

I sip coffee,
the news spilling out.
I cannot begin my day
any different.
Rain, shine or virus,
the saili tree outside my window
bends in exaggerated shame
as the wind lifts her leafy skirts.

POE T RY 6 5
 RICK NE ALE

taxes pay their salaries

today i bought
a bag of crisps

salt and vinegar flavoured

with 10% vat
i ate them with my wife
watching Queen & Slim

if things were fair i

would have choked

POE T RY 6 6
 JERRY ROBBI NS

The Alligator

Once there were some alligators

Who loved to cook up fried potators
No, I mean fried potatoes
Cooked by hungry alligatoes

POE T RY 6 7
 PAUL SZLOSEK

Suppose

Suppose Adam & Eve

listened to the whispering

of the apple,
instead took a bite

out of the serpent,

and developed a taste

for rattlesnake steaks,

would we all still be

luxuriating in Paradise,
with nothing to dread

except for ourselves

being bitten by treacherous,

venomous fruit?

POE T RY 6 8
DEBORAH CHAVA SIN GER

Danger Blooming
 PETER URKOWITZ

My Tiger Roommate

She moved in after she

Was cut from the reality show
Now she's going to auditions
Reading scripts
Waiting for a callback for the next big break
She cleans up her dishes
But that barasingha carcass in the freezer is
Edging out all my otter pops

POE T RY 7 0
 ELISABET H WEISS

The Resurrection

It’s not just the garden that regenerates in the spring

It’s me, I unfasten and open, shedding layers
of fleece like petals in the grass.
My pores drown
in sun.

POE T RY 7 1
 SARAH YASI N

On the Libyan Revolution

I can taste
blood
at the back
of my mouth.

It tastes like coins

and I can’t
spit it out.

POE T RY 7 2
LOUIS ST AEBLE

Nail in Place
 CONTRI BUTORS

Sara Atkins is a young aspiring artist. She lives in

Upstate New York with her boyfriend and several
exotic pets.

Mimi Ayers is a University of New Orleans

Creative Writing Workshop Playwriting graduate.
Her plays include MAN 2 MAN, CIRCUS TALES,
and DEFENDING EULALIE.

Jesse Baird plays guitar every day and teaches goat

ballet.

Matt Blease can be found on Instagram

@mattblease, Tumbler: mattblease.tumblr.com, or at
mattbleasegeneralstore.com.

Nancy Brewka-Clark highly favors flash fiction,

haiku, epitaphs, and epithets. Her debut poetry
collection Beautiful Corpus was published in March
2020 by Kelsay Books.

Blake Campbell grew up in Pennsylvania and lives

in Salem, MA. His chapbook Across the Creek is
now available from Pen and Anvil Press.

Yuan Changming (Vancouver) edits Poetry Pacific

with Allen Yuan. Credits include Jodi Stutz Award
in Poetry and Best of the Best Canadian Poetry
(2008–17).
 CONTRI BUTORS

Justin Chatwin is a Toronto writer and actor (not that

one). He’s currently writing a play about
Ellen Fairclough, Canada’s first female Cabinet
Minister.

Renée Cohen is a freelance writer and artist from

Canada.

Roger Collins is an African American professor

emeritus with the University of Cincinnati where he
received the university’s Cohen Award for
Excellence in Teaching.

Catherine A. Coundjeris volunteers as an ESL

Coordinator with the Literacy Council of Frederick
County. She is very passionate about adult literacy.

Dominic DeAngio graduated from the College of

William and Mary and now leads the Virginia Law
Foundation's Marketing and Communications
department.

Olivia Delgado is an elementary school teacher in

Tampa, Florida. When she is not shaping young
minds, she writes poetry, short stories, and
screenplays.

Winston Derden writes from Houston, Texas. His

wit and humor sometimes earn questioning looks.
Seventy-percent cacao chocolate is his favorite
source of caffeine.
 CONTRI BUTORS

Martha Engber’s next novel will be published in

October by Vine Leaves Press. She lives in
California with her husband, bike and surfboard.
http://marthaengber.com

R.G. Evans is retired—get off his lawn. His latest

book of poems, Imagine Sisyphus Happy, will be
published later this year. www.rgevanswriter.com

Jon Fain's tiniest fiction has also appeared in 50-

Word Stories, The Daily Drunk, A Story in 100
Words, and The Dribble Drabble Review
(forthcoming).

Melanie Faith is a poet, photographer, and

professor. Her latest book, Photography for Writers,
is available at Amazon. Learn more:
https://www.melaniedfaith.com/ and
https://twitter.com/writer_faith.

Kristin Fauske is fascinated by intersections

between art, mathematics and science, which she
investigates through macrophotography and other
intricate art forms.

Jesse Fowler is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer

(RPCV). He received a BA in English from Biola
University in La Mirada, California.

Robbie Gamble’s shelter-in-place is a notebook.

 CONTRI BUTORS

Sharon Gayen is a part-time artist inspired by the

sea, literature and geometry. Her works include
Pointillism, Kirie and Psychedelic art. Loves rain
and caffeine.

James Gifford has taught in six countries on two

continents. His recent writing is in SADmag,
Abridged, and Nashwaak Review. He tweets at
@GiffordJames.

Mahima Giri lives in Houston, TX. She loves to

explore art and poetry. Her poems draw an aesthetic
crowd at www.allpoetry.com/MahimaGiri.

Rosalind Goldsmith lives in Toronto and writes

short, sometimes very short, stories. Recent work has
appeared in Chiron Review, Fiction International
and Fairlight Books.

Howie Good is the author of The Death Row Shuffle,

a poetry collection forthcoming from Finishing Line
Press.

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident. Work

upcoming in Plainsongs, Willard and Maple and
Connecticut River Review.

Kathleeen Gunton's artwork graces the cover of

Arts & Letters, Flint Hills Review, Thema, and
Studio One to name a few.
 CONTRI BUTORS

Pauletta Hansel’s most recent book is Coal Town

Photograph. She was Cincinnati’s first Poet
Laureate. She is tired of only seeing people on Zoom

Austin Hendricks writes from Indiana about

whatever he wants. Upcoming works appear in Taco
Bell Quarterly and This Present Former Glory.
Follow on Twitter @hnitsua.

D.W. Hirsch writes memoir, living the lessons

learned from her father. Find her in New Jersey
coffee shops taking PokemonGO AR photos.
www.dwhirschwrites.com

Mary Ann Honaker is the author of Becoming

Persephone (Third Lung Press, 2019). Her work has
been nominated for a Pushcart prize.

Hank Kimmel, an Atlanta-based playwright, is a

founding member of Working Title Playwrights and
board president of the Alliance for Jewish Theatre.
www.hankkimmel.com

J.I. Kleinberg’s found poems have been published

worldwide. Artist, poet, and freelance writer, she
lives in Bellingham, Washington, USA, and on
Instagram @jikleinberg.

Gary Koppel is working with the City of Los

Angeles teaching memoir writing and storytelling to
older adults.
 CONTRI BUTORS

Kate LaDew is a graduate from the University of

North Carolina at Greensboro with a BA in Studio
Art. She resides in Graham, NC.

K. T. Landon is the author of Orange, Dreaming

(Five Oaks Press, 2017). She likes the serial comma,
birds, & data engineering.

Anthony Lawrence writes poetry. He lives and

works on Moreton Bay, Queensland.

Tain Leonard-Peck: High-school student. Skier,

sailor, fencer, farmer. Cave-dweller, shark-diver, not
defenestrated by temperamental donkey named
Shakespeare. Frequently bitten by geese.

Alison Lowenstein is a freelance writer and

authored guidebooks, children’s books, and plays.
She also leads creative writing workshops.

Alex MacConochie lives in Hartford, CT, and in

2020 received the Connecticut Poetry Society’s
Nutmeg Award, for a poem 184 words long.

Kevin McLellan—author of Hemispheres,

Ornitheology, [box], Tributary and Round Trip—
also won the Third Coast Poetry Prize and Gival
Press’s Oscar Wilde Award.
 CONTRI BUTORS

Kate McMorran writes to dismantle gender roles.

Her plays Love Child, The Registry, and In
Character went up in NYC. katemcmorran.com,
@kate.mcmorran

Nandini Maharaj is a writer and dog mom. She can

be found on Twitter @NandiniMaharaj_

Ermelinda Makkimane loves thinking poetry. Her

work has appeared in online journals and
anthologies. She has recently published her debut
book Her Story.

Jennifer Martelli is the author of My Tarantella.

She is co-poetry editor for Mom Egg Review and a
Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellow and Finalist.

Ann Matthews has been drawing, painting and

writing for over twenty-five years. More
of her drawings can be seen at annmatthewsart.com.

Jennifer Moore was the first UK winner of the

Commonwealth Short Story Competition. Her
children’s books (writing as Jenny Moore) are
published by Maverick.

Rick Neale is studying Creative Writing at the

University of Sydney after which he’ll return to
Cape Town and continue teaching high school
English.
 CONTRI BUTORS

Alfred Nicol collaborated with Rhina P. Espaillat

and illustrator Kate Sullivan on the
chapbook Brief Accident of Light: Poems of
Newburyport (Kelsay Books, 2019).

Corey Pajka is a Brooklyn, New York-based

playwright and author. He’s married to another
playwright, and they have a corgi named Sancho
Panza. https://www.coreypajka.com

Anna Perkins is a musician based in Kenosha, WI.

She loves big ideas, tiny things, and drawing and
writing with a cup of tea.

Tyler Powell has won awards in 15 play contests.

His work has been performed in New York,
Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, Florida, and
Ohio.

Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad is a Sydney poet,

artist, and improv pianist of Indian heritage. She can
never sit still.

Maroun Rached lives and works in Beirut.

Architect by trade, writer by passion, he wrote
political articles, reviews, screenplays, and a blog on
Lebanon.
 CONTRI BUTORS

Page Rhodes is a student. She adores the Beatles

and her cats.

Jerry Robbins fruitlessly attended college and other

places AND equal foolishly published three books
and too many articles.

Lawrence Schimel writes in both Spanish and

English and has published over 120 books for
readers of all ages. He is also a translator.

Deborah Chava Singer is originally from

California, but after some detours, mistakes, pseudo-
epiphanies and two years in Canada, she resides in
Washington state. www.latenightawake.com

Chris Sobczak has a writing degree, which is like

studying sports management and expecting to be a
pro baller. Find them on Twitter @chrispnugs.

Louis Staeble, fine arts photographer and poet, lives

in Bowling Green, Ohio. Web page:
staeblestudioa.weebly.com; Instagram@louiestaeble

Paul Szlosek is a poet living in Worcester,

Massachusetts who just placed third in the 2020
Frank O'Hara Poetry Prize.
 CONTRI BUTORS

Peter Urkowitz lives and works in Salem, MA. His

Fake Zodiac Signs chapbook was just published by
Meat for Tea Press.

Rony Vásquez Guevara is a Peruvanian

microfictionist and editor of microfiction journal
Pleiosaurio, in its twelfth year.

Elisabeth Weiss of Marblehead, MA, teaches

writing, works with refugee resettlement and is a
local history buff.

An army brat with a BA in English and writing,

Shay Wills is a divorced dad of two teens with
forthcoming stories and poetry.

Eugene Yakubu writes from Nigeria. His stories

have been shortlisted for GeraldKraak Prize and
Writivism nonfiction prize.

Sarah Yasin facilitates writing workshops in the

state of Maine. Her poetry has appeared in various
literary journals, including Lydwine Journal, and J
Journal.
 Molecule

Submissions for our Spring 2021 Issue

open December 1st. See guidelines on our
website:

moleculetinylitmag.art.blog