is a writer and poet currently based in Philadelphia, originally from California. She earned her B.S. in Business Administration with a minor in Multicultural Leadership Studies. She was a Get Lit-Words Ignite Fellow in the Summer of 2021 and served as an AmeriCorps member with the Educational Nonprofit City Year Philadelphia (’21-’23). Keimahney is passionate about human expression and social advocacy.

is a Black, queer poet, and workshop facilitator. Her work has been featured in several literary magazines and on the popular Button Poetry YouTube channel. She is also the author of the book Falling in Love with Picking Myself Up. Through her work, Talicha is committed to delving deep into issues such as self-esteem, body image, and mental health.

Find her at talichajpoetry.com

is a first-generation, queer, Chinese-American. Her poetry has been featured in Emerson Review, Sine Theta Magazine, Honey Literary, The Wave, and elsewhere. She is a Breadloaf Writers’ Conference Contributor in 2022 and a Roots. Wounds. Words Poetry Fellow in 2023. In her free time, she hosts the Mx. Asian American podcast and Tucked in Bed podcast. 

Find more at karenzheng.com

is a community college professor in Cleveland Ohio. Her work has appeared in Rattle (Poets Respond), Book of Matches, Shelia-Na-Gig, Whiskey Island and Split this Rock, where she won First Place in the Abortion Rights Poetry Contest in 2012. She has two children—Winifred (9) and Henrietta (5), a dog (Josie), and a cat (Jenny). She has worked as a barista, bartender, abortion clinic patient advocate, union organizer, and fair housing tester.

Find her on Instagram @bridgetakriner | 📚 Read more by Bridget

As a poet and novelist, Annie explores the ways in which we populate our inner and outer landscapes with ghosts of our own making. She often utilizes tarot and other spiritual practices as part of her creative process: Spirituality serves as a lens through which she processes her emotions and experience. Annie is a lover of mythology, exotic houseplants, and dinosaur fossils.

Find her on Instagram @onewingedflaw | 📚 Read more by Annie

is a second generation Filipino-American poet and teaching artist who goes by the moniker, "Soul Stuf." Raised with a background in theatre, improv, and hip-hop, he has been honing his poetic craft for the past five years and has been blessed with the opportunity to work with some amazing artistic institutions such as Spoken Literature Art Movement, Get Lit! Words Ignite, and The Poetry Brothel, among others. His debut collection of poetry has just been released via World Stage Press, alongside his first ever poetry album produced by Fictitious Professor. Christian loves good quality boba and is often distracted by small to medium-sized dogs. Christian uses he/him pronouns.

@soulstuf | christianperfas.com

is a freelance writer and digital marketer. She writes personal essays, memoir, and poetry in Tulsa, where she lives with her husband and cat, Joan Didion.

Find her on Instagram @lorithewriter | 🎧 Listen to The Poetry Lab Podcast

is a queer, neurodivergent poet based in Santa Ana, California, who draws inspiration from travel, bodies of water, bodies in general, and poetry as a way to support mental health. She’s happiest when sitting on a warm, sandy beach sticking poems into notebooks, tending her garden, or cruising down the road — any road, really — with her loved ones. Rebecca uses she/her and they/them pronouns.

Read more by Rebecca ➡

is a budding poet, writer, and former Editorial Fellow for The Poetry Lab. Her stories have appeared in ¡Pa'lante!, The Plentitudes, Press Pause Press, and elsewhere. She has been a Harriet Williams Emerging Writer awardee by Literary Women Long Beach. Marilyn is the Fiction Editor for The Plentitudes and is currently working on a collection of short stories that contemplate womanhood, the body, Mexican Catholicism, and the power of blended language. Marilyn uses she/her pronouns.

@marilyniramirez

is a Philadelphia-based poet and writer whose work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Button Poetry, Midway Journal, Kissing Dynamite, The Broadkill Review, and other journals. She is the author of Self-Portrait as a Sinking Ship, is a Best of the Net nominee, and volunteers for Button Poetry, Write or Die Magazine, and Variant Literature. Erica uses she/her pronouns. Follow her on Instagram @poetry_erica & on Twitter @erica_abbott and visit her website.

Twitter | @poetry_erica | erica-abbott.com

is a writer, poet, mother with works published by Beyond The Veil Press, Nightingale & Sparrow and Sampaguita Press. You can find her @jessjunewrites. Jess uses she/her pronouns.

Read More by Jess ➡️

While her writing usually dabbles in sci fi/fantasy and abstract prose poems, this Llama will occasionally explore sociopolitical identity poetry in honor of April’s Arab American Heritage Month. Nadia has previously published Yalla, Habibi: Poems in 3arabeezi; Awakening, a selection from the now cobwebbed project Everhart’s Notebook; and an occasional light dusting of pieces in collections including Shuruq 4.5, Qua and A Teenager’s Guide to Feminism. Nadia has otherwise focused on creation of community-centric arts projects and workshops in Flint, Michigan prior to posting up in Long Beach. Nadia uses they/them and she/her pronouns.

nadiathellama.myportfolio.com | @nadiaathellama

is a queer poet based in Boulder, Colorado. She achieved a BFA at the Savannah College of Art & Design, majoring in Sequential Art and Creative Writing, and studied abroad in Southern France. They are the author of four poetry books, including One Thousand Good Answers (Sunday Mornings At The River) and Anti/Muse (Beyond The Veil Press.) They work as the editor and co-founder of Beyond The Veil Press, focusing on mental health awareness through poetry and art. Sarah uses they/them and she/her pronouns.

Instagram | Website | Linktree

is the co-founder of Not a Cult, a book publisher based in Los Angeles. He’s a producer spanning film, television, VR, and print media. He sits on the board of directors for community arts nonprofits Art Share LA and Junior High LA. (Photo by Jazzy Harvey.)

Website | Instagram | Not a Cult

is a writer and poet who lives in Denver. She has a bachelor’s degree in English Lit from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as well as a half-completed but ultimately abandoned master’s in public administration. She’s passionate about learning in community, artistic irreverence, and the feeling of finding the exact right word. Her poetry has appeared in Ghost City Review, Sky Island Journal, and elsewhere.

Find her on Instagram @ayla.poetry | 📚 Read More by Ginger

is an award-winning, Queer poet, playwright, memoirist and storyteller navigating the world with a chronic illness. She is a faculty member of the Community Literature Initiative through the Sims Library of Poetry. She was the 2020 recipient of the Milestone Award presented by Wyoming Writers Inc., and the Rising Star Award presented by the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce. She was the 2021 recipient of the Peter K. Hixson Memorial Award in poetry and was nominated as a Wyoming Woman of Influence in the arts category for her work in amplifying the voices of the LGBTQ and disabled communities in Wyoming through her writing.

Find her at annemariewellswriter.com | 📚 Read More by Anne Marie

is a Queer Punjabi Canadian poet, writer, book reviewer & blogger. Her poetry & nonfiction has been published in The Poetry Lab Resource Center, Harness Magazine, Usawa Literary Review, Salt & Citrus, in three anthologies by Beyond the Veil Press and in a forthcoming anthology by Read or Green Books. Kris volunteers with The Poetry Lab, Beyond the Veil Press and Crow Collective.

Find her on Instagram @krisesque_life | 📚 Read More by Kris

is a CSULB alumna with a BA in creative writing. Her poetry has appeared in the Santa Clara Review, ¡Pa'lante!, PSPoets, Dig Magazine, MadWomxn Magazine, Rice and Spice, and Prometheus Dreaming. Jessi serves as a staff writer for Antifragile and is the founder of "Grieving is Good for You," a virtual poetry workshop centered on the importance of expressing one’s joy and grief, launched early this year. Jessi hopes to soon pursue an MFA in creative writing and eventually teach at the college level.

Find her on Instagram @jessijarrin

is a neurodivergent poet from Tracy, California. He is currently pursuing an MFA at Randolph College. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in HAD, Heavy Feather Review, Drunk Monkeys, Rejection Letters, and elsewhere. He is the founding editor of Plum Recruit.

is an intersectional feminist, poet, and teaching artist. She is host of The Poetry Lab Podcast and a 2023 artist grantee for the California Creative Corps. Danielle is the author of Makes the Daughter-in-Law Cry, winner of the Clockwise Chapbook Prize. Her poems have appeared in journals such as Hayden’s Ferry Review, Vinyl, Four Way Review, Transom, Connotation Press, and others. She is a proud co-founder of The Poetry Lab and currently serves as the organization’s Executive Director.

Find her at imaginarydani.com | 📚 Read More by Danielle | 🎧 Listen to The Poetry Lab Podcast