Susan Isla Tepper has two new books of fiction coming out in the spring and winter of this year. She presented her darkly comic play CLANDESTINE in an Equity Premiere Staged-reading, hosted by SHOPTALK, on June 10 at EAG Guild Hall Theatre, NYC. Her most current Novel “Hair of a Fallen Angel” was published by Spuyten Duyvil Books. A twenty-year writer, she’s written 12 published books of fiction and poetry and 7 stage plays. Honors include 24 Pushcart Prize Nominations. Her play ‘The Crooked Heart’ concerning artist Jackson Pollock premiered on October 25, 2022 at the Irish Repertory Theatre in NYC. Adapted from an earlier novel, it was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Susan is a Brand Ambassador for The Galway Review. A Youtube music video for her latest novel at: https://youtu.be/W2HVIc4NrqY

WANDERING STAR

FORGET

the burning or the burial
functionally constructed
to assist the living—
darkness fell in spurts
until the landscape
resembled charred ground

JOURNEY

you will become
the wandering star
alone for
however long
above the vast black

BEFORE

you were expected
to navigate
short on tools
food love
and the rest
and so deprived
mostly failing

FINALLY

the tracing retracing
yanked by force: see into
the clouded mirror
some smudged facsimile
of the before the after

Poet/Photographer, Alexis Rhone Fancher is the author of 10 books of poetry, most recently Brazen (NYQ Books), and Triggered (MacQ Press). Her photo book of 100+ Southern California poets will publish in 2025 by Moon Tide Press. Her photographs have graced the covers and interiors of numerous lit mags and journals, including The Pedestal Magazine, Heyday, Spillway,The Chiron Review, and The Mas Tequila Review. She’s a multiple Best of the Net and Pushcart prize nominee. www.alexisrhonefancher.com