Phynne~Belle is a San Francisco Bay Area poet, blogger, and host of the Phynnecabulary podcast. On February of this year, she was poet-in-context for the Benicia First Tuesday Poets monthly salon, and in May, she was part of Listen Nashville’s artist showcase. She has recently had her poetry featured in Postall Magazine’s inaugural issue, “Beginnings,” has pieces included in two poetry anthologies this year, “Sinew: Ten Years of Poetry in the Brew,” and The Bronx Memoir Project Anthology Vol. V. Phynne has one poetry collection out titled, “Some Days, Here” (AuthorHOUSE Publishing). Her Tuesday morning podcast, Phynnecabulary, can be streamed on Spotify, and you can also find her hosting her weekly themed online open mic of the same name, every Thursday. Phynne posts regularly on both Vocal and Medium under the name Tricia De Jesus-Gutierrez. She is passionate about crafting events and programs that make the literary arts (poetry in particular) accessible widely. Phynne used to be a superhero of creatures big and small in a past life. You can follow her on Instagram @phynne_belle and on Twitter @PhynneBelle.

Cheryl J. Fish's short fiction has appeared in Iron Horse Literary Review, CheapPop, Spank the Carp, and Liar’s League. She is the author of CRATER & TOWER, poems reflecting on trauma and ecology after the Mount St. Helens Volcanic eruption and the terrorist attack of 9/11/01. Her collection, THE SAUNA IS FULL OF MAIDS, poems and photographs celebrating Finnish sauna culture, friendship, and the arts, was published on summer solstice, 2021, from Shanti Arts Press. Her debut novel OFF THE YOGA MAT, the story of three characters turning 40 as the year 2000 (Y2K) approaches, will be published in 2022 by Livingston Press. Fish has been a Fulbright professor in Finland, and she teaches at BMCC/City University of New York. Website: www.cheryljfish.com

Bryan Franco is a poet/spoken word performer from Brunswick, Maine who has been writing since the 1990’s. He was a member of the Portland Maine Rhythmic Cypher slam team that competed in the 2014 National Poetry Slam in Oakland, California and is also a painter, sculptor, gardener, and culinary genius. He has featured across the US and Scotland and has been published domestically and in Ireland and Australia. He hosts Café Generalissimo Open Mic and is a member of Beardo Bards of the Bardo. His poetry collection Everything I Think Is All In My Mind will be available in December.

Heather Archibald (Kittitian-American) published her first collection of poems titled Pregnant These Past Twenty Years in 2000. Her poems have been published in a number of journals, including The Caribbean Writer, Mom Egg Review, and A River of Stories. Her second collection of poems, Home-Home, was published in 2016. Heather received her MFA in fiction at City College of New York in 2017, and later received a BRIO award for fiction at the Bronx Council on the Arts (2018). She is currently co-curator of Creative Expressions NYC, a poetry salon held on the first Sunday of each month.

Why Open Pandora's Box Creative Showcase & Open Mic