Beth Mulcahy avatar

    Beth Mulcahy

    Beth Mulcahy is a poet and writer whose work has appeared various journals. She writes to bridge the gaps between history and the self, between hurt and healing. Beth lives in Ohio with her husband and two children. https://www.bethmulcahywriter.com
    Cleveland, OH, United States

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    Chapbooks

    Selected work (51 publication)

    Black Fork Review, 2023
    Connecting FlightsThe space between shower and sleep (smells like shampoo on wet hair) between night and day (no one else awake yet) between here and there (on airplane flying over ocean)
    Sledgehammer Lit, 2021
    I Have Something to Say About PotatoesI love meat and potatoes like a good Irish girl the tuber ties of my DNA are deep and distant
    Rejection Letters Lit, 2021
    The Board of Directors of Your LifeThe Board of Directors of Your Life, d/b/a “you,” met at the regularly scheduled time in the predetermined recesses of your mind to discuss the status of Your Life and all relevant pending issues related thereto.
    Full House Literary, 2021
    The ShawlIf you bury your face in it and breathe very deeply you can still smell the woman whose shoulders it once kept warm.
    Roi Faineant Press, 2022
    Phone Notes from Dizzying HeightsHave you ever watched the sunset at cloud level? Watched it dip below the cloudline while you were right there with it, right there in it? There is enough fog in the afternoon to necessitate lights on the runway as the plane takes off. The drops
    Travel writing
    scissors & spackle, 2022
    An Ardent Accounting1. Number of times I met you before I fell in love with you
    listicle
    Fahmidan Journal, 2022
    An Ode to the Old CountryI’m crossing the ocean for you so you will love me as I love you
    Paragraph Planet, 2021
    Snooze Snooze That button risks letting you in my dreams for nine minutes every morning. Today’s risk was higher since last night I refused to relive the pain of you having left. You snuck in anyway this morning. I wasn't conscious enough to keep you out.
    Fevers of the Mind, 2022
    The BeautyBob Dylan live in concert at the Michigan State Fairgrounds in 1994 for five dollars at the gate waiting all day under an August sun
    Moss Puppy, 2022
    FlippyYour furry face finds me wants my fingers scratching behind your ears
    Moss Puppy, 2021
    On the Way to Workthe fog is so thick driving through the valley that i can’t tell where the sky ends and the ground begins
    Alternate Route Zine, 2021
    Starvingi look down and watch them all day long but my hands are not my own
    Alternate Route Zine, 2021
    PTSDThe glass was always half full until it started to look half empty then it shattered into shards
    Alternate Route Zine, 2021
    Queen Anne’s Lacewalking around the arboretum under a bright hot summer sun taking pictures of flowers and trees, I saw Queen Anne’s Lace and thought about what made you happy
    Alternate Route Zine, 2021
    Heart Flameup side down or rightside up flames can be touched but not held
    New Note Poetry, 2021
    Lake MansionsOn the surface around the lake
    High Voltage Anthology, 2022
    FlashbacksSomeone I used to know said the key to moving forward is not looking back
    Celestite Poetry, 2021
    Left Unsaidthat lily bowing to the violets over there used to be me but now it is her
    Cutbow Quarterly, 2022
    List of Things to Make a List OfMake a list of things that sound like thunder but are not conversations to have hard conversations to have what makes conversations hard what makes conversations easy
    Roi Faineant Press, 2022
    When I Remember How it Felt to be ThirteenI think of the night I decided I couldn’t wait to not be thirteen anymore. It wasn’t a far drive; I only lived a few blocks up the street. Earlier that day, I had walked down to babysit but it was dark now so the mom told the dad to drive me home.
    Fevers of the Mind, 2022
    CurrentsIt’s the vastness of it that calms me from the shore my toes exfoliating in sand
    Roi Faineant Press, 2022
    Resting Heart Rate, The Northeast Direct, Walking AroundThe hollow heart pumps peace rhythmically, contracting and dilating, pushing calm methodically against the flow of fight. Peace is the absence of disturbance but it is not
    Discretionary Love, 2022
    How to Bake a MarriageBefore you begin, separate out all expectations and discard (do not bother setting aside for use later or for any other relationships as unfulfilled expectations are generally considered ruinous.)
    Rejection Letters Lit, 2022
    Formal Request for MercyRe: Formal Request for Mercy Dear Universe, I am writing in follow up to recent events within the scope of your realm and provide you with some comments and questions related thereto.
    epistolary
    Roi Faineant Press, 2022
    Inadequacy and Attic AlcoveMy old friend, it’s good to see you again, in spite of it all. Will you sit down? There’s something I need to say, so this drink, it’s on me. Hearts break all the time, I know, but there’s this little
    Discretionary Love, 2022
    True Love but for the Lack of What is NotTrue love but for the fact of becoming part of a past for you to run from true love but for the lack
    Fevers of the Mind, 2022
    Dignified Descent, On the Edge of Now, Looking BackAnd now I descend into the depths of myself from the surface of my life, like a goddess diving headfirst into the underworld.
    A Thin Slice of Anxiety, 2022
    Usedness and What These Words Meanyou don’t feel it right away the usedness of it all only later you think about it and your body
    ONE ART: a journal of poetry, 2022
    Safety Firststay on the path the paved one right here
    Punk Noir Magazine, 2022
    I Swear and Februaryhonestly, i wanted you to be honest then your truth ripped the seam
    Discretionary Love, 2022
    Home to Meyou were home to me for so long until you just became someone walking around at night in the rain
    Voidspace Zine, 2021
    Merry ChristmasEach year this time I am cast
    Roi Faineant Press, 2021
    Chemical Pregnancies and Nurse MargeI was late for my period so I took a home pregnancy test.
    Sledgehammer Lit, 2021
    Combat BootsAren’t those heavy? She would ask Don’t they weigh you down?
    Discretionary Love, 2021
    What about Bourbon Street?did you find out that you can’t drink pop with breakfast in a soda town?
    celestite poetry, 2021
    Sweet & Sourit is always the same drink with you just sometimes it tastes sour and sometimes sweet
    GIVING ROOM MAG, 2021
    Losti take my socks off in bed at night when i’m not too cold anymore and let my toes wiggle and breathe
    Discretionary Love, 2021
    Beginning with GoodbyeHere it is New Year’s Day and Chicago, Illinois is on its way
    The Confessionalist Zine, 2021
    Dark Rain DashHolding hands through our jackets as we ran across that busy street in the rain the other night felt, at first, like mutual self defense.
    Anti-Heroin Chic, 2021
    Greyhound Friends and Friendly Firewe were going the same direction from different places
    Bombfire, 2021
    Descend to Find Smoother Airmy dolls are mute sipping tea things and talking about the weather in my head
    Trouvaille Review, 2021
    Frozen Junedoes it feel like summer where you are? if i had the strength to believe in something i would believe in this
    Potato Soup Journal, 2021
    Taco HellWould he live or would he die? I stared at the news every night in the fall of 1994, unable to speak, unable to move, jonesing for information. It was karma for lying about where I was.
    Fiery Scribe Review, 2021
    The Rooms I Make My OwnIn your room, I fell asleep in your clothes on your bed before you finished studying.
    Roi Faineant Press, 2021
    Response to Nikki Giovanni’s 'Crutches'she said women aren’t allowed to need but we aren’t supposed to be strong either so we develop self-destructive rituals men call emotional problems
    Second Chance Lit
    Inhale/ExhaleI sigh all the time my mother points this out what feels like every time we are together she does it too
    Olney, 2021
    Combat Boots III had to stand outside in mud during the active shooter drill at school
    Fevers of the Mind, 2022
    General Sherman's BaggageFirst Published in From the Farther Trees Pop Up Issue: Trees in September 2021https://farthertrees.files.wordpress.com/2021/09/from-the-farther-trees-september-2021-pop-up-issue.pdf
    Punk Noir, 2022
    Our Father, Timber Tower, A Door That Won't Open, Fear
    Voidspace Zine, 2022
    Intrusive Thoughts
    Boats Against the Current, 2022
    Watch the World Melt Hear it Crash and The Fog of It

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