The Blooming is Here

Bonus newsletter celebrating chapbooks

What is The Blooming?

The 2025 goal for TW is the nourishing of our roots: hand-bound chapbooks. With our new, runic colophon as a compass, we wish to embrace the natural world, channel the sublime beauty of classical art, develop three debut poets into world-class authors, and craft the most artisanal chapbooks in our catalog. This is The Blooming Series.

Who wrote these chapbooks?

Jie Cohen is a mixed, intersex writer whose work has been recognized in or is forthcoming in DIAGRAM, The Offing, The Minnesota Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, Strange Horizons, The Ex-Puritan, POETS.org, and others. Their poem "THE FUTURE" received a Best of the Net award in 2023, their poem "fairy-cherry" was selected as the winner of the 2024 Singapore Unbound Poetry Prize, and they were longlisted for The Disquiet Prize in Poetry in 2025. They currently live and teach in Central Asia.

Artwork chosen: Death of Lucretia (c. 1550) by Bartholomeus Spranger

The definition of ‘Blooming’: represents rebirth and ambition. The end of a growth process and the beginning of beauty. A transformation. A sensual expression of the exterior.

Favorite flower: Almond Flower

Abigail Michelini, Ph.D., teaches writing at Northampton Community College. Her poems have appeared in journals such as Thimble Literary Magazine, Whale Road Review, and The Main Street Rag. Her scholarly work has been published in The Journal of Multimodal Rhetorics and the Writing Center Journal. In the summer of 2023, she was an artist-in-residence for the East 40 in Bethlehem, PA, the result of which is a poetry walk anyone can explore in person or on her website. When she’s not writing, she can be found playing with her kids and running Pennsylvania roads. Brace is her debut chapbook. Find her at www.abigailmichelini.com

Artwork chosen: Alpheus and Arethusa (1832) by John Martin

The definition of ‘Blooming’: means thriving in perseverance. It means after a long, hard winter of life, not only are we surviving, but flourishing, despite (and in part, perhaps, because of) any challenges thrown our way.

Favorite flower: Lilacs

Rayni K. Wekluk is the author of the debut chapbook, Garbage City Poems (Thirty West Publishing, 2025.) Her poetry and nonfiction is published in Folio, The Linden Review, Collision, 13th Floor Magazine, The Oakland Arts Review, & more. Primarily a poet, Wekluk will graduate in Fall 2025 with a BFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) and a BA in English (CNF) from the University of Nebraska Omaha. She holds the honor of having served as a manuscript reviewer for the Ex Ophidia Press 2024 Richard Gabriel Rummonds Poetry Contest. Wekluk explores the human condition through a strong feminine lens within her work & hopes to publish a full-length collection of poetry in the coming years.

Artwork chosen: The Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum (1822) by John Martin

The definition of ‘Blooming’: isn't just a transitory phase. It's a return. It represents the cycle of death and renewal. Blooming is a reminder that we need metaphorical deaths—like heartbreak, for example—to grow. What we learn in the blooming is what makes us thrive.

Favorite flower: Pastel Tulips (Bluebonnets are mentioned in the chapbook, too)

Want to know more?

All three chapbooks will be published on 5-9-25. Only 20 sewn limited editions per title are available and stock is LOW. We’ve introduced a ‘budget’ binding of simple staples, and kept the perfect-bound glue (at a presale discount). Some book launches and readings are in progress…don’t miss out!

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