Contributions
- Two Poems by Yasmin Mariam Kloth
Read two poems by Yasmin Mariam Kloth, our fourth biweekly poet of the Fall 2025 issue, along with a few words about “Before.”
About the Contributor
Yasmin Mariam Kloth’s poetry explores love, loss, place, and space, often at the intersection of her family memories and her Middle Eastern heritage. Yasmin’s work has been published in the LA Times, Rockvale Review, Cathexis Northwest Press, Tiger Moth Review, West Trestle Review, among others. Her poem “Banyan Song” was awarded third place in the 2021 Hawker Prize for Southeast Asian Poetry. Her debut collection of poetry from Kelsay Books is titled Ancestry Unfinished: Poems of a Lost Generation.
Author Website
Books
Ancestry Unfinished: Poems of a Lost Generation (Kelsay Books, 2022)
“Yasmin Mariam Kloth’s poems skillfully channel the voices and the spirit of the extraordinary women in her life. Ancestry Unfinished becomes a document of “meaning making.” In the tradition of immigrant narratives, Kloth juxtaposes the American day-to-day realities with her hypnotic Syrian-Lebanese heritage. Her parent’s adopted country of Egypt becomes vastly picturesque. Yet, this collection is deeply introspective and full of implied questions. Embrace yourself—Kloth is an exquisite wordsmith. Her flavorful poems will tuck you delicately between her grandmother’s hand rolled grape leaves and her infinite wisdom. I kept rereading these poems like a sacred text, pausing to contemplate and then continuing to turn the page before the storm of assimilation compromises the fate of our daughters.” —Shahé Mankerian, History of Forgetfulness (Fly on the Wall Press, 2021)
Recent Links
- Opinion: Searching for ties to the Middle East in my mother’s old photos (Los Angeles Times)
- Poem: “Everything” (Kitchen Table Quarterly)
- Poem: “Favorite Room” (Whale Road Review)
- Poem: “A Secret Life” (West Trestle Review)
- Poem: “Rock Salt” (Rockvale Review)
Contributor Q & A
What do you want readers to know about you?
I am a poet based in Cincinnati, OH. My writing often scratches at the surface of love, loss, place, and space, with a focus on exploring my Middle Eastern heritage. When I’m not writing, you can find me with my husband and young daughter, often outdoors on any number of local hiking trails.
How long have you been a writer and how did you get started?
I have been writing since I was 8 years old - since I picked up a notebook and wanted to emulate my aunt, who was an accomplished writer herself. Although I have been writing for more than three decades, my poetry has really just found its way in the world over the past eight years. It started small - a poem accepted here and then there. And then momentum started to build and more poems found their way to journals I admired - all culminating eventually into the publication of my small debut collection of poetry in 2022: Ancestry Unfinished.
What’s an accomplishment in your writing life of which you’re proud?
I never thought I'd publish a collection of poetry - but in 2022 I made that long-time dream a reality and I'm incredibly proud of the stories and poems in my debut chapbook.
What do you look for in a book?
I just want to dive into a good story - fiction or non-fiction. I want to use what I read to help me learn more about the world around me. I tend to recommend books that are beautifully written - that are poems in themselves - and that describe the world in unique and interesting ways.
Contents
Chapbook Poem: When I Was Straight by Dustin Brookshire
“‘When I Was Straight’ prompted me to think about a common queer experience—how most parents assume their children are ‘straight’ and expect their children to live a ‘straight’ life.” Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for October 2025 along with words from the poet.
Book Excerpt: American Girl: Fort Hood, 2023 by Thea Matthews
“[W]eaving in and juxtaposing the lyrics of Tom Petty’s ‘American Girl.’ The song’s themes of desperation, wanderlust, and longing are subverted by Ana’s life and tragedy at Fort Cavazos, previously known as Fort Hood, Texas.” Read the featured Excerpt Poem for October 2025 along with words from the poet.
“It seems such a shame that a beautiful location is just gathering dust and overgrowth, and I wanted to lean into the juxtaposition of that.” Read three poems by Bryana Fern along with a few words about “Women on the Wall.”
Bodies in Transition: Sacred & Perishable by Carissa Natalia Baconguis
“There is a muscular intimacy to the ecosystem of these poems, each one of them creating as vivid a world individually as exists in the collection as a whole.” Read Gray Davidson Carroll’s full review.
“In ‘No Breaks’ I was writing about something I hope I never have to experience. … I tried to keep despair at bay and show some defiance and resilience.” Read two poems by Gerald Yelle along with a few words about “No Breaks.”
November ’25: New Staff, Issue Archive & Donations
Read a note from Editor Aiden Hunt about our new Poetry Readers, the additions of an Issue Archive and a Contributor Fund, Fall poetry submissions, and Gaza.
Chapbook Poem: Two egrets at the edge of a tidal marsh by Rebekah Wolman
“Settling on the mirror form opened the way into the parallels between the original image of the egrets, their reflection, and their ambiguous relationship and the shifting, even reversing, roles of an adult daughter and her aging mother…” Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for November 2025 along with words from the poet.
Three Poems by Alexandra Burack
“Subsequent drafts enabled me to … uncover the metaphor of exile, whose meanings are intended to move readers from an experience of alienation to one of discernment of the liberating qualities of outsiderhood.” Read three poems by Alexandra Burack, along with a few words about “To Know Blue From the Color of Snow at Dusk.”
Book Excerpt: Rondo by Yamini Pathak
“The sculpture gardens are located on … the native land of the Lenape people. The poem is a conversation between sculpture, land, and its human and more-than-human inhabitants.” Read the featured Excerpt Poem of the Month for November 2025, “Rondo” from Her Mouth a Palace of Lamps by Yamini Pathak, along with a few words from the poet.
Two Poems by Yasmin Mariam Kloth
“As I shaped the poem, the olive trees became a witness to a deeper experience—to a region’s ongoing, collective pain. It was the land I wanted to make speak in a place where I did not have words.” Read two poems by Yasmin Mariam Kloth, along with a few words about “Before.”
A Conversation with Chris Abani and Kwame Dawes
“We wanted something that was alive, highlighted an ever-expanding list of books by these poets, and that will hopefully survive the both of us and flourish under the curation of a fresh set of poets.” Read the full interview about the New-Generation African Poets Chapbook series.
Chapbook Poem: Red Tide by Mary Gilliland
“Reflection, research, a public service announcement, an old Zen koan, and 3 weeks of bicycling for groceries with a bandana tied around my nose and mouth inform ‘Red Tide’.” Read the featured Chapbook Poem of the Month for December 2025, “Red Tide” from Red Tide at Sandy Bend, along with a few words from the poet.
Three Poems by Veronica Tucker
“’You Left the Fridge Open Again’ transforms an ordinary domestic moment into a meditation on tenderness and decay. The open refrigerator becomes a quiet altar, its hum a hymn to what lingers after love’s warmth has cooled.” Read three poems by Veronica Tucker, along with a few words about “You Left the Fridge Open Again.”
Book Excerpt: The Samadhi of Words by Richard Collins
“Zen poets, past and present, who experience deep absorption in the grandeur of this world may even gain wisdom through the way of poetry, Shidō (詩道). This is the samadhi of words.” Read the featured Excerpt Poem of the Month for December 2025, “The Samadhi of Words” from Stone Nest by Richard Collins, along with a few words from the poet.
December ’25: Pushcart Prize Nominations
Editor Aiden Hunt announces Philly Chapbook Review’s 2026 Pushcart Prize anthology nominations in this editor’s note and provides links to, and a carousel of, the nominated poems.
“From the height of the camel, I could see the ruins of Palmyra and a medieval castle on a hill. Present day Wadi Rum in Jordan has no evidence of an ancient civilization in the desert until one arrives, by car not camel, in Petra.” Read two poems by Sandy Feinstein, our sixth and final biweekly poet of the Fall 2025 issue, along with a few words about “Souvenir.”