Charles Carr lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is retired after 45 years working in Community based Social Services. He has published three books of poems: paradise, pennsylvania ( Cradle Press, St Louis, 2008), Haitian Mudpies and Other Poems (Moonstone Press, Philadelphia, 2012), and forthcoming in December, Eat This Poem (Noonstone Prees, 2023). He is the host of a live monthly
broadcast “Philly Loves Poetry” that features poets from the region.
Tarah is a physical therapist by background, currently working in the role of a work-health coach with VT RETAIN, a grant-funded program through the State of Vermont Department of Labor. She is a patient with long COVID and participates in the Dartmouth Hitchcock Long COVID Writing Group, during which she writes poetry.
Ruth Hawley has a MFA in Creative Writing from Stonecoast at the University of Southern Maine. Her website is www.ruthhawley.com, from which she publishes a delicious little newsletter called Weekly Bites.
Isabelle Tran is a rising third year medical student at the Burnett School of Medicine at Texas Christian University.
Patricia Cannon has been a Registered Nurse at UCSF since 2001. She has worked in cardiac critical care, neuro intensive care, hemeoncology, school nursing, and currently, in research. Her passion is her faith, photography, and the written word in all its forms. “What’s in a Name?” was previously published in the Beyond Words Literary Journal edited by Gal Slonim.
Eric Dessner MD is an ophthalmologist in private practice in Brooklyn, NY. He is the founder and CEO of medmic.com
Beth Suter studied Environmental Science at U.C. Davis and has worked as a naturalist and teacher. A Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, her poems have appeared in Colorado Review, New American Writing, Barrow Street, DMQ Review, Birmingham Poetry Review, and others. Her 2022 debut chapbook Snake and Eggs was a finalist in Finishing Line Press’s New Women’s Voices Contest. This poem first appeared in Driftwood Press. You can find her at facebook.com/bethfsuter
1st Place “Mama, When Did This Rain Begin” by Darcy Smith
2nd Place “A Mother’s Litany–How to Prepare a Child for a Hospital Stay” by Victoria Meleklan
3rd Place “Spectacle” – by Claire Unis
Joanne Clarkson is a poet whose sixth poetry collection, “Hospice House,” was released by MoonPath Press in 2023. Her poems have been published in such journals as Poetry Northwest, The Healing Muse, Examined Life Journal, American Journal of Nursing and Beloit Poetry Journal. She has received an Artist Trust Grant and an NEH grant to teach poetry in rural libraries. Clarkson has Masters Degrees in English and Library Science, has taught and worked for many years as a professional librarian. After caring for her mother through a long illness, she re-careered as a Registered Nurse working in Home Health and Hospice. This poem first appeared in Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine. Find her at http://Joanneclarkson.com.
Patricia Cannon has been a Registered Nurse at UCSF since 2001. She has worked in cardiac critical care, neurointensive care, hemeoncology, school nursing, and currently, in research. Her passion is her faith, photography, and the written word in all its forms. “Inspiration” has been published on the Viewless Wings podcast by James Morehead, Beyond Words literary magazine edited by Gal Slonim, and in the “Wholeness” a Wising Up Anthology edited by Heather Tosteson and Charles D. Brockett.