With the added advantage that they are pedestrian friendly and a chance to get to know your neighbors better

From "Of Peonies and Murderous Doings" by Maryann Hurtt my grandfather tells a story how as a young man he made his way to Clay County backcountry Missouri where Frank James existed out his last years after a lifetime of rebel yelling-robbing and assorted other murderous doings

What are some indicators that I am no longer mentally/emotionally/spiritually present in a moment? #writers #writingprompt

Nancy Dillingham plucks our heartstrings as she writes movingly about some of the musicians we easily recognize and some that may be more obscure. Her poems strike all the right chords and are as righteous and true as a sad country song.

we swim in the mouth of the river we swim between the lines of our words swallowed whole by the weight of our becoming

Something I'm trying out every time I travel: "Instead of asking 'What’s near me?', GeoCards answers 'What is this?'"

From "What's After Making Love" by Sharon Charde I’ve traded my pretty body enough to know. At first it was easy. I had the map, knew, in a general way, the geography— apartment, child, house, his job, cook, clean, sew. Pregnancy made my long hair shine. The children wheezed and wrangled,

What am I grateful for today? #writers #writingprompt

Scott McConnaha’s poems are reflective of the many directions life has taken him.

Poetry pushes readers to pause for a closer look at life. It is an invitation to encounter the ordinary and extraordinary with wonder, awe, and sometimes even a little humorous irreverence. The poems in this debut collection by Scott McConnaha do just that.

One of the number one ways we can stop this harm FUND THE EVER LOVING SNOT OUT OF THE ARTS

I've worked with Laura on two books, and she is a delight to read

The speaker’s potential to cast a fly suggests life continuing alongside loss, the river flowing indifferently yet also holding space for remembrance and presence.

From "On the Cusp of the Pandemic" by Bryana Joy Beaird in the grocery store tonight the persnickety cashier smiled at me as though I were a so-loved friend she knew she would not see again

“In my mind, the narrator recognizes that Harper's fate could very well have been his own, and I hope that readers can relate, in the sense that we all have done reckless things, especially in our youth…” Read the #Chapbook #Poem by @rich-jordan.bsky.social. phillychapbookreview.org/chapbook-poe...

Book 29 of 2026 - Follow This Blood to Find a Dead Thing by Charles K. Carter, from Fernwood Press. #Poetry for the #100SmallPress project - I LOVED this book! Had to hold myself back from reading cover to cover in one sitting #BookSky www.goodreads.com/book/show/24...

Are there any uncomfortable conversations I am avoiding? #writers #writingprompt

El Bentivegna is a poetry candidate in the NEOMFA program through Cleveland State. They were the recipient of the 2025 Academy of American Poets University and College Poetry Prize. Their work can be found in HAD, *82 Review, and others.

Confirm Humanity is a searing, litanic whir: a looping meditation, a vibration attuned to the melodious glitch in reality’s artificiality. El Bentivegna renders the sifting materiality of language and associative thought with acute precision.

TriMet transit service in the Portland area will be free on February 4th in honor of Rosa Parks. More at the link here: news.trimet.org/2026/01/hono...

The most alluring helmet

Fascism wants you to believe that you are alone. That you are isolated. That the feelings you have are yours and nobody else has them because everybody is too afraid to speak. But love is stronger than fascism. Community is stronger than fascism.

Milwaukie Poetry Series Poetry Reading with Linda Knowlton Appel and Peg Edera Wednesday, February 11, 2026, 6 PM. Milwaukie Ledding Library 10660 SE 21st., Milwaukie OR 97222 Livestreamed on the Ledding Library YouTube channel

In Defense of Gentleness I teach my son to use dandelions instead of flame. —Nadia Arioli, Mother Fur (Fernwood, 2025)

Today's listing of the day is: Fernwood Press #WritingCommunity

How can I create meaningful connections with those around me? #writers #writingprompt

Through seamless and crafty associative leaps that leave the reader racing to catch up, El Bentivegna lets us pace along the snake-like coils of their poetic mind.

Prayer of Scalpel & Ash is a rare creation of song and scar, of deep vulnerability and raw humanity, of emotional complexity and simple witness.

After her son's death, grief felt “like a heavy marble coat I’d been sentenced to wear—forever,” raw and invasive, altering every experience. When a friend’s child asked if she and her husband would ever be happy again, her answer was simple: “Not for a long time.”

from "I love you in the new year" by Simone Parker January 1, 2014 sometimes, in secret, we dissolved from the inside within each other’s perfect hands. we’d bring stars, billions to the gravestone of the moon, poor thing, where little dewdrops form on all your enemies, still fighting.

from "Pretty Bottles All in a Row" by Carol Parris Krauss My grandparents’ home was thumb-smashed into the side of a mountain. The garage a dark cave with drills, hammers, and chains crisscrossing from the rafters. Above it was a wide porch. A swing at one end and a slider

"Stepping Out of Angel's Share in Late July" by Christine Degenaars Once again, I’m done up in a good-time-girl attitude, and there’s a man who’s walking past, saying: how can I talk to any female, they don’t understand. I want to grab his belt loop,

If I had it to do over again, how would I do it differently? #writers #writingprompt

Rob Greene is the founder and publisher of Raleigh Review, where the overall mission states a belief that “empathy allows us to see through the eyes of our neighbors, whether across the street or across the globe.”

Biloxi Back Bay is a baptism in saltwater and survival—a fierce, unflinching hymn to the Gulf Coast and the hard lessons it breeds. Rob Greene writes with the precision of someone who’s lived every line, turning poverty, addiction, and boyhood endurance into poetry that feels both bruised and holy.

This is something any of us can do and that all of us must. The people of Minneapolis (and so many others across time) are helping us to see what is possible

that little girl has every right to be on the sidewalk of her own damn city. she lives here. i don't want to hear any shit about how she shouldn't have been down there. she is a citizen of portland oregon and she is entitled to use of our public sidewalks at all times

If your children got tear gassed today I want to hear from you, even if you don’t live in my district. You can contact my office at [email protected]

"A friend of mine who has watched fascist takeovers of Central and South American countries has advised me to keep my mouth shut and stay safe and keep a low profile. I haven’t done that. We don’t give a shit about safe, and that has surprised everybody."

"Could This Be Where I Premiere My Memories?" —AceBot on what-would-i-say.com The end of the year means now I begin more recent stories, saying “This was back in X.” Perception of distance through the fabric- cation of time. I’m standing in January like it’s an airport,

What's a place that's shaped your identity? How does that place show up in your work? #writers

Hospitals, freeway underpasses, emergency rooms and public libraries provide the backdrop for these understated blues of memory and place. From the waterfronts of the deep South to the trainyards of the Northwest, they chart the ragged outskirts of contemporary America.

Toni Ortner lives in Vermont and has thirty-three books published by small presses. You can find her books, reviews, and listen to a recording at toniortner.com.

"This work doesn’t need my name anywhere on it. This work needs me to put the name of the community I serve on the cover, and for me to show up as often as I can to help them build the next chapter."

🚨Pub Alert🚨 CSU poetry candidate El Bentivegna has published their debut chapbook — Confirm Humanity — with Rockwood Press www.rockwoodpress.com/bookstore/p/...

NEPC Member Richard Jordan’s chapbook, “Spotting the Rise”, published by Rockwood Press, is now available! Get your copy here: https://loom.ly/NZjfW8o

In this week's #SundressReads, Ana Mourant Kenneth Pobo's newest poetry collection, At the Window, Silence, available now from Fernwood Press! sundressblog.com/2025/10/21/s...

I’m just going to keep publicly educating on all the players here and their roles/powers because every part of government needs to be using the levers we have to stop this machine and we need everyone to do their part.

Tricia Gates Brown has two books forthcoming from Fernwood Press, one of the imprints we work with under the umbrella of our parent company, Barclay Press:

Our own Scott LaMascus will appear at this year's 21st Annual Scissortail Creative Writing Festival