Arcadia University MFA in Creative Writing

06/17/2024

Celebrate Pride by attending Anodyne Magazine’s free online reading on June 22nd, featuring Dameien Nathaniel!

06/17/2024

Congrats to Dameien Nathaniel for being the featured poet in the current print issue of Anodyne Magazine! Check out one of the poems included called “Wait” here.

06/17/2024

Recent poetry graduate Dameien Nathaniel has work in the newest Beyond Q***r Words anthology!

The seventh edition of our q***r anthology features works by writers Olivia Weiss, CJ. Clement, Dameien Nathaniel, Konner Sauve, Cole Crosby, Grace Walters, Luke Brix, Charles Swartling, Sergio Roper, Jo Chen, Allen Ireland, Lee Lanzillotta, Kyle Lang, Celinda Ybarra, Maribel Martínez, Luca Fiora D...

06/07/2024

Enjoy this very Scottish poem by recent poetry grad Philip Lisi!

Cover image: "Sun Gazing" by Jennifer Lothrigel Gallery 2 Touch Elizabeth Ambos In the Desert Outside ZzyzxAfter a hot-stove day we are kiln-dazed lizardstonguing blistered airNothing more to fear.Nightfall is wondrous soft and pureso clear with desire.Bats issue from palm fronds scissor past our ea...

05/13/2024

Congrats to second-year poet Amanda Conover for having two poems in the newest issue of The Woolf!

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05/03/2024

Check out this postcard created by Hoot Review of second-year poet Philip Lisi’s poem “Western Lanes” (artwork by Diane Wilikofsky)!

An MFA candidate at Arcadia University, Philip Andrew Lisi lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he teaches English by day and writes poetry and flash fiction by night alongside the ghost of his cantankerous Wichienmaat cat, Sela.

05/01/2024

Congrats to two of our current poetry students, Jessie Anne and Dameien Nathaniel, for having poems appear in the same issue of Mobius: The Journal of Social Change!

04/29/2024

Check out two new poems by second-year Philip Lisi in the newest issue of Sky Island Journal!

All website and cover photography by Jason Splichal: property of Sky Island Journal. Each in-issue author photograph is property of its respective contributor.

04/24/2024

Congrats to second-year poet Amanda Conover for her poem and prompt appearing in Moist Poetry Journal!

my heart feels like a clementine beating, all that dimpled skin sheltering the tender juice inside. I imagine the liquid bursting out someday like a geyser–too muchpressure built up. the sound so l…

04/04/2024

Check out this lovely poem by second-year poet Carol Smith up at Sad Girl Diaries now!

Bossy sister spreads butter on my sconein the coffee shop we happened uponat Nicholson and Drummond.Shy sister reaches in to add peach jam.Playful sister’s blue eyes danceto see me indulge in such a treat.If my sisters weren’t here, I mighteat that scone plain – what withrunners, bikers, and s...

04/04/2024

Congrats to Carol Smith, second-year poet, on her recent publication in Radical Teacher!

04/03/2024

They are on a roll! Check out this poem by Dameien Nathaniel in Sierra Nevada Review.

REST Dameien Nathaniel after Brenna Twohy’s “Colfax”Wrapped in my comforter¹it’s so easy to fall asleep²knowing you’re in the next room³a lime-green cocoon pulled tight around me,I am trying to be the smallest thing in the room.The air is so hot I can barely breathe & yet I findafter ta...

04/03/2024

We're happy to share these three poems by second-year poet Damien Nathaniel!

Three poems - "May Burials of December Bodies," "We're Going to the Store," and "Again, Let Me Tell You What I Know About Breathing" - by Dameien Nathaniel

02/10/2024

Check out second-year poetry student Philip Lisi's poem "October in Adams County" in 3rd Wednesday!

Visit the post for more.

02/06/2024

Enjoy these two lovely poems by poetry alumna Justine Defever in the newest issue of Great Lakes Review!

glistens from the highway. John glued Faygo bottle caps, frosted glass marbles, and shivs of Blue Willow China around the façade of his childhood home. Orange ceramic butterflies surround the front…

02/05/2024

Check out these six poems in the new issue of In Parentheses by current poetry student Carol Smith!

Carol A. Smith is an MFA candidate at Arcadia University. She writes personal and sociopolitical poems, often reflecting upon the intersections of the two. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming i…

02/03/2024

Enjoy this poem, "A Night in Alaska," by poetry graduate Ellen Skilton in The Bluebird Word!

New poetry by Ellen Skilton tells of a cold night in Alaska with a "seeping sadness" that turns into a forgiveness of "morning's sunshine."

02/01/2024

Check out this poem by second-year poet Carol Smith in Mobius: The Journal of Social Change!

Pacing again tonight, like last night, and every night since that traffic stop. When a whoop, whoop from behind and red lights flashing in the rearview reduced me to someone I thought I’d outgrown.

01/31/2024

Congratulations goes out to Amanda Conover, a second-year poetry student, for getting second place in Sad Girl Diaries' Poetry Contest!

the list begins with an explanation of the nonlinear nature of time, how humans made it chronological despite everything happening at once. then it’s just me talking about the frequent feeling I get of being in a dream, how I’m all space and no earth– like if I ram my toe into some furniture I...

12/23/2023

We’re proud to see that recent poetry grad Justine Defever’s poem “Poppies and Swallows” was a finalist for North American Review’s 2024 James Hearst Poetry Prize judged by Diane Seuss!

We are pleased to announce that our 2024 Contest Judge, Diane Seuss, has selected a winner and two runners-up from a slate of finalists and semi-finalists for North American Review's 2024 James Hearst Poetry Prize. Thank you to everyone who submitted poetry for the prize. We had 503 entries this yea...

11/13/2023

Enjoy the poem “A Winter Birthday” (p. 78) by second-year poetry student Philip Lisi in the newest issue of Last Leaves Magazine!

09/28/2023

Check out this newly-published poem by current second-year Carol Smith in Last Stanza Poetry Journal!

08/21/2023

Enjoy yet another piece by current poetry student Philip Lisi!

The top of the Heinz ketchup bottle at the Neptune Diner looked secure–I am sure it was on tight. But as I stare at the tomatoey Rorschach splotch adorning the front of your date night dress, I guess I must have misjudged the synchronicity between white metal top with its spiral grooves and the st...

07/30/2023

He’s on a roll! Check out Philip Lisi’s poem “Midnight Menagerie” in the newest issue of Flora Fiction.

The Dutch rabbitsits on the dresser,head tilted down,admiring the fur featheringat the tips of her creme-colored toesbefore her gaze falls upon the gray fox,wiry and wild-eyed,proud of his voluminous tailand maybe just a little bit wickedas he looks across the roomto the desk where the wombat lounge...

07/20/2023

Congrats again to current poetry student Philip Lisi for another publication! His poem "Marginalia" appears in the newest issue of October Hill Magazine.

07/09/2023

Check out this just-published poem by current MFA student Philip Lisi in Flora Fiction!

Nature is in crisis because of us, but we do not seem to care…there is no room for Freya in Norwegian waters.¹ Freya was named for the Norse goddess of love and beauty. Ironic for a walrus weighing over a thousand pounds, wearing a gash in her left flipper, sporting a pink clam-shaped tattoo impr...

06/15/2023

Enjoy these two poems by second-year poetry student Philip Lisi in Sparks of Calliope!

A Journal of Poetic Observations

05/01/2023

Check out this new poem by second-year Justine Defever called "Fast Fashion Assumptions about Plus-Size Women" in Roi Fainéant Literary Press!

Neon t-shirt of Tweety Bird scowling Does it look like I care? because you don’t spare anyone’s feelings. Sheer leopard print blouses because you are feisty, sassy, and wild! Windbreaker of Winnie-the-Pooh, elbow-deep in honey because relatable much? Big girls gotta eat. F.R.I.E.N.D.S. graphic t...

01/26/2023

Book promotion for introverts! This is for us!

Planning a book launch can be daunting for introverts. But finding strategies that fit with your skills and personality can make it easier.

09/20/2022

Congrats to second-year Justine Defever's poem "Taming of the Curls" in Silent Spark Press' coming of age issue! Buy a copy to check it out.

As busy as we are these days, we don't have the time to explore new art forms and artists, which is a shame. We may never have the chance to find our would-be favorite poets to provoke, enchant, and inspire us for years to come. That's why we at Silent Spark Press created our digital art series--to....