Ellie White has been over-dramatic since 1986. She holds a BA in English from The Ohio State University, and an MFA from Old Dominion University. Ellie writes nonfiction and poetry. She is also the creator of the comic strip “Uterus & Ellie.” Her work has been published in Foundry, Breakwater Review, and The Columbia Review, as well as other journals. Her first poetry chapbook, Requiem for a Doll, was released by ELJ Publications in June 2015. In 2019, Ellie will have her first full-length collection published by Unsolicited Press. Her work has won an Academy of American Poets College Poetry Prize, a Best of the Net nomination, and two Pushcart Prize nominations. Ellie served as a poetry editor at Barely South Review for three years, and as a poetry and nonfiction editor for Four Ties Literary Review for two years. She is a social media editor and reader at Muzzle Magazine. To see more of Ellie’s writing, visit her website: elliewhitewrites.com
from DRIFT:
I open the bathroom door at work to find
a forest. Green slime coats the trees,
the rocks, the damp earth. Everything
chirps. At the knotted base of an oak
lays a shallow pit. White steam
and a thick, sulfurous smell rise from it.
I brace my sandals on the tree roots,
position myself over the pit, begin to lift
my long skirt. I feel a sting on my ankle,
look down to see a red cricket. Then,
another. A third. A fourth. All biting.