Rust & Moth

Rust & Moth is delighted to announce that contributor Ziqr Peehu’s poem “Every Grave Starts as a Hole” has been selected for inclusion in the 2026 Best of the Net Anthology. We are always on the lookout for powerful last lines, and Ziqr’s volta echoes after the poem like thunder after brilliant lightning. Congratulations Ziqr!

With gratitude to Best of the Net poetry judge Cyrus Cassells, editors Shipra Agarwal, Darren C. Demaree, Erin Elizabeth Smith, Clayton Bradshaw-Mittal, Ariadne Alexis Macquarie, Chekwube Ozieh, Mohammed U. Yusuf, social media manager Caroline Majewski, poetry coordinators Sarah A. Chavez and Robin LaMer Rahija, and an impressive cast of assistant editors and readers.

The Rust & Moth Spring 2026 issue is now available in print! Our first collection of the year murmurates with birds — sparrows, pigeons, injured wrens, herons at dusk, and pages of rescued wastebasket cranes.

With new poetry from Robert Fillman, Betty Stanton, Trystan Popish, Youtao Cao, Indu Parvathi, Danielle Lemay, Laurel Anderson, Suzanne Langlois, Whitney Rio-Ross, Edie Popper, Veronica Fletcher, Julie A. Cox, Race Harish, Deborrah Corr, Lauren Frey, Claire Gunner, Michael Blaine, Dorothy Wall, James Champion, Kianna Greene, Karen Bramblett, Ariel Machell, Reyzl Grace, Maryfrances Wagner, Elijah Perseus Blumov, J Kramer Hare, Matthew Harrison, Nicole Shepherd, A. Michael Schultz, Bunny Goodjohn, David Anson Lee, C. Sessums, Ron Stottlemyer, and Michelle McMillan-Holifield.

Find these and other poems on Bluesky.