MRPR #26    Spring 2022

Welcome back! This is the largest issue of Muddy River Poetry Review containing poems by 117 poets of which 62 are making their first appearance bringing their previously unpublished work to these pages. It includes a high school student and college student poets, college professors, retired teachers and professors as well as others from across the United States. There are poets from India, Canada, The Philippines and Bosnia-Herzegovinia. There are also American poets who were born in Romania, Haiti, France, Australia, Germany, Hong Kong. There are three present or former Poets Laureate, one each from East Hampton, MA, Belfast, ME and Pee Dee region of South Carolina and a past Poet Populist of Cambridge, MA. Former Massachusetts State Representative, Denise Provost shows that being in politics is not a deterrent to being a fine poet. Each of these individuals and the many other poets in Muddy River Poetry Review bring their individual, unique writing talent for you to read and enjoy. I am particularly thrilled to welcome back two of my favorite poets, Marge Piercy and Doug Holder, both of whom have been Feature Poets in the past and write poetry that is always memorable.


Our Feature poets, a diverse group, are Richard E. Brenneman, January Gill O’Neill, Pui Ying Wong, Mignon Ariel King, Bruce Morton, Catherine Arra, Charlie Brice and Edward Ferri, Jr. They all have rich backgrounds of experience that enhance their use of poetic language.


Richard E. Brenneman A Boston resident, Richard has been published in the Muddy River Poetry Review, Constellations, Nixes Mate Review and Harbinger Asylum among others. His work is included in No More Can Fit Into The Evening: an Anthology of Diverse Voices. With wide ranging personal and working experiences he is hard at work on book and chapbook projects. He is a frequent attendee at the Somerville Bagel Bards poetry group.


Sadly, Richard died on March 14, 2022 after a short illness. He was a kind, gentle person who was liked and respected by his poetry group the Somerville Bagel Bards which he attended either in person or on Zoom. Richard was working on a volume of poetry and a poetry chapbook when he unexpectedly died. He will be fondly remembered by all who knew him. The bio above is what he wrote to accompany his poetry and has not been changed.


January Gill O’Neill, an associate professor at Salem State University and the author of three volumes of poetry with CavanKerry Press. For six years she was Executive Eirector of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival and serves on three prestigious boards: AWP, Mass Poetry and Montserrat College of Art. January’s poems and articles have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A-Day series, American Poetry Review, Green Mountains Review Poetry as well as Sierra Magazine and other notable publications. Her list of fellowships includes the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Cave Canem and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, She was the 2019-2020 John and Renée Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi, Oxford. She lives with her two children in Beverly, MA.


Pui Ying Wong is the author of two full-length books of poetry and two chapbooks. A new book, The Feast, is forthcoming. from MadHat Press. A native of Hong Kong, Pui is one of 18 featured poets in Looking Back At Hong Kong, An Anthology of Writing and Art. She is a recipient of a Pushcart Prize and her poems have appeared in  a number of top publications including Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, Plume Poetry, New Letters, Zone 3 and The New York Times, among many others. Pui lives in Cambridge Massachusetts with her husband poet Tim Suermondt.


Mignon Ariel King was born in Boston, Massachusetts and has never left her home time zone. She is a graduate of Simmons University who identifies as a womanist and was a database assistant by day and an adjunct English instructor by night. King created Hidden Charm Press and founded Tell-Tale Chapbooks publishing single-authored chapbooks of poetry as well as the print journal of narratives Tell-Tale Inklings. She has been published many times in numerous publications.


Charlie Brice was the winner of the 2020 Field Guide Poetry Magazine Poetry Contest and placed third in the 2021 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Prize. He has four volumes of poetry and two chapbooks to his credit. His poetry has been nominated twice for the Best of Net Anthology and three times for a Pushcart Prize. He is published in The Atlanta Review, Muddy River Poetry Review, Chiron Review, The Honest Ulsterman, Ibbetson Street, The Paterson Literary Review, Impspired Magazine and elsewhere.


Catherine Arra, former high school English and writing teacher, has had her poetry and prose published in many literary journals online in print. and several anthologies. She is the author of four books of poetry and three poetry chapbooks. Arra lives in upstate New York, where she teaches part-time and facilitates local writing groups.


Bruce Morton Spends winters in Arizona and summers in Montana. He is the former Dean of Libraries at Montana State University.


Edward Ferri, Jr. grew up on a "non profit" farm on the dry side of the Santa Cruz Mountains in California. Ed has returned to those mountains. He is the acting Sergeant of email Notifications & Attendance Records for the Garlicky Group of Poets,which is in its 27th year in Gilroy, California, the garlic capital of the United States, if not the world. Ed is also a tribal member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation of Shawnee, Oklahoma. He has published his poetry in many magazines including Muddy River Poetry Review, Haiku Universe, Still Crazy, Agave, Hobo Camp Review, Shot Glass Journal, Main Street Rag and Constellations. He is the author of Glass Air, Poems Kindled in the Long Shadow of a Lone Motorcycle

 

So again I invite you to relax in a comfortable chair and take in the poets who present their considerable talents and thoughts for your contemplation and enjoyment. They are all part of the Muddy River Poetry Review family.


Enjoy, 

Zvi A. Sesling, Editor

Issue #26