SHELEEN MCELHINNEY
​Sheleen McElhinney is a poet whose work has appeared in various journals such as the Lily Poetry Review, Laurel Review, Bayou Magazine, Slant, Free State Review, Abandon Journal, and others. Her debut book, Every Little Vanishing, was the winner of the 2021 Write Bloody Publishing book award. She currently resides in Bucks County, Pa where she was born and raised.
These poems drag you to the darkroom of vulnerability where everything is exposed; the wounded child, the wreckless adolescent, the life and death of a sibling to addiction, and the loss of self through marriage and motherhood. These poems hold beneath their hard exterior the soft underbelly of what it means to love and lose. They are for anyone who wants to learn how to grow a new skin, to excavate the body of its grief, to devour it, and to let it choke you.