Author: Ariadne Makridakis Arroyo

Happy New Year! The Women Who Submit members included in this post published their work in amazing places during December of 2025. One of our committed members heard about their publication opportunity through WWS programming and/or another member.

I’ve included an excerpt from published pieces (if available), along with a link (if available) to where the pieces can be purchased and/or read in their entirety. Please take some time to celebrate yourself and your wonderful accomplishments, especially with so many writers published this month. Thank you and happy submitting!

Huge congratulations to Amy Raasch whose poem “My Sister Donates Her Eyes to the State of Minnesota” won the Beullah Rose Poetry Prize.

Kudos to Christine Heriat whose fiction piece “The Ledger” was published in Shotgun Honey.

You carry a heavy case. 

His narrowed eyes, his tight mouth, tell you it would’ a been smarter to carry what’s inside the case in your waistband, or hand. But you worried too much over drawin’ the attention of other gang members, a stray cop, that sorta thing. Really, your big case makes you feel big, even though you left your colors at home. Gotta find a way to look strong when you take this kinda risk. Make a move to improve your circumstance, scratch your way up with one fingernail, one job, one bullet. 

Shoutout to Elizabeth Galoozis whose poem “ode to an adolescent niece” was featured in Sontag Mag.

you’re blazing

hot pink-orange,

an angry sunrise

through wildfire smoke,

a highlighter

obliterating words

you’re expected

to remember.

Please join me in congratulating Diosa Xochiquetzalcoatl who published a new poetry collection MeXicana: poemas y mas poemas with Riot of Roses Publishing House.

Kudos to Viktoria Valenzuela whose poem “Top & Tail Lover’s Knot” appeared in Zócalo Public Square.

Congratulations to Shelley Ettinger whose poem “Disappear” was featured in Radical Catalyst Vol.1, No.2.

Shoutout to Michelle Smith whose poem “Heart of Simon” appeared in LA Art News‘ December Poet’s Place series (excerpt available below). She also published the poem “Look Out Below” and the book Do SoCal Palms have Branches? with Four Feathers Press.

Simon Rodia visionary Italian artist

33 years climbing The Watts Tower

1990 historic California landmark

At 70 years old

a.k.a El Nuestro Pueblos

Is mightier than gold

Globally admired

Symmetrical

Intricate

Magnificent

Ornate

Nuance

Renowned

Original

Daring

Intriguing

Artist

Lastly, huge congratulations to Julia C Gaytan who published a new book Imported Sand with Chicana/Latina Studies: The Journal of Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social.

*Feature image credit to Margaret Gallagher*

The WWS members included in this post published their work in amazing places during July of 2024. I’ve included an excerpt from published pieces (if available), along with a link (if available) to where the pieces can be purchased and/or read in their entirety.

I attended Women Who Submit’s conference, Beyond the Writing: Building Community, Advocacy, and a Literary Career, this past Saturday where I sat in on a panel centered around community as bridges and keys to supporting our potential as writers. When I shuffled into the room, exhausted from the heat, someone handed me a flower with a small piece of paper attached to the stem containing a poem. One of the panelists mentioned how we all deserve our flowers, and I hope this rings true for you this month whether or not you’ve been published (or have sent work out to journals).

Please join me in celebrating our members who published in July of 2024! And do take a moment to celebrate the bloom of your flowers.

Big congratulations to Lisa Eve Cheby whose book Contract Tracing has been published by dancing girl press.

Please join me in congratulating Brenda Vaca for publishing her poem “Anointed” in the Latino Book Review Magazine for their 2024 issue.

Huge congratulations to Tisha Reichle-Aguilera whose fiction piece “Mi Culpa” appeared in Angel City Review’s thirteenth issue.

“Teresita!” Abuela’s cry from the back bedroom wafts out, beckons me to her side.

If Mamá doesn’t hear the first request for my assistance, I can wait for the commercial.

“Te-Re-Si-Ta!” Even though Abuela’s body is weak, her voice is still strong as ever.

Before I can reply, Mamá steps out of the kitchen, my sister on her hip, my brother at her ankle, and a spatula in her free hand. She glares at me.

Amy Raasch‘s two poems “Why I Am Not a Gravedigger” and “Ashes” were also featured in this wonderful issue!

When I turn the card over, the armoire opens to a library
of birch tree-sized books. A pinemarten
claws a spine tattooed with my sister’s name,
gnaws its pressed flowers. The ocean forgets

the secret the lake told.

Big shoutout to Kate Maruyama whose new novel, The Collective, has been published with Writ Large Press.

Kudos to Valerie Anne Burns for publishing “Reconstruction,” an excerpt from her memoir in LIGHT Magazine.

My life, and possession of my body began to feel like it was slowly slipping away. A powerful feminine essence I achieved through decades of spiritual practice, therapy, and relationship experiences began to drain through my toes and tips of my fingers—a power I’d come to inhabit flowed down a long drain to the Santa Barbara ocean. An ending. 

And lastly, please give a shoutout to Elizabeth Galoozis whose poem “My Wife Asks Me Why I Keep Touching Her Leg in Bed” was featured in Rogue Agent Journal.

in the night, I press
my foot to your hot bare calf.
surreptitiously

so I don’t wake you
into kicking me away.
how can I explain.

my body needs to
know your body is alive.
that my body is.

Feature image credit to Margaret Gallagher