On a related note, I sometimes wonder about all the pieces passed on or projects never brought to completion because one does ...

Max Roland Ekstrom holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. His poetry appears or is forthcoming in such ...

“A devouring sense of possession by Finola for Dary stretched normalcy and reason. Finola had joined the majority of Ballyutogue mothers who had long lost any physical and esoteric sensations of ...

Anyone can read a poem. Anyone can write a poem. Quite a few people can write a pretty decent poem with a little effort. And ...

A Merion West contributing writer and editor respectively make the case for each candidate for President of the United States. Editor’s note: Given the endless discussion about the upcoming ...

“Comfort me with ginseng—with sacraments/of a youthful wine-flushed god,/naked and beautiful, chanting a lecher’s lament.” ...

Johnny Payne is the arts editor at Merion West. Johnny is a poet, novelist, playwright, and essayist. He has worked extensively in Latin American Studies, especially literature under dictatorship and ...

“While others cycled to dusty fields,/sported bats and mitts, shouted to claim/their favorite positions, I was alone,/my red Schwinn and me—no/deception of ritual, no useless chatter,/no bad calls, no ...

Erich J. Prince is the editor-in-chief at Merion West. With a background in journalism and media criticism, he has contributed to newspapers such as The Philadelphia Inquirer and The News & Observer, ...

Johnny Payne is the arts editor at Merion West. Johnny is a poet, novelist, playwright, and essayist. He has worked extensively in Latin American Studies, especially literature under dictatorship and ...

Jonathan Church is a contributing editor at Merion West. He is a government economist with a background in energy economics and inflation measurement. In addition to authoring several essays, he has ...