Jessica Willingham

Poet 💌 Forthcoming 2026 @BellePointPress

[Jessica Willingham @jesswcreative]

I love a pretty cover. In awe of these beautiful spring releases from @BellePointPress 💙

"three new collections + two debuts by deeply talented poets from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky coming in May + June"
https://t.co/BeOs4ur8bJ

[Jessica Willingham @jesswcreative]

"Each granddaughter is a doll reborn in a mall this big.”

💝 from ​Girl of the Year™ by Alyx Chandler​ in @BicoastalReview Issue 12

Submission readers loved this poem for its fresh tone and on-the-nose nostalgia.

https://t.co/sQ64aUETtq

[Jessica Willingham @jesswcreative]

As a first reader in submissions, I fell in love with this unique eco-story for @MastersReview 💚A doctor meets a client who deals with insomnia and memories brought on by unusually blooming corpse flowers. 🌺 Together they reflect on familial connection, history, and climate. 🌿

[The Masters Review @MastersReview]

Under normal conditions, the flower can take a decade to bloom as it stores up tens of thousands of kilowatts of sunlight in its corm.

—Thomas Heise, "The Corpse Flowers"
Summer Short Story Award 2nd Place

https://t.co/e6V5Miero8

[Jessica Willingham @jesswcreative]

"There were swaths of her life about which she remembered little. Yet she could describe books she read and paintings or photographs she saw in extraordinary detail. Language seemed to flow from a continuous river within her."
Thomas Heise @MastersReview

https://t.co/ayzbkjev5x

[Jessica Willingham @jesswcreative]

“The possum, o-less in its lowly state, no vanity in its topaz eyes adorned now with flies, dead here in the hairpin turn….”

Crossing by Sarah Elkins @BicoastalReview
https://t.co/XaDsmZijOs

Submission readers called this poem “lovely, dark, & compassionate.”

[Jessica Willingham @jesswcreative]

"no matter how gorgeous this day started, I stroll the streets like a little boy who broke a vase and won’t go home until day throws in the towel and night pokes her head in."

Ridiculous by Charlie Peck in @PassagesNorth

https://t.co/TXrnH1DCfB

[HAD @havehadhavehad]

we have five gorgeous new Daniel Fraser poems! here’s one!

https://t.co/ROkbunlnBU

[Jessica Willingham @jesswcreative]

"Meanwhile the books will all
have been recycled and the paper pulp will be
used to insulate space-age homes on
open prairies where the wind gets up to
forty knots."
📖
by Jessy Randall @RattlePoetry
https://t.co/RSDMJvyZLc

[Jessica Willingham @jesswcreative]

"My father stops calling me honey because boys are not sweet...I watched how honeysuckle grew on backyard fences and the brick walls of public pool houses"

from Harvest by Allen Means @onlypoemsmag

https://t.co/IbkHlZCNk8

[Moss Puppy Mag 🌿🐶 | OPEN FOR SUBS @mosspuppymag]

Submissions for Moss Puppy Magazine: Issue 9: Echoed Howls are open until October 1st. https://t.co/6lTynhY88F

[Susan L. Leary @susanlleary]

I just love this poem!

Maggie Rue Hess 💙

from THE BONES THAT MAP US (Belle Point Press)

Day 22 - #SealeyChallenge

@BellePointPress @SealeyChallenge

[Jessica Willingham @jesswcreative]

my back-to-school reading list 💌🍁 📝https://t.co/FGlDrTZ1Ww

[Taylor Hamann Los @taylorhamannlos]

Eeeeeee so happy to share the piece that got me my first 💀! Thank you so much @havehadhavehad for publishing this one!

[Jessica Willingham @jesswcreative]

So excited for this beauty! 🌷 @SuzyEynon @the_ethelzine

[Suzy Eynon @SuzyEynon]

My prose chapbook Being Seen from @the_ethelzine has a pre-order link 🌼 each book is handmade

https://t.co/MdcqnEqeCi

[Jessica Willingham @jesswcreative]

"Do you remember the Devil’s Tree and what happened there?"

🖤 DAD DRIVES ME AROUND MY HOMETOWN by @JillianLuft @havehadhavehad
https://t.co/kvKnJvP0th

[Academy of American Poets @POETSorg]

Have you read today’s #PoemADay: “I’d Have You Think of Me” by Djuna Barnes?

https://t.co/bk4Q7jO1tO

[Jessica Willingham @jesswcreative]

"I called you crying joyful, I called you crying desperate. Laughing. Swearing. Praying. Singing. Calling always to you."

💖 from Microchimeras by Kristin Grace
https://t.co/dgBTYIu5ZI

[Jessica Willingham @jesswcreative]

@KarenCrawford_ @Wigleaf @shome_dasgupta @fivesouthlit Congrats, Karen! I still think about this story…. 🫶🏼❤️

[Karen Crawford @KarenCrawford_]

Truly made my day to see a little heart piece of mine on the @wigleaf top 50 longlist. Thank you, Thank you @shome_dasgupta and the editors! And a grateful shout-out to @fivesouthlit and @jesswcreative for giving "The Tug of Love and War" a home! 💙🙏🏼 💙🙏🏼 💙