I was introduced to Samantha when I submitted to her magazine Shine Poetry Quarterly. She accepted three short and rather unusual poems of mine for publication in the summer of 2025. After that, I recognized her name everywhere! She has several books out, more than a dozen! I first read her collection of selected poems, Felling Trees, which contains poems written over almost three decades. Her most recent release is the chapbook we discuss in this interview, For, On, or After. She also has another new book slated with The Poetry Lighthouse called Survival Instincts! Samantha is a busy writer who is really engaged with the poetry community. It’s this dedication to craft and word that I think made me want to know more about her.
You start your new collection For, On, or After with pieces about writing. Describe your relationship with writing in 2025 and your hopes for your relationship with writing in 2026.
Like many, I suspect, 2025 was a difficult year for me. Along with national and global politics, my family lost my brother to cancer, and it also became time to downsize my mom to an apartment—on top of it all, during the moving process, I got a terrible case of Covid. So for a few months at least—grief, exhaustion, and Covid-brain-fog held me in a place of distraction. When I started to write (if I started to write!), my poems often felt cliché. This led me to reflect on my identity as a writer, which ultimately produced several of the poems in For, On, or After—for example, “Elegy to Individuality (After Thomas Gray)” and some of the other opening poems. But of course, poetry doesn’t wait for life—it was right there with me, battling alongside me through a tenuous and vulnerable time. And I’m grateful for that. I’m happy to say that 2026 has been good so far—I’m working on carving out more writing time, and I’d like to ramp up my submissions again, which have fallen off quite a bit.
Who is “A Time for Forever” about?
“A Time for Forever” was written for one of my sisters who recently got remarried. She had asked me to read one of my poems at their service, and almost immediately, I knew I wanted to write something new for her and my brother-in-law, instead of recycling an older poem that wouldn’t have been as appropriate. I haven’t written an extraordinary amount of love poetry, and because this was a second marriage for both of them, I wanted the poem to really speak to their circumstances. It was such an honor to do the reading at their service, and their minister liked it so much she asked for permission to use it in future weddings (permission granted, of course!).
I loved “Poetry Is”! I also have a poem describing my writing as meat—well, more the editing process as butchering! What inspired your piece about poetry as meat?
I like your metaphor—I’m always working on becoming a better “butcher!” To answer your question… it’s kind of a long story, but I used to hand-produce a little series of chapbooks (titled “Honesty”), which I would then force upon my close family and friends about once per quarter! This went on for several years, and then one year, I saw Rick Lupert’s call out for an eBook exchange (I think he does this annually—over at Poetry Super Highway), so I decided to take all of the poetry from my little handmade chapbooks and put them together into an omnibus, which I saved as an eBook and shared through PSH. But for the cover art, I used a (royalty-free) photo of a raw steak. Sounds pretty corny now, but at the time I thought it was a great metaphor for the “raw” and honest emotion conveyed through poetry. Fast forward about a decade, and someone (may have been Alan Parry at Broken Spine Arts?) posted a prompt online: What Is Poetry? Write a poem about what ‘poetry is.’ The old image of my cover art popped into my head, and I created the poem from there.
Ah, yes—I have worked with Rick before as well! Follow up—what type of food would you call this collection?
I don’t know if this chapbook is a ‘food,’ so much as maybe a hotel mini-bar! It’s a smattering of poems that have only come together due to happenstance and since it’s a short book (think tiny bottles), it can probably only sustain a reader for a limited duration. I jest, of course! But I think For, On, or After would make a great companion to anyone settling in for an evening with their drink of choice (hot tea or cocoa works, too!).
You’ve included pieces inspired by other poets and about other writers. What is your relationship with the poems of other writers?
Many of the poems written “after” other writers are Golden Shovels or were inspired by other famous works. However, I have the pleasure of being personally acquainted with Mandy Hayden (“On Reading A.M. Hayden’s American Saunter While You’re On Your Cross-Country Roadtrip”) and Ralph Pennel (“On Reading Ralph Pennel’s A World Less Perfect for Dying In”). Mandy and I met through Instagram and have Zoomed together for readings. Whereas Ralph runs a reading series at our local arts council in Upstate New York, and I was honored to participate in his inaugural event in 2024.
You’ve worked with Jane Cornwell’s press before. What brought you back to submit again? Also, tell us about the artwork on the cover.
Sure! Jane’s a professional illustrator who founded JC STUDIO Press (Glasgow) several years ago, and we’ve worked together on three prior books. She’s a delight to collaborate with. After taking a short break and reconfiguring her press last year, she invited me back to work with her on a new project, and of course I was thrilled to work with her again. She designs and formats the books through her press, and provides the beautiful all original cover art. She’s also an incredible champion of the writers she publishes, promoting our work widely on social media and placing our books on shelves at The National Library of Scotland, The Bodleian Library at Oxford, The British Library, and others. For the cover of For, On, or After, I thought it would be nice to use some bold colors as described in my poem, “Who Is the Artist Who Captures Emotion With a Brushstroke?” Jane loved the idea, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the colors she chose and the gorgeous, beating heart cover she produced.
It is very beautiful! You two did a great job with the new collection For, On, or After available with Jane’s Studio Press!
Thanks so much for the opportunity to share about my work!
Originally from the Midwest, Samantha Terrell has lived on both coasts and spent time in most states in-between. A writer whose literary passions are often fueled by social issues, Terrell’s “America, America” was her first formal publication—by way of notable Chicano poet, (the late) Francisco X. Alarcón. Terrell gained traction with publications in DoveTales by Writing for Peace, Dissident Voice, and others, and her poems have since been widely anthologized in journals such as Door=Jar, Eunoia Review, Lucky Jefferson, Misfit Magazine, The Orchards Poetry Journal, and more. Following a round of self-published eBooks in the 2010s, Terrell’s debut collection, Vision, and Other Things We Hide From, was published in 2021, by Potter’s Grove Press (Arizona). Her breakthrough into the international poetry community came around the same time, with contributions to an ekphrasis project by UK-based poet Paul Brookes, who has described Terrell’s poetry as “a metaphysical tour-de-force.” Terrell has since released multiple five-star collections with indie presses across the US & UK—most recently Felling Trees (Low Hanging Fruit Publishing, California). Other noteworthy achievements include: her poem “Nor Should We” was shortlisted for The Letter Review Prize (Summer 2025); she was the recipient of a Poets & Writers grant in conjunction with NYSCA (Spring 2024); her poem “Just Justice” earned First Honorable Mention from Poets for Human Rights (Fall 2021). Terrell and her family reside in Upstate New York, where she oversees the Binghamton Beatniks Writers Guild, and serves as the founding editor of SHINE international poetry series.
Rachel Turney, Ed.D. (she/her) is an educator and artist located in Denver. Her poems, research articles, reviews, and drawings can be found in a variety of publications. Rachel is passionate about immigrant rights, teacher support, and empowering other artists. She is a Writers’ Hour prize winner and Best of the Net nominee. Her photography appears on a few magazine covers. Rachel runs the popular online reading series Poetry (in Brief). She is on staff at Bare Back Magazine with her monthly column Friday Night in the Suburbs. She reads for The Los Angeles Review. Website: turneytalks.com Instagram: @turneytalks Bluesky: rachelturney
Books coming 2026:
Record Player Life with The Poetry Lighthouse
Retired Wannabe Club Kid with Parlyaree Press
To Be (a Woman) with redrosethorns
Women Making Soup Together with Vinegar Press
