in parentheses

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The January 2024 Edition of In Parentheses is now available on print and digital platforms!

Click here to view the entire edition for free and compatible viewing at our MagCloud marketplace. You may choose to also purchase digital or print editions in various formats. In any case, we thank you for your support of In Parentheses!

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In the Winter 2024 Edition, our 26th release to date, we have featured the following esteemed contributors.

(If you are a contributor please click here.)

Poetry

“Peace and Wisdom Across a Kingdom” & “The Mirror of a Seer” — Alex Andy Phuong earned his Bachelor of Arts in English from California State University—Los Angeles in 2015. He was a former Statement Magazine editor who currently writes passionately. He has written film reviews for MovieBoozer, and has contributed to Mindfray. He writes hoping to inspire the ones who dream. — 13

“The Art of All” & “Re Quest” — James B. Nicola, a returning contributor to IP, is the author of eight collections of poetry, the latest being Fires of Heaven: Poems of Faith and Sense, Turns & Twists, and Natural Tendencies. His nonfiction book Playing the Audience: The Practical Actor’s Guide to Live Performance won a Choice magazine award. — 13

“MacShlappy Wizza’s Comeback Piper Tune” — Sean Meggeson lives in Toronto, Canada. He works full time as a psychotherapist. He has lectured on a diverse range of topics including: Lacan & James Joyce, Neurodiversity, and alternative rock music. He holds a M.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Denver. — 14

“Anne Boleyn” — Emma Wells is a mother and English teacher. She has poetry published with various literary journals and magazines. She enjoys writing flash fiction and short stories also. Emma won Wingless Dreamer’s Bird Poetry Contest of 2022 and her short story entitled ‘Virginia Creeper’ was selected as a winning title by WriteFluence Singles Contest in 2021. Recently, she won Dipity Literary Magazine’s 2024 Best of the Net Nominations for Fiction with her short story entitled ‘The Voice of a Wildling.’ — 14

“Super America” — Will Neuenfeldt studied English at Gustavus Adolphus College and his poems are published in Capsule Stories, Months to Years, and Red Flag Poetry. He lives in Cottage Grove, MN, home of the dude who played Steven Stifler in those American Pie movies and a house Teddy Roosevelt slept in. Instagram.com/wjnpoems. — 15

“the word that lost me the third-grade spelling bee” — Britley Adler is a previously unpublished poet who writes about religion, family, and politics. Before you ask: yes, she’s real fun at parties. In fourth grade, she wrote a short story about a toaster – the rest is history. Britley lives in Utah with her dog, two cats, and mathematics degree. — 18

“Rock” — Sally Connors is a writer living in the Bronx, New York. Her poetry has been published in Orange Blush Zine, Three Line Poetry and The Literary Hatchet. — 18

“A Tea-bag” & “Drying-drops” — O.P. Jha’s poems and fictions appeared in journals like The Indian Literature, The Daily Tribune, Rigorous, Mantis, You Might Need To Hear This, Punt Volat, Zoetic Press, Discretionary Love and others. He is the author of an inspiring book Management Guru Lord Krishna. Email: opjha189@yahoo.com, twitter: @OPJha17 — 18-19

“Quantity over Quantity” & “2 Weeks Notice” — Robin Gow is a trans poet and witch from rural Pennsylvania. It is the author of several poetry books, an essay collection, YA, and Middle-Grade novels in verse, including Dear Mothman and A Million Quiet Revolutions. Learn more at RobinGow.Com — 19-20

“The Battleground” — Edward Michael Supranowicz has had artwork and poems published in the US and other countries. Both sides of his family worked in the coalmines and steel mills of Appalachia. — 20

“One Unexpected Day” & “Indecipherable Rain” — Joseph Hardy, a reformed human resource consultant, lives in Nashville, Tennessee. He is the author of two books of poetry, The Only Light Coming In and Becoming Sky, through Bambaz Press Los Angeles, and a picture book, At the Reading of the Will—And a Boy’s Life Thereafter, IngramSpark. — 20

“Renovations” & “Polecat Summer Vacation” — Travis Stephens is a tugboat captain who resides with his family in California. Recent credits include: 2River, Concho River Review, Sheila-Na-Gig, Hole in the Head Review, GRIFFEL, and The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. — 21

“The Apathetic Lovers” — Lee Clark Zumpe, an entertainment editor with Tampa Bay Newspapers, earned his degree in English at the University of South Florida. He began writing poetry and fiction in the early 1990s. His work has regularly appeared in a variety of literary journals and genre magazines over the last two decades.    — 21 

Trees Speak” & “Drowned Thought” — Alice Pero’s book, Thawed Stars, was praised by Kenneth Koch as having “clarity and surprises.” Her poems have been published in anthologies: Wide Awake, Coiled Serpent, We Are Here, Altadena Poetry Review and many magazines. She is the 10th Poet Laureate of Sunland/Tujunga and founder of the reading series, “Moonday.” — 24

“Brother, Brother” & “Free Men Escaping By the Full Moon / How Something Never Should Have Been in America” — Paul Dickey is the author of several collections of poetry, including They Say This is How Death Came Into the World (Mayapple Press, 2011) and Wires Over the Homeplace (Pinyon Publishing, 2013) as well as multiple chapbooks and e-books.  Dickey received the 2015 Master Poet award from the Nebraska Arts Council. His poetry, prose poetry, drama, short stories and flash fiction have appeared in over two hundred online and print publications. More info is available at his website: http://pauldickey9.wix.com/paul-dickey. Dickey lives in Omaha and is retired from teaching in philosophy. — 25

“Construere” — Sophia Nasca is a burgeoning eighteen-year-old writer from Buffalo, NY. She attends Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and is currently compiling a collection of poems titled Forthright. Nasca’s prose traverses the intricacies of the mind, the often troubling themes of love and femininity, and the interwoven connections between human emotions and nature. — 25

“Crop” — Meredith MacLeod Davidson is a poet and writer from Virginia, currently based in Scotland, where she recently earned an MLitt in Creative Writing from The University of Glasgow. Meredith has work published or forthcoming in Cream City Review, Poetry South, Lone Mountain Literary Society and elsewhere, and serves as senior editor for Arboreal Literary Magazine. — 25

“New Years’ Day” & “Red Riding Hood’s Husband” — Christian Ward is a UK-based poet with work is forthcoming in Acumen, Spelt, Dream Catcher, and Dreich. He was longlisted for the 2023 Aurora Prize for Writing, shortlisted for the 2023 Ironbridge Poetry Competition and 2023 Aesthetica Creative Writing Award, and won the 2023 Cathalbui Poetry Competition. — 26

“Plan-Séquence” & “This Graphic Is an Apricot” — Sophia Terazawa is the author of three collections, including the forthcoming Oracular Maladies with Noemi Press. She has also published chapbooks, I am Not A War and Correspondent Medley, winner of the 2018 Tomaž Šalamun Prize. Her debut novel is forthcoming with A Strange Object. Her favorite color is purple. — 26-27

“Out There” & “All Gone Now” — Fabrice Poussin is a professor of French and World Literature. His work in poetry and photography has appeared in Kestrel, Symposium, The Chimes, and hundreds of other publications worldwide. Most recently, his collections In Absentia, and If I Had a Gun, Half Past Life were published in 2021, 2022, and 2023 by Silver Bow Publishing. — 26-27

“A Baleful Eye” & “Viral Flight” — Rohan Buettel lives in Canberra, Australia. His haiku appear in various Australian and international journals (including Presence, Cattails and The Heron’s Nest). His longer poetry appears in more than fifty journals, including The Goodlife Review, Rappahannock Review, the Penumbra Literary and Art Journal, Passengers Journal, Reed Magazine, Meniscus and Quadrant. — 27

“Mother-Daughter Date after Hospital” & “2 Timberline” — Sylvia Foster is an MFA candidate in poetry at the University of Arkansas. Her work dwells on altered states of consciousness such as dreams, memories, and dissociative episodes. Her work has been published in Beyond Words, Sad Girl Diaries, and elsewhere. — 28

“Clipping Coupons” & “Too-tight Shoes” — M. Ocampo McIvor was born in the Philippines, raised in Toronto, Canada, and currently calls both Toronto and Seattle home. Her work has been featured in The Bangalore Review, Pine Row Press, Burningword Literary, and others. She is the author of Ugly Things We Hide and Who Knows You Best. — 29

“Spacetime Wits” & “Possessed” — Rich Murphy’s First Aid was published this summer by Resource Publications at Wipf and Stock that has also published Meme Measure; Space Craft; and Practitioner Joy. His poetry has won The Poetry Prize twice (Americana, 2013 and The Left Behind, 2021) and Gival Press Poetry Prize Voyeur. — 30

“The Making of A Naturalist” & “The Composer” — Anne Whitehouse’s poems, “Burnt Statues” and “In Tandem” previously appeared in In Parentheses. Her new poetry collection is Steady, from Dos Madres Press. — 30-31

“Beware That Snow White Corpse and Its Soul” — Mississippian John Horváth has published poetry internationally since the 1960s. In total Horvath has published nearly 500 poems since the 70’s. After a bad parachute drop in Iraq leaving him 100% disabled, “Doc” Horváth taught at historically Black colleges. To promote contemporary international poetry, Horváth edited the magazine at http://www.poetryrepairs.com from 1997 to 2017. — 31

“Just Hands” & “Dave at the Store, a Day after the Funeral” — John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in New World Writing, California Quarterly and Lost Pilots. Latest books, Between Two Fires, Covert and Memory Outside The Head are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in Isotrope Literary Journal, Seventh Quarry, La Presa and Doubly Mad. — 32

“Making Waffles for the Syrup” — Gerardo Lamadrid Castillo is a Puerto Rican writer based in Hamilton, Ontario. They have a BA in English from Vassar College and an MFA in Creative Writing from UC Davis. Their work has been featured in Action, Spectacle, Manzano Mountain Review and la Revista del ICP. Gerardo loves to cook. — 33

“Poem To Be Read on Inauguration Day” — Tim Kahl is the author of five books of poems, most recently Omnishambles (Bald Trickster, 2019), California Sijo (Bald Trickster, 2022) and Drips, Spills, Bursts, Tangles, and Washes (Cold River Press, 2024). He is also an editor of Clade Song [http://www.cladesong.com]. He builds flutes, plays them and plays guitars, ukuleles, charangos and cavaquinhos as well. He currently teaches at California State University, Sacramento, where he sings lieder while walking on campus between classes. [http://www.timkahl.com] [https://soundcloud.com/tnklbnny] — 34

“Seven Snippets” — An award-winning poet, Tor Rose writes for those pursuing autonomy from post-modern norms. Her satirical musings have gained international traction with Publisher’s Weekly, Aesthetica Magazine, Red Cedar Review and Drunk Monkeys, upon others. When she’s not indulging in the likes of her literary heroes, she’s either wandering museums or smothering her cat. — 34

“By The Horns” & “Love Psalm 11:18” — Harley Anastasia Chapman holds an MFA in poetry from Columbia College Chicago. Her poems have been published in Nimrod International Journal, Atlanta Review, Fatal Flaw Literary Journal, Superstition Review, Bridge Eight Press, & Columbia Poetry Review, among others. Harley’s first chapbook, Smiling with Teeth, is available through Finishing Line Press. — 35

“Naked” & “Moonlight” — Emily Atkinson-Dalton is a freelance writer and charities coordinator living in the South West of England. She is an avid writer and artist, who particularly enjoys exploring themes such as mental health, grief, love, death, horror and nature as well as musing about various elements of life through her creativity. — 36

“Sympathy for the Asses” — Dr. Walker Zupp is a Bermudian poet and writer. He has published poetry, non-fiction, and film-criticism about the films of Jamaa Fanaka. His speculative novels include Martha, Nakadai, and Jiggery Pokery. His fourth novel, Fibber, will be published by Montag Press on 1st February 2024. He currently resides in Truro, Cornwall. — 37

“Fountain Speak,” “Mess Dance,” “Buckling Down” & “Spin Song”— Phillipe Martin Chatelain is the Managing Editor of In Parentheses. He is a poet from New York City with a Masters Degree in Poetry from The New School. He writes as someone in the tradition of the urban troubadour or the flaneur–wandering, taking notes. He believes that poetry of our generation has taken on a much more digital definition. Furthermore, it is important for New Modernist writers like those exhibited in In Parentheses Literary Magazine to assume the forms of media available in order to carry on the history of Sublime Art. His series taking shots alone was self-published in 2012-2015. The self-published collection FACETS (2019) is now available. @philo.den — 38-39

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Long Form & Prose

“An Invocation of Reason” — R. P. Singletary is a lifelong writer, a budding playwright, and a native of the rural southeastern United States, with recent fiction, poetry, and drama published or upcoming in Literally Stories, Litro, BULL, Cream Scene Carnival, Cowboy Jamboree, Teleport, CafeLit, JONAH, Ancient Paths Christian Literary, EBB, Flora Fiction, Ariel Chart, Syncopation, Last Leaves, Stone of Madness, Written Tales, Wicked Gay Ways, Fresh Words, The Chamber, Wingless Dreamer, Screen Door Review, Microfiction Monday, mini plays, Pink Disco, Lost Lake Folk Opera, The Stray Branch, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Bending Genres, and elsewhere. — 42

“The Little Things” — Before Michael Stonebow became a writer, he traveled to all seven continents. But he currently resides in Silver Spring, MD with his wife and two daughters. He is pursuing his MA in Creative Writing at Johns Hopkins University, and is a member of various critique circles with other like-minded folk in the program. He was selected to be a judge for the 2017 Montgomery Writes Contest in Montgomery magazine, and was selected for a month-long residency at Spark Box Studio in Picton, Ontario. You can follow Michael on Instagram @michaelstonebow. — 43

“Ghost” — Toni Kochensparger was born in Kettering, Ohio and now lives in Ridgewood, New York, where they write jokes on trash that they find on the street. Their short stories can be found in Kelp Journal, miniMAG, Caveat Lector, Poor Ezra’s Almanac, Bulb Culture Collective, Free Spirit, Breathe Bold, Alien Buddha, A Thin Slice of Anxiety, The Writing Disorder, Two Two One, and Scribble. Their work can be found online at linktr.ee/gothphiliproth — 44

“Voyeur”— Lukas Tallent lives in New York City. His work has recently appeared in Bull: Men’s Fiction, Vast Chasm, HAD, and many other places. His chapbook, The Compromising Position, is available now from Bottlecap Press. You can find more of him at lukas-tallent.com or lukastallent.substack.com. — 45

“Pap” — Travis Harman is a current MFA student at Wilkes University where he obtained his Master of Arts in nonfiction. Publications for nonfiction include, The Antonym, Line of Advance Literary Review, As You Were: The Military Review Vol. 18, So We All Say, and Proud to Be: Volume 12 Anthology. Travis was a finalist for the 2022 Annie Dillard Creative Nonfiction Award. His debut memoir, Remote Outpost, is set for release April 2024 by Pen and Sword Books. — 46

“The Circle of Life” — Polish by birth, J. B. Polk is a citizen of the world by choice. First story short-listed for the Irish Independent/Hennessy Awards, Ireland, 1996. Since she went back to writing fiction in 2020, more than 70 of her stories, flash fiction and non-fiction, have been accepted for publication. She has recently won 1st prize in the International Human Rights Arts Movement literary contest. — 47

“La Otra Mujer” — Dee Allen. is an African-Italian performance poet based in Oakland, California. Active on creative writing & Spoken Word since the early 1990s. Author of 8 books—Boneyard, Unwritten Law, Stormwater, Skeletal Black [all from POOR Press], Elohi Unitsi [Conviction 2 Change Publishing], Rusty Gallows: Passages Against Hate [Vagabond Books], Plans [originally Nomadic Press, now re-issued from Black Lawrence Press] and coming in February 2024, Crimson Stain [EYEPUBLISHEWE]—and 72 anthology appearances under his figurative belt so far. — 50-51

“Porcelain and Paint” — Rachel Racette, Metis, born 1999 in Balcarres, Saskatchewan. Interested in creating her own world and characters and loves writing science-fiction and fantasy. She has always loved books of fantasy and science fiction as well as comics. Lives with her supportive family and cat, Cheshire. Lives vicariously in fantasy settings of her own making. Published in: Poet’s Choice – Free Spirit, Arthropod Literary Journal Issue 1, Underwood Press, Coffin Bell. — 52

“Ellis Bell” — Emma Wells is a mother and English teacher. She has poetry published with various literary journals and magazines. She enjoys writing flash fiction and short stories also. Emma won Wingless Dreamer’s Bird Poetry Contest of 2022 and her short story entitled ‘Virginia Creeper’ was selected as a winning title by WriteFluence Singles Contest in 2021. Recently, she won Dipity Literary Magazine’s 2024 Best of the Net Nominations for Fiction with her short story entitled ‘The Voice of a Wildling’. — 53-54

“Welcome to Luxora: The Galaxy’s first Perfect Planet” — Celia Collopy is a poet and writer residing in Brooklyn, New York. Her work can be found in publications including Poet’s Choice, Written Tales, and the Australian literary magazine Kindred Republic. In her spare time, she paints, occasionally plays the harp, and experiences extreme choice paralysis at regular intervals. Don’t find her online. Instead, find her standing in the yogurt section of the grocery store, reading every label in full. Find her staring at you in the bottom-left corner of one of your fever dreams. Find her running from an unknown force at an immeasurable speed across an empty field. — 54-55

“Arenafortis™” — Grace Dickerson is a writer and Alabama native now living in the state of Georgia. She has a BA in English and Marketing from the University of Alabama. Although she does not consider herself new to writing, she is new to the pursuit of publishing her work. She was raised by a writer and is now raising a cat named after an Oscar Wilde play, who sits on her laptop as she writes. Her work often explores science fiction, queerness, the American South, and other similar topics. Her creative process necessitates wearing blue light glasses and rotting on her couch. — 55-56

“2074” — After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Stephen F. Austin State University, Robyn Bashaw has waded into the despairs of humanity and chosen to dwell in the deluges a while. Robyn Bashaw aims to inspire change by forcing a hard look at the reality of the 21st century. If you have even one idea to effect change upon our globe, Robyn implores you to carry it out – after all, what harm could it do? Check out more of Robyn Bashaw’s work at: https://robynbashaw.wordpress.com/. Here’s hoping you enact a bit of change upon the planet. — 56-57

“To an Athlete Dying Young” — Dave Nash likes to write on gray trains to rainy Mondays. Dave is the Non-Fiction Editor at Five South Magazine. His work appears in places South Florida Poetry Journal, miniMag, Jake, and Perrismon Lit. You can follow him @davenashlit1. — 57-58

“Honeymoon” — Babak Movahed received both a Bachelor and Master’s degree in American Literature. He defined the type of writer he wanted to become by examining the prose of writers like Hemingway, Faulkner, and Baldwin. Additionally, he received his first publication credit after an original short story was published by his university’s literary magazine. Although Babak currently supports a literacy focused non-profit, he still writes creatively in his free time. Babak’s recent works have been published in various digital and print literary journals. — 58-59

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Multimedia

“You are Welcome Here” — Igor Aquino, better known as Astronauta de Mármore (Marble Astronaut) is an independent visual artist, 24 years old, and lives in the city of Feira de Santana – BA. He has been working with collage since 2019, both digital and analog collage. There is no art without black culture and Astronauta de mármore proves it. under the helmet is an independent artist from Bahia who, through his collages, brings his (re)readings of social movements, whether they be mainstream culture or manifestations of the purest existence of black people. Astronauts are those who travel into space in order to have a broader view of what is already known and to explore the most feared of zones, the unrecognizable. to describe the work of this artist, since through his collages, he brings new perspectives mixed perspectives of the existing and the most inspiring unknown to his mind. — 1, 11

“Man at Rest” & “Cityscape” — Harrison Zeiberg is a photographer and writer from Malden, Massachusetts. His previous creative credits include the New Works Virtual Festival 2020, the Theater Barn, and the literary magazines Fleasonthedog and the Gabby & Min Literary Review. When not trying to be creative he can be found in the middle of the job search. — 8-9, 16-17

“The Long Climb to Heaven,“ “Everyday Purgatory,” “Echo of a Scream,” “Shadows in the City” & “Soldiers of Misfortune“ — Edward Michael Supranowicz is the grandson of Irish and Russian/Ukrainian immigrants. He grew up on a small farm in Appalachia. He has a grad background in painting and printmaking. Some of his artwork has recently or will soon appear in Fish Food, Streetlight, Another Chicago Magazine, The Door Is A Jar, The Phoenix, and The Harvard Advocate. Edward is also a published poet who has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize multiple times. — 12-13, 22-23, 40-41, 48-49, 60-61, 64

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