Issue Four: 'Pride'
Click here to read our fourth issue, 'Pride'.
Inside are fourteen brilliant poems that explore the joys, hardships, and mundanities of the LGBTQ+ experience, accompanied by gorgeous illustrations, courtesy of our brilliantly talented illustrator, Kelsee!
We recommend reading the magazine with our Issue Four playlist in the background (which you can find here), and a big cup of tea.
If you enjoy the issue, please share it with your poetry pals, tweet us @theadriaticmag, tag us on Instagram @theadriaticmag, or send us a good old-fashioned email at theadriaticmag@gmail.com!
Featured Poets
Dale Booton
Dale Booton is a twenty-six year old queer poet from Birmingham. His poetry has been published by Verve in their Diversity anthology,
Untitled: Voices, Re-Side, and The Poetry Society. Most recently, his poetry has featured in Ligeia Winter 2020 Issue and on Queerlings.
Vanessa Bradley
Vanessa R. Bradley loves fantasy novels but manages to write a lot of poetry about organs, dirt, divorce, and discovering queerness. She lives in Epekwitk (Prince Edward Island) with her wife, where she is working on a fantasy novel and a collection of poetry about the meaning of flowers. She has been published with Tilted House,Blank Spaces Magazine, and On Loan from the Cosmos.
Courtney Conrad
Courtney Conrad is a Jamaican poet. She is a current member of Malika's Poetry Kitchen. She is an Obsidian Foundation and Roundhouse Poetry Collective alumna. Her poems appear in Bad Betty Press’ anthology, Birmingham Literary Journal and The White Review with forthcoming poems in Anthropocene Poetry Journal and
Anamot Press Anthology. She was shortlisted for The White Review Poet's Prize and longlisted for the Rebecca Swift Women Poets’ Prize and The Rialto Nature and Place Poetry Competition.
Jack Cooper
A member of Coventry Stanza, Jack has been published by Young
Poets Network, Popshot, and Under the Radar. He is a member of the DYNAMO Poetry Mentoring Scheme, run by Nine Arches Press and Writing West Midlands, and the BBC Words First Development Scheme with Young Identity. He is undertaking a PhD in embryonic cell migration at the University of Warwick, and can often be found on Twitter.
Damien Donnelly
Damien B. Donnelly is the author of Eat the Storms, his debut pamphlet and a Stickleback; Considering Canvases with Boys, both published by The Hedgehog Poetry Press. His work has appeared in many publications including Black Bough Poetry, Anti Heroin Chic and The Bangor Literary Journal. He’s the host and producer of Eat the Storms, the poetry podcast and has lived in Paris, London and Amsterdam. He’s now back in his native homeland of Ireland.
Moira Garland
Moira Garland is a prize-winning poet living in Leeds, UK. Her poetry magazine publications include The North, Algebra of Owls, Until the stars burn out, and in anthologies One for the Road (Smith/Doorstop), Watch the Birdie (Beautiful Dragons), Pale Fire: New Writing on the Moon (Frogmore Press), And the Stones Fell Open, and Bloody Amazing (Dragon Yaffle).
Forthcoming in Sarasvati, Firewords, and The Brown Envelope Book.
Rick Hollon
Rick Hollon is a nonbinary writer, editor, and parent from the American Midwest. Feir work has appeared in perhappened, Prismatica, Tealight Press, and other small-press magazines.
Jo Matsaeff
Jo Matsaeff is a neurodivergent queer teacher based in France. They can be found at their local open mic or virtually hanging out with their international poet friends
wishing for a day when a magical tunnel will bring them all together. Their recent work appears in Gnashing Teeth and in the June issues of Anti-Heroin Chic and Horse Egg.
James McDermott
James McDermott is a queer writer based in East Anglia. His plays published by Samuel French include Rubber Ring and Time and Tide. His poetry collection
Manatomy is published by Burning Eye and his poems have been published in various
magazines including The Gay and Lesbian Review, The Cardiff Review, Confluence and
Dawntreader. James was shortlisted for Outspoken’s Performance Poetry Prize 2020 and Commended in The Winchester Poetry Prize 2020 judged by Andrew McMillan.
David Milley
David Milley has written and published verse since the mid-1970s, earning his living as
a technical writer and web applications developer. His work has appeared in Painted Bride
Quarterly, Bay Windows, and Queerbook. Retired now, David lives in New Jersey with his
husband of forty-five years, Warren Davy, who's made his living as a farmer, woodcutter, nurseryman, auctioneer, beekeeper, and cook. These days, Warren tends his garden and keeps honeybees. David walks and writes.
Brittney Reed
Brittney Reed is an autistic lesbian poet, fiction writer, and librarian. She holds a BA in English/creative writing from the University of Tennessee at Martin and an MLIS from the University of Washington, Seattle. Her work has appeared in BeanSwitch, Crab Fat, and the Poetry in the Boro 2020 calendar. A Middle Tennessee native, Brittney currently lives in Murfreesboro with
her partner.
Paul Stephenson
Paul Stephenson has published three poetry pamphlets: Those People (Smith/Doorstop, 2015), The Days that Followed Paris (HappenStance, 2016) and Selfie with Waterlilies (Paper Swans Press, 2017). He took part in the Jerwood/Arvon mentoring scheme and the Aldeburgh Eight. He completed an MA in Creative
Writing (Poetry) with the Manchester Writing School. He co-edited the ‘Europe’ issue of Magma (70) and co-curates Poetry in Aldeburgh. He lives between
Cambridge and Brussels.
Elizabeth Gibson
Elizabeth Gibson is a Manchester poet who writes about city life, queerness, body image, and mental health. She was a winner at the 2017 Northern Writers’ Awards, and her work has appeared in 404 Ink, Atrium, Cake, Confingo, Litro, Popshot and
Strix. She has been commissioned by Manchester Literature Festival, and was recently chosen for the competitive First Dibs programme for queer theatre-makers.
Nina Ward
Nina Ines Ward is a non-binary poet. They are
currently based in Brighton and are interested in queer sonnets and healing poetics. Their debut pamphlet, ‘The Burns Unit’ was published by Salo Press this year and their work can be found online at Spam Zine.