Poetry

“From the archives of feminist history comes Oversight, a collection of part-found, part-persona poems inspired by the writing of women who have changed the world. These poems do not erase so much as they lift up the words and voices of greats like Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston, Sappho, Harriet Tubman, Frida Kahlo, and more. Carina Bissett and Lee Murray play the role of speaker, eulogist, medium, hagiographer, and spirit guide for the powerful women of the past, making their work at once accessible to the contemporary reader. Revolutionary, visionary, incendiary, this collection is an enlightening and meaningful read.” —Holly Lyn Walwrath, Managing Editor of Intersteller Flight Press, author of the Bram Stoker Award-Nominated Numinous Stones

“A fascinating and timely collection of erasure poems that bring historical texts by women around the world to life. Oversight creates new meaning from the words of these women and shines a light on their successes, sorrows, and revolutionary spirits.” —Courtney Bates-Hardy, author of Anatomical Venus

“The poems collected here aren’t really erasures as they are distillations of the visions and insights of a vast and thorough collection of our most important female writers. In this manner, Oversight provides an introduction to these voices for new readers, and a reminder to readers who consider such writers foundational that one should and must return to their works with renewed vigor. The reflections that follow each erasure poem offer context and personal insights and are, as such, a deep pleasure to read.” —Cate Marvin, Ph.D., award-winning author of Event Horizon and Oracle

“Oversight is an innovative collaboration from poets Lee Murray and Carina Bissett, who use historical texts from women writers to generate a group of potent poems relevant to today’s world. In conversation with these women, and with each other, Murray and Bissett show how women shapeshift throughout time in order to make progress. The poets’ engagement with both historical and personal discovery allows the reader a way into both the poems and the texts they’re based on, provoking self-evaluation and appreciation. In this way, they act as alchemists of the past, providing greater universal understanding for the present.” —Christine Butterworth-McDermott, The Spellbook of Fruit & Flowers

Poems Published

“Biancaneve, Rosarossa,” “Lupo,” “Fratellino e Sorellina,” and “Sette cigni,” Il petalo e la spina: La fiaba nella poesia femminile, edited by Sabrina Foschini e Andrea Sirotti, Le Lettere. May 2025.

“Grendelsong: A Merewif’s Lament,” Mother Knows Best, edited by Lindy Ryan, Black Spot Books. May 2024.

“The Ephemera of Dreams,” Weird Tales #368: The Occult Detective issue. April 2024.

“Carina, Carina,” Under Her Eye: A Women in Horror Poetry Showcase, Black Spot Books. November 2023.

“Sleeping Beauties,” HWA Poetry Showcase Vol. X, edited by Angela Yuriko Smith. October 2023.

“In Translation,” Stories of the Reconvergence: A Unioverse Anthology, edited by Angie Hodapp and Joshua Viola, Hex Publishers. August 2023.

“Between Scylla and Charybdis,” The Future Fire. April 2023.

“The Mermaids of Magonia,” Fantasy Magazine. February 2023.

“Necrotic Ambrosia,” Space and Time Magazine, Fall/Winter #142. December 2022.

“A Lacing of Lavender,” HWA Poetry Showcase Vol. IX, edited by Angela Yuriko Smith. November 2022.

“The End of Days,” A Woman Unbecoming, edited by Rachel A. Brune and Carol Gyzander, Crone Girls Press. August 2022.

“My Body, My Book” and “Our Lady’s Bird,” Under Her Skin: A Women in Horror Poetry Showcase, Black Spot Books. April 2022.

“Ars Poisana,” a collaboration with Andrea Blythe, Enchanted Conversation. December 2021.

“Bright Tapestry,” HWA Poetry Showcase Vol. VIII, edited by Stephanie Wytovich. November 2021.

“The Tower,” ARCANA 2021. October 2021.

“Fairy Tale Prohibition,” NonBinary Review #25 Prohibition, Zoetic Press. September 2021. *Nominated for Best of the Net.

“Radiant,” NonBinary Review #24 Industrial Revolution, Zoetic Press. June 2021. *Nominated for Best of the Net.

“Lepus antilocapra,” HWA Poetry Showcase Vol. VI, edited by Stephanie Wytovich. November 2019.

“The Perils of Invisibility,” NonBinary Review #21 The Works of H .G. Wells, Zoetic Press. June 2019.

“A Disappearing Act,” “Rose Red, Snow White,” and “Persephone’s Promise,” The Horror ‘Zine. March 2019.

“OH MAD ARACHNE: A Folle in Three Acts,” NonBinary Review #19 Dante’s Inferno, Zoetic Press. December 2018.

“Blood Work,” HWA Poetry Showcase Vol. V, edited by Stephanie Wytovich. September 2018.

“C₈ : A Tessellation of Faces, Wings, and other Obscure Things,” NonBinary Review  #17 A Wrinkle in Time, Zoetic Press. July 2018. *Nominated for Best of the Net.

“Reflections,” Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Issue #10. Timeless Tales. July 2018.

“The Savory Taste of Temptation,” The Necro-Om-Nom-Nom-Icon, Sol Nigris Press. April 2018.

“The Sweet Sleep of Roses or, After the Fall,” NonBinary Review #15 We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Zoetic Press, January 2018.*Nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

“Brother and Sister,” Gingerbread House, June 2016.

“Swimming with the Shark Boys,” Mythic Delirium, May 2016. *Honorable Mention 2016- Best Horror of the Year, Vol. 9 edited by Ellen Datlow.

“Tabula Rasa,” NonBinary Review #7, The Woman in White, Zoetic Press, February 2016.

“Figura Serpentinata,” “Paper Shadows,” and “Tinder,” The Horror Zine Magazine Summer 2016, The Horror Zine, January 2016.

“A Houri’s Hymnody,” NonBinary Review #6, Arabian Nights, Zoetic Press, October 2015.

“Duet in D Minor,” “The Making of a Monster,” and “Wolf,” The Horror Zine Magazine Fall 2015, The Horror Zine, July 2015.

“Twelve-Step Tales,” Faery Tale Therapy, Write-On Nanos, November 2014.

“Wild Girl,” NonBinary Review #1 Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Zoetic Press, June 2014.
*Nominated for Sundress Publications Best of the Net Award and the Pushcart Prize.

“Wolf,” The Journal of Mythic Art, 2000.

“Seven Swans,” The Journal of Mythic Art, 2000.