Leon Literary Review
@leonliteraryreview.bsky.social
"...the band,
more southern rock than country twang, sings
of first kisses and beer and church, the words
land soft and sweet—expected but lovely,
like the snow falling beyond these walls..."
"At the Cotillion Ballroom in Wichita, Kansas" Janice Northerns
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-33-jan...
more southern rock than country twang, sings
of first kisses and beer and church, the words
land soft and sweet—expected but lovely,
like the snow falling beyond these walls..."
"At the Cotillion Ballroom in Wichita, Kansas" Janice Northerns
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-33-jan...
Issue 33 | Janice Northerns – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
December 3, 2025 at 11:20 PM
"...the band,
more southern rock than country twang, sings
of first kisses and beer and church, the words
land soft and sweet—expected but lovely,
like the snow falling beyond these walls..."
"At the Cotillion Ballroom in Wichita, Kansas" Janice Northerns
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-33-jan...
more southern rock than country twang, sings
of first kisses and beer and church, the words
land soft and sweet—expected but lovely,
like the snow falling beyond these walls..."
"At the Cotillion Ballroom in Wichita, Kansas" Janice Northerns
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-33-jan...
"And for so long I wasn’t anything. A pile of rocks to the side of the trail, might be a tiny grave or some kid’s collection. Circles in the mushrooms at the edge of the woods. Heartbeats through clothes..."
from "The Wild Hunt" by Jasmina Kuenzli
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-33-jas...
from "The Wild Hunt" by Jasmina Kuenzli
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-33-jas...
Issue 33 | Jasmina Kuenzli – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
November 29, 2025 at 9:09 PM
"And for so long I wasn’t anything. A pile of rocks to the side of the trail, might be a tiny grave or some kid’s collection. Circles in the mushrooms at the edge of the woods. Heartbeats through clothes..."
from "The Wild Hunt" by Jasmina Kuenzli
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-33-jas...
from "The Wild Hunt" by Jasmina Kuenzli
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-33-jas...
"Our Pacific’s a pizzazz of suds and anchovies,
the sky of stars and sprites. What am I
yapping about? Everyone wants something—
brain, heart, courage. Family in Kansas.
The Cairn Terrier once between us."
fr "The Second State of Matter" Kenton K. Yee
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-33-ken...
the sky of stars and sprites. What am I
yapping about? Everyone wants something—
brain, heart, courage. Family in Kansas.
The Cairn Terrier once between us."
fr "The Second State of Matter" Kenton K. Yee
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-33-ken...
Issue 33 | Kenton K. Yee – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:23 PM
"Our Pacific’s a pizzazz of suds and anchovies,
the sky of stars and sprites. What am I
yapping about? Everyone wants something—
brain, heart, courage. Family in Kansas.
The Cairn Terrier once between us."
fr "The Second State of Matter" Kenton K. Yee
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-33-ken...
the sky of stars and sprites. What am I
yapping about? Everyone wants something—
brain, heart, courage. Family in Kansas.
The Cairn Terrier once between us."
fr "The Second State of Matter" Kenton K. Yee
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-33-ken...
"...You love dorks. Geeks that smell like pimple cream and have large glasses that make their eyes bob and bulge like silky Betas. You count the pleats on their tan pants and their tight white briefs consume your nightlife..."
"Crushing on Nerds" Amanda Chiado
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-33-ama...
"Crushing on Nerds" Amanda Chiado
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-33-ama...
Issue 33 | Amanda Chiado – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
November 16, 2025 at 5:19 PM
"...You love dorks. Geeks that smell like pimple cream and have large glasses that make their eyes bob and bulge like silky Betas. You count the pleats on their tan pants and their tight white briefs consume your nightlife..."
"Crushing on Nerds" Amanda Chiado
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-33-ama...
"Crushing on Nerds" Amanda Chiado
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-33-ama...
"...Vietnam was burnt foliage and
fracture, bright birds I had no names for,
dank smoke we couldn’t exhale. All
those still bodies floating facedown
downstream, husks of belief.
My hand unsteadied..."
from "Argosy" by Debra Allbery
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-33-deb...
fracture, bright birds I had no names for,
dank smoke we couldn’t exhale. All
those still bodies floating facedown
downstream, husks of belief.
My hand unsteadied..."
from "Argosy" by Debra Allbery
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-33-deb...
Issue 33 | Debra Allbery – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:04 PM
"...Vietnam was burnt foliage and
fracture, bright birds I had no names for,
dank smoke we couldn’t exhale. All
those still bodies floating facedown
downstream, husks of belief.
My hand unsteadied..."
from "Argosy" by Debra Allbery
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-33-deb...
fracture, bright birds I had no names for,
dank smoke we couldn’t exhale. All
those still bodies floating facedown
downstream, husks of belief.
My hand unsteadied..."
from "Argosy" by Debra Allbery
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-33-deb...
It's alive!
Issue 33 has frighteningly good new poetry from:
Debra Allbery
Ashley Oakes
Amanda Chiado
Zachary Lorico Hertz
Jamie Kim
Jasmina Kuenzli
Laura Mills
Janice Northerns
Abiodun Salako
Moudi Sbeity
Susan Trofimow
Dana Tenille Weekes
Kenton K. Yee
leonliteraryreview.com
Issue 33 has frighteningly good new poetry from:
Debra Allbery
Ashley Oakes
Amanda Chiado
Zachary Lorico Hertz
Jamie Kim
Jasmina Kuenzli
Laura Mills
Janice Northerns
Abiodun Salako
Moudi Sbeity
Susan Trofimow
Dana Tenille Weekes
Kenton K. Yee
leonliteraryreview.com
LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
October 31, 2025 at 8:56 PM
It's alive!
Issue 33 has frighteningly good new poetry from:
Debra Allbery
Ashley Oakes
Amanda Chiado
Zachary Lorico Hertz
Jamie Kim
Jasmina Kuenzli
Laura Mills
Janice Northerns
Abiodun Salako
Moudi Sbeity
Susan Trofimow
Dana Tenille Weekes
Kenton K. Yee
leonliteraryreview.com
Issue 33 has frighteningly good new poetry from:
Debra Allbery
Ashley Oakes
Amanda Chiado
Zachary Lorico Hertz
Jamie Kim
Jasmina Kuenzli
Laura Mills
Janice Northerns
Abiodun Salako
Moudi Sbeity
Susan Trofimow
Dana Tenille Weekes
Kenton K. Yee
leonliteraryreview.com
"...When he has the coffee in his hand he turns and looks at me. I can feel his eyes on me as he walks by, but not in the way that you look at a face you recognize. No narrowed eyes or tilted head. He just looks..."
from "Mug" by Tali Libenstein
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-tal...
from "Mug" by Tali Libenstein
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-tal...
Issue 32 | Tali Libenstein – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
October 26, 2025 at 8:14 PM
"...When he has the coffee in his hand he turns and looks at me. I can feel his eyes on me as he walks by, but not in the way that you look at a face you recognize. No narrowed eyes or tilted head. He just looks..."
from "Mug" by Tali Libenstein
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-tal...
from "Mug" by Tali Libenstein
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-tal...
"My grandfather sits in his eroded fabric chair, drinking tea from the pot I unearthed from the pantry. His fingers rest like sardines between where the handle detached from the mug..."
from "Mona Lisa" by Claire Breslow
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-cla...
from "Mona Lisa" by Claire Breslow
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-cla...
Issue 32 | Claire Breslow – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
October 22, 2025 at 10:29 PM
"My grandfather sits in his eroded fabric chair, drinking tea from the pot I unearthed from the pantry. His fingers rest like sardines between where the handle detached from the mug..."
from "Mona Lisa" by Claire Breslow
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-cla...
from "Mona Lisa" by Claire Breslow
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-cla...
"For our sixth date, I take him to the field behind my home where the music grazes, swirls of song hovering over patches of grass. “They need the energy to grow,” I explain..."
from "Prelude" by Chelsea Hanna Cohen @chelseahannac.bsky.social
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-che...
from "Prelude" by Chelsea Hanna Cohen @chelseahannac.bsky.social
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-che...
Issue 32 | Chelsea Hanna Cohen – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
October 17, 2025 at 6:45 PM
"For our sixth date, I take him to the field behind my home where the music grazes, swirls of song hovering over patches of grass. “They need the energy to grow,” I explain..."
from "Prelude" by Chelsea Hanna Cohen @chelseahannac.bsky.social
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-che...
from "Prelude" by Chelsea Hanna Cohen @chelseahannac.bsky.social
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-che...
"It was the 90s, baby. My first job was wearing a fire hydrant suit for a short-lived novelty shop in the mall called District Red. I was supposed to stand out at the entrance, but I had just enough pride to not do that.
fr "District Red" by Andy Bodinger
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-and...
fr "District Red" by Andy Bodinger
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-and...
Issue 32 | Andy Bodinger – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
October 14, 2025 at 6:47 PM
"It was the 90s, baby. My first job was wearing a fire hydrant suit for a short-lived novelty shop in the mall called District Red. I was supposed to stand out at the entrance, but I had just enough pride to not do that.
fr "District Red" by Andy Bodinger
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-and...
fr "District Red" by Andy Bodinger
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-and...
"The story, over, before it was finished. No words like butterflies flitting around the edges of the sentences. No embellished sensory details..."
from "Laconic" by Wendy BooydeGraaff
@BooyTweets
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-wen...
from "Laconic" by Wendy BooydeGraaff
@BooyTweets
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-wen...
Issue 32 | Wendy BooydeGraaff – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
October 10, 2025 at 5:08 PM
"The story, over, before it was finished. No words like butterflies flitting around the edges of the sentences. No embellished sensory details..."
from "Laconic" by Wendy BooydeGraaff
@BooyTweets
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-wen...
from "Laconic" by Wendy BooydeGraaff
@BooyTweets
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-wen...
"...but her husband seemed so in love with her, always bringing her marigold and holly, and she was afraid to touch that. Afraid it would melt the winter in which they lived."
from "Another Winter" by Francine Witt
@francinewitte.bsky.social
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-fra...
from "Another Winter" by Francine Witt
@francinewitte.bsky.social
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-fra...
Issue 32 | Francine Witte – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
October 8, 2025 at 3:47 PM
"...but her husband seemed so in love with her, always bringing her marigold and holly, and she was afraid to touch that. Afraid it would melt the winter in which they lived."
from "Another Winter" by Francine Witt
@francinewitte.bsky.social
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-fra...
from "Another Winter" by Francine Witt
@francinewitte.bsky.social
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-fra...
"My father drives like memory itself: sudden acceleration, unexplained stops. At checkpoints, he switches between Arabic, French, English, calibrating survival to the soldier’s accent. “Canadian passport,” he says"
fr "Cartography of Ruin" by Elina Kumra
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-eli...
fr "Cartography of Ruin" by Elina Kumra
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-eli...
Issue 32 | Elina Kumra – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
October 6, 2025 at 5:34 PM
"My father drives like memory itself: sudden acceleration, unexplained stops. At checkpoints, he switches between Arabic, French, English, calibrating survival to the soldier’s accent. “Canadian passport,” he says"
fr "Cartography of Ruin" by Elina Kumra
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-eli...
fr "Cartography of Ruin" by Elina Kumra
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-eli...
There are 10 days left in our fall 2025 poetry reading period.
🍁 Pumpkin-spice pantoums? Apple-cider sonnets?
🍁 Pumpkin-spice pantoums? Apple-cider sonnets?
Intrepid writers of poetry - send us your daring, dreamy, provocative, beautifully unexpected verse! Our reading period is open to Poetry (only Poetry this time) through October 15th.
leonliteraryreview.com/submit-2/
leonliteraryreview.com/submit-2/
Submit – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
October 5, 2025 at 11:20 PM
There are 10 days left in our fall 2025 poetry reading period.
🍁 Pumpkin-spice pantoums? Apple-cider sonnets?
🍁 Pumpkin-spice pantoums? Apple-cider sonnets?
Reposted by Leon Literary Review
Intrepid writers of poetry - send us your daring, dreamy, provocative, beautifully unexpected verse! Our reading period is open to Poetry (only Poetry this time) through October 15th.
leonliteraryreview.com/submit-2/
leonliteraryreview.com/submit-2/
Submit – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
September 10, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Intrepid writers of poetry - send us your daring, dreamy, provocative, beautifully unexpected verse! Our reading period is open to Poetry (only Poetry this time) through October 15th.
leonliteraryreview.com/submit-2/
leonliteraryreview.com/submit-2/
"Something’s bothering my brother and everyone I know is afraid to ask him what’s wrong. He acts like he’s mad at the whole world and flings and hurls things around."
from "Smokey Says It’s Up to Us Now to Put Out Fires" by Mikki Aronoff
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-mik...
from "Smokey Says It’s Up to Us Now to Put Out Fires" by Mikki Aronoff
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-mik...
Issue 32 | Mikki Aronoff – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
October 2, 2025 at 5:37 PM
"Something’s bothering my brother and everyone I know is afraid to ask him what’s wrong. He acts like he’s mad at the whole world and flings and hurls things around."
from "Smokey Says It’s Up to Us Now to Put Out Fires" by Mikki Aronoff
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-mik...
from "Smokey Says It’s Up to Us Now to Put Out Fires" by Mikki Aronoff
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-mik...
Wow! The selection process was a challenge! We’ve had the privilege of publishing so many outstanding writers this past year. Thank you, everyone :)
Good luck to our 2025 Best of the Net nominees!
Good luck to our 2025 Best of the Net nominees!
October 1, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Wow! The selection process was a challenge! We’ve had the privilege of publishing so many outstanding writers this past year. Thank you, everyone :)
Good luck to our 2025 Best of the Net nominees!
Good luck to our 2025 Best of the Net nominees!
"...how to find the room, whether to bring a book, whether to call my brother, Sam, now or later, whether I should sneak in a visit to my demented husband on the way home. The crows have given way to songbirds."
From "Imposter" by Amy Bates
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-amy...
From "Imposter" by Amy Bates
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-amy...
Issue 32 | Amy Bates – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
September 29, 2025 at 4:12 PM
"...how to find the room, whether to bring a book, whether to call my brother, Sam, now or later, whether I should sneak in a visit to my demented husband on the way home. The crows have given way to songbirds."
From "Imposter" by Amy Bates
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-amy...
From "Imposter" by Amy Bates
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-amy...
"...she would try to think about the past, and would only be able to feel twinges and movements in certain parts of her body, as if an insect had landed on her bare arm with its light, spindly little legs..."
from "The Other Room" by Fergus Sinnott
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-fer...
from "The Other Room" by Fergus Sinnott
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-fer...
Issue 32 | Fergus Sinnott – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
September 25, 2025 at 8:41 PM
"...she would try to think about the past, and would only be able to feel twinges and movements in certain parts of her body, as if an insect had landed on her bare arm with its light, spindly little legs..."
from "The Other Room" by Fergus Sinnott
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-fer...
from "The Other Room" by Fergus Sinnott
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-fer...
"I seen a production of The Crucible one time back home in the community centre, so I know what these Yanks are like when they take agin you. Mad hoors altogether."
from "Snapped" by Elaine Maguire O’Connor
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-ela...
from "Snapped" by Elaine Maguire O’Connor
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-ela...
Issue 32 | Elaine Maguire O’Connor – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
September 23, 2025 at 4:27 PM
"I seen a production of The Crucible one time back home in the community centre, so I know what these Yanks are like when they take agin you. Mad hoors altogether."
from "Snapped" by Elaine Maguire O’Connor
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-ela...
from "Snapped" by Elaine Maguire O’Connor
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-ela...
On the night your space shuttle launches, I walk outside to my backyard and tilt my head heavenward. I imagine seeing the stellar nurseries glowing pink and red, pulsing with newborn stars, as heavy as my love..
Ghost Nebula, Elena Zhang
@ezhang77.bsky.social
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-ele...
Ghost Nebula, Elena Zhang
@ezhang77.bsky.social
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-ele...
Issue 32 | Elena Zhang – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
September 20, 2025 at 3:36 PM
On the night your space shuttle launches, I walk outside to my backyard and tilt my head heavenward. I imagine seeing the stellar nurseries glowing pink and red, pulsing with newborn stars, as heavy as my love..
Ghost Nebula, Elena Zhang
@ezhang77.bsky.social
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-ele...
Ghost Nebula, Elena Zhang
@ezhang77.bsky.social
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-ele...
"He was saying to his daughter, now fourteen, now in the throes of things he didn’t want to write in essays, that the clouds were stunning as they floated across a deep blue sky..."
from "Dutch Golden Age" by Andrew Bertaina
@andrewbertaina.bsky.social
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-and...
from "Dutch Golden Age" by Andrew Bertaina
@andrewbertaina.bsky.social
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-and...
Issue 32 | Andrew Bertaina – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
September 16, 2025 at 3:58 PM
"He was saying to his daughter, now fourteen, now in the throes of things he didn’t want to write in essays, that the clouds were stunning as they floated across a deep blue sky..."
from "Dutch Golden Age" by Andrew Bertaina
@andrewbertaina.bsky.social
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-and...
from "Dutch Golden Age" by Andrew Bertaina
@andrewbertaina.bsky.social
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-and...
"and I’m after the impossible place, the blank place, the place before I saw you..."
from "I met you there" by Cheryl Pappas @cherylpappas.bsky.social
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-che...
from "I met you there" by Cheryl Pappas @cherylpappas.bsky.social
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-che...
Issue 32 | Cheryl Pappas – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
September 12, 2025 at 7:22 PM
"and I’m after the impossible place, the blank place, the place before I saw you..."
from "I met you there" by Cheryl Pappas @cherylpappas.bsky.social
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-che...
from "I met you there" by Cheryl Pappas @cherylpappas.bsky.social
leonliteraryreview.com/issue-32-che...
Intrepid writers of poetry - send us your daring, dreamy, provocative, beautifully unexpected verse! Our reading period is open to Poetry (only Poetry this time) through October 15th.
leonliteraryreview.com/submit-2/
leonliteraryreview.com/submit-2/
Submit – LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
September 10, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Intrepid writers of poetry - send us your daring, dreamy, provocative, beautifully unexpected verse! Our reading period is open to Poetry (only Poetry this time) through October 15th.
leonliteraryreview.com/submit-2/
leonliteraryreview.com/submit-2/
Issue 32 is LIVE NOW! We can’t get over this amazing lineup!
Mikki Aronoff
Amy Bates
Andrew Bertaina
Andy Bodinger
Wendy BooydeGraaff
Claire Breslow
Chelsea Hanna Cohen
Elina Kumra
Tali Libenstein
Elaine Maguire O’Connor
Cheryl Pappas
Fergus Sinnott
Francine Witte
Elena Zhang
leonliteraryreview.com
Mikki Aronoff
Amy Bates
Andrew Bertaina
Andy Bodinger
Wendy BooydeGraaff
Claire Breslow
Chelsea Hanna Cohen
Elina Kumra
Tali Libenstein
Elaine Maguire O’Connor
Cheryl Pappas
Fergus Sinnott
Francine Witte
Elena Zhang
leonliteraryreview.com
LEON Literary Review
leonliteraryreview.com
September 8, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Issue 32 is LIVE NOW! We can’t get over this amazing lineup!
Mikki Aronoff
Amy Bates
Andrew Bertaina
Andy Bodinger
Wendy BooydeGraaff
Claire Breslow
Chelsea Hanna Cohen
Elina Kumra
Tali Libenstein
Elaine Maguire O’Connor
Cheryl Pappas
Fergus Sinnott
Francine Witte
Elena Zhang
leonliteraryreview.com
Mikki Aronoff
Amy Bates
Andrew Bertaina
Andy Bodinger
Wendy BooydeGraaff
Claire Breslow
Chelsea Hanna Cohen
Elina Kumra
Tali Libenstein
Elaine Maguire O’Connor
Cheryl Pappas
Fergus Sinnott
Francine Witte
Elena Zhang
leonliteraryreview.com