TAYLOR DAWSON is an Appalachian surrealist poet and interdisciplinary artist from Southeastern Kentucky. Currently residing in Cincinnati, Taylor is a recent graduate of the Art Academy of Cincinnati holding a BFA in Creative Writing. When her head isn't in the clouds, she is writing poems to help sort through the chaos and dark matter. She can mostly be found staring into the void or writhing on the floor. 

SAMUEL CORMAC ​is a poet, visual artist, & harm reduction advocate. Having just obtained an MFA in Poetry from UNCG -- they are happy to return home to the Ohio River Valley, where they will be teaching Creative Writing at the Art Academy of Cincinnati this fall. They've worked as poetry editor for The Greensboro Review & as guest editor for Forklift Ohio: A Journal of Poetry, Cooking & Light Industrial Safety. Their work can be found (most readily) in Defunct Magazine. 

ROAD RUNNER ROAD RUNNER
 
I am trying to be less ugly, more confusedly fuzzy
where my language is whirlwind limbs       
when it wants to get revving        where nothing is
nothing & all things are coyote in dried leaves
in a silhouette cloudy where my body use to be
where I am a Velcro of howling        a warning      
all stupid & godly: bleeding monthly, wiping clean
in chest hair curly        where I am tired of telling
when I could be showing        my face nearly
crookedly blushing     where you hold my eyes
on the road to where we’re going:
right through the painted, dark narrowing
where on the other side another side is waiting
 

Word of Mouth was founded in 2014 by poets Mark Flanigan and Jim Palmarini, inspired by the late poet and co-conspirator Aralee Strange. Word of Mouth asks poets of all persuasion to show up, mouth off, and listen.