Who We Are
Bracken is a literary magazine born of the love of the woods and its shadows. Bracken is green and lush, coarse and delicate, drinks from the earth, and spreads underground, more root than frond. Bracken is understory, invades, takes over, shades and protects. We seek poetry and art that will root, tender and tough, in us.
Jed Myers
Editor, Poetry Editor
Photo: Chris Berkenkamp and Engaging the Senses Foundation
A Philadelphia native who’s loved poetry since childhood, Jed studied Creative Writing at Tufts University, then trained in medicine and psychiatry, and maintained a therapy practice in Seattle for nearly four decades until his recent retirement. He’s author of Watching the Perseids (Sacramento Poetry Center Book Award), The Marriage of Space and Time (MoonPath Press), Learning to Hold (Wandering Aengus Press Editors’ Award), and, out in 2026, Can’t Be Far (MoonPath Press Sally Albiso Award finalist). Jed’s had six chapbooks published, most recently Anyone’s Dust (Sundress Chapbook Editor’s Choice Award). Poems have won awards from Southern Indiana Review, Prime Number Magazine, The Southeast Review, Northwest Review, River Heron Review, and others. His work has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Poetry Northwest, Rattle, RHINO, The Poetry Review, The Greensboro Review, many other journals, and numerous anthologies. He is married to Bracken’s founder, the writer Alina Rios. https://www.jedmyers.com/
Kate Deimling
Poetry Editor, Managing Editor
A poet, writer, and translator, Kate is a native of New Orleans and a longtime Brooklynite. Her poems have appeared in Passager, Sheila-Na-Gig, SLANT, Southern Poetry Review, Tar River Poetry, Valparaiso Poetry Review, and other magazines, and her work has been nominated for the Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize. She holds a PhD in French literature and has translated several books from French. In her free time, Kate enjoys cooking, reading, hiking, birding, word puzzles including translation dilemmas, and hanging out with her dog. Her debut poetry collection, Time Traveling, was published by Cornerstone Press in January 2026. https://www.katedeimling.com/
T. Clear
Associate Poetry Editor
T. is a founder of Floating Bridge Press and an EasySpeak Seattle facilitator. She has been writing and publishing since the late 1970’s, and her work has appeared in many magazines and anthologies, including Poetry Northwest, The Rise-Up Review, Red Earth Review, Terrain.org, The Moth, Common Ground Review, Crannog, The American Journal of Poetry, Verse Daily, and Take a Stand: Art Against Hate. Her books are A House, Undone, the 2021 winner of the Sally Albiso Award, and Egg Money, both from MoonPath Press. https://tclearpoet.com/
Ted McMahon
Associate Poetry Editor
Ted has lived and worked in Seattle since 1972. Recently retired from a career in pediatrics, he devotes his time to writing, metal sculpture, and percussion. His poems have appeared in The Seattle Review, Chrysanthemum, Manzanita Quarterly, The Journal of the American Medical Association, and elsewhere. Ted’s chapbook First Fire was published in 1996, and his full-length collection, The Uses of Imperfection, in 2003. His 2026 chapbook, Visitations, was recently released by MoonPath Press. He is married to Rosanne Olson, artist and musician.
Morgan Brajkovich
Assistant Poetry Editor
Morgan is a poet and writer from Pennsylvania. She is a Kutztown University graduate with a B.A. in Professional Writing, concentration in Culture and Media, and a Literature minor. She has been published through her university’s literary magazines, including Shoofly and Essence. Her debut poetry chapbook, It’s Only Milk, was published by Finishing Line Press. Her poems have been featured in Wishbone Words.
Linda Hillman Chayes
Assistant Poetry Editor
Linda is the author of two chapbooks, Not My First Walk on the Moon (2024) and The Lapse (2014), both published by Finishing Line Press. Her poems have appeared in Kestrel, SWWIM, American Poetry Journal, Bracken, Quartet, Westchester Review, 2 Horatio, Sheila-Na-Gig, and other publications. After studying English literature and creative writing, Linda earned a PhD in clinical psychology and a postdoctoral certificate in psychoanalysis. She currently practices as a psychologist and psychoanalyst in New York. In a book she co-wrote and co-edited, The Voice of the Analyst: Narratives in Developing a Psychoanalytic Identity (Routledge, 2018), she explores the connections between metaphor, imagery, rhythm, and the therapeutic process.
Kelli Lage
Assistant Poetry Editor
Kelli is a Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize-nominated poet. She is the author of the poetry collection Early Cuts (Kelsay Books). Her work has appeared in Maudlin House, The Lumiere Review, Welter Journal, Orange Blossom Review, and elsewhere. She is earning her MFA in Creative Writing at PLU’s Rainier Writing Workshop. www.KelliLage.com.
Jennifer Bullis
Social Media Editor
Jennifer is the author of Impossible Lessons (MoonPath Press) and of poems and essays appearing in Bracken, Gulf Coast, Indiana Review, Potomac Review, Rhino Poetry, and Terrain. She is an Artsmith Residency Fellow and nominee for Pushcart, Best Spiritual Literature, Best New Poets, and Best of the Net awards. She holds a PhD from University of California-Davis and lives in Bellingham, Washington, where she writes about long-distance foot travel, deforestation, motherhood, repurposing myth, horse-keeping, and women in the courtroom.
Founders
Alina Rios and Piper Robert
Past Staff
Jessica Bixel (poetry reader), Charlotte d'Huart (fiction editor, anthology editor), Andrew Gordon (poetry reader), Kimberly Huebner (fiction reader/newsletter writer/graphic designer), Amy Lee Lillard (fiction editor), Disko Praphanchith (managing editor), Erin Slomski-Pritz (assistant poetry editor), V. Wesley (fiction reader, cover design, consultation), Lea Aschkenas (poetry reader), Natalie Marino (poetry reader), Bridget Houlihan (managing editor), Hunter Casperson (web editor), Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach (special series co-editor), Kelly Gray (outreach editor, social media editor), Rhienna Renée Guedry (managing editor), Lyn Coffin (consulting editor), Cicely Gill (consulting editor), Mitchell Nobis (assistant poetry editor), Jayne Marek, 1954–2025 (associate poetry editor)
Special thanks to our friends and supporters at Ko-fi, Chill Subs, Duotrope, and Poets & Writers.