Reading of Rape Kits at the LIC Arts Open 13 - Poetry Festival May 2026

June 1, 2026

I read my poem, Rape Kits, at the LIC Arts Open 13 - Poetry Festival on May 17, 2026.

Youtube video below (courtesy of Mark, hubby extraordinaire filming it).

The Poetry Festival was curated by Queens Poet Laureate, 2015-2019, Academy of American Poets Fellow, Maria Lisella and held at The Local NY located in Long Island City (Queens, baby).

So many other poets read at the festival that my head is still a buzz!

Thank you LIC Arts Open & Maria Lisella for having me.

Rape Kits was originally published in Timeless Tales Magazine Pandora’s Box in 2019.

My flash fiction story, Banshee, published by Jersey Devil Press

May 20, 2026

I'm super excited to finally have a piece accepted by Jersey Devil Press.

My flash fiction, Banshee, was published in Issue #132 April 2026 on May 17, 2026.

The Editor’s Note on this issue strikes a chord with me. Laura Garrison says “This combination of unexpected proportions and angles infuses the space with a slight uncanniness, a sense of being someplace that is an imperfect imitation of reality.”

Folklore, Mythology and Horror tend to be the subjects I write about and try sometimes to apply to modern life. I visualize it as an Otherhere, some place (or places really) that is near our reality but not quite right and perhaps unsettling.

In this short piece, a banshee is a singer in an indie rock band. I mean what could be more fitting?

a little snapshot I took - imagine if this was a real being, pretty fabulous, don’t you think?

A little background on the evolution of my story, Banshee:

I’ve been submitting to Jersey Devil Press since 2013. I had submitted 6 other pieces before getting Banshee accepted there.

I have been submitting and working on Banshee since 2014 and have submitted it 15 times with the 15th time being the charm as well as multiple revisions. It's a flash fiction piece although it's on the shorter side, being under 500 words (487 words).

It used to be a much shorter piece hovering under 300 words for a long time as recently as May 2025. By submitting and re-reading, I found a way in to expand the protagonist's story. And this last revision was the one that succeeded.

I write this to let you know and remind myself to never give up. The road is long but the "finished" piece is worth it.

(I put "finished" in quotes because who knows if anything is ever truly finished. :)

Additional note:

With the acceleration of people using AI to write and obtain writing prizes, it is all the more pressing to support and read actual human created stories. It saddens (and perplexes) me that anyone would discard revising and even the creation of their stories, poems, etc. in favor of AI writing /revising something for them. What is the point of writing if you’re not the one doing it? Where is the joy of completion if you did not complete it? Weird.

I’m so thrilled to be in this issue with these amazing writers. The cover art for this issue is “Woman,” by Enrique Meseguer.

Thank you Jersey Devil Press for accepting my little story.

Archive copy for posterity.

Look up, look up - you never know what you will see. Also I’m obsessed with the Apple silvertone filter

Circling the Void published in Carmina Magazine on 9/16/23

September 22, 2023

My short story Circling the Void was published in Carmina Magazine on 9/16/23.

***Photo by*** ***Samuel PASTEUR-FOSSE*** on ***Unsplash***

I am very excited about this. It’s an example of finding a way back to a story and revising and expanding.

I really started to work on this story, which I only had a kernel for one of Molotov Cocktail’s awesome contests. And then significantly expanded it after getting a close but no cigar from them. So it’s all about revision and persistence and finding the right home and Carmina Magazine’s mission inspired and encouraged me.

This story is also an example of songwriting and fiction coming together since the character Fancy first appeared in MAKAR’s song Fancy Hercules.

I delve into the inspiration and creation of this story in fuller detail in my author note at the end of my story.

http://carminamagazine.com/sept-2023.html

Morforwyn published in The Wild Hunt - Is it safe? Issue # 2

August 5, 2020

My flash fiction piece, Morforwyn, was published in The Wild Hunt - Is it safe? Issue # 2 on July 28, 2020.

Look at the fantastic art below. Have to ask the editor who the visual artist is.

The Wild Hunt posted on twitter the following sentiment which I think sums up my reason for writing this story.

Mermaids are not usually thought of as dangerous. Nor is it in the universal folklore that humankind did terrible things to them but of course we did. (That’s if they existed).

I was especially inspired by this cryptozoology I came across about Welsh mermaids. (I am a quarter Welsh and would love someday to visit Wales but who knows now. Some mermaids started out as giants, they diminished as everything seems to do when encountering certain elements of humanity.

Source: https://wildhuntmag.com/theme/andrea-deang...

My poem – Rape Kits – was published in Timeless Tales Magazine’s Pandora Box Issue 8/15/19

August 16, 2019

I am honored that my poem Rape Kits was published in the 3rd edition of Pandora’s Box in Timeless Tales Magazine.

This poem was inspired by the HBO documentary - I am evidence and the appalling reality of the rape kit backlog remaining untested in the hundreds of thousands. I was horrified by the idea of these boxes in a warehouse where birds were actually making nests of the evidence, of these women’s bodies and pain, evidence that could put the rapists behind bars. And who better to open the boxes than Pandora?

Pandora opening the box is frequently seen as cataclysmic but in this case, she’s a warrior, doing what is necessary for justice. All the emotions from the collective violations released giving the victims hope.

A word about the moths – in some versions of the myth, the “bad” things released are described as moths and I thought what if these moths were avenging goddesses and in my internet sleuthing came across Theodore D. Sargent’s invaluable Working Paper of Attributes - Goddesses – Moths. I have always thought that moths were underrated.

Downloadable PDF

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