Lloyd Milburn, from Volume 4:2

Lloyd Milburn has taught composition and creative writing for over fifteen years in the Rochester, New York area. He earned an MA in English/creative writing with poet William Heyen’s advisement. In addition to having work published in Permafrost, Willow Review, Ithaca Lit, The Sandy River Review, and Talking River Review, he is currently nearing completion of his first two books of poetry. His lifelong love for music and a personal interest in synesthesia inform his writing, and he has lectured on the subject at RIT where he designed and taught the course "Synesthesia and Music."

Milburn contributed two poems — "Chromonema Music" and "At Half Staff" — to Volume 4:2. Below is an excerpt from the former:

That's why clips of Judy Garland still pull

at certain strings, like my zither's highest wires

always out of tune with the fat ones,

but the high strings were impossible to adjust,

the frame not strong enough to hold them.

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Check out Milburn's work in full today in Synesthesia Literary Journal Volume 4:2!

Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois, from Volume 4:1

Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois has had over eight hundred of his poems and fictions appear in literary magazines in the U.S. and abroad. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize for work published in 2012, 2013, and 2014. His novel, Two-Headed Dog, based on his work as a clinical psychologist in a state hospital, is available for Kindle and Nook, or as a print edition. He lives in Denver.

Grabois had two flash fictions — "Chac/chac" and "The Meaning of Marlboro" — published in Volume 4:1 of Synesthesia. Below is an excerpt from the former:

The gold stars embroidered on the Son of Chac’s blue robe fell to the ground and, wherever they landed, a corn stalk grew. Deer came and ate the corn and, as they digested, they became enlightened. They went into the fields. They approached deer stands where hunters chewed tobacco and drank bourbon.

The hunters looked at these deer and could not pull the trigger. If they pulled, their weapons jammed.

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John Brantingham, from Volume 4:1

John Brantingham's latest collections include Dual Impressions: Poetic Conversations about Art and The Green of Sunset.  He is currently a professor of English and creative writing at Mt. San Antonio College, in Walnut, California.  Brantingham had two poems — "Instructions for Swimming Before the Rain" and "Koi Pond, Norton Simon Museum of Art" — published in Volume 4:1.  Below is an excerpt from the latter:

          Lose yourself in the dream of hiding

          behind that statue for an hour,

          the one of the cougar with his elongated back,

          energy poised for the kill.
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Tom Darin Liskey, from Volume 4:1

Tom Darin Liskey spent nearly a decade working as a journalist in Venezuela, Argentina, and Brazil. He is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in the Crime Factory, Driftwood Press, Mount Island, The Burnside Writers Collective, Sassafras Literary Magazine, and Biostories, among others. His photographs have been published in Hobo Camp Review, Roadside Fiction, Blue Hour Magazine, Synesthesia Literary Journal, and Midwestern Gothic. He lives in Texas where he tells his children that he has done worse things for less money.

Liskey had two photos appear in Volume 4:1, on pages 6 and 20.

Gina Williams, from Volume 4:1

Gina Williams lives and creates in the Pacific Northwest.  Her work has been featured most recently by Okey-Panky, Carve, The Sun, Fugue, Whidbey Art Gallery & Whidbey Life Magazine, Palooka, Great Weather for Media, Black Box Gallery, and theNewerYork among others.  Learn more about her and her work at GinaMarieWilliams.com.

Williams provided both the front and back cover art for Volume 4:1, as well as a few other pieces that appear throughout the volume.

Below is her piece "Middle America":