Rachel Turney, Ed.D. (she/her) is an educator and artist located in Denver. Her poems, research articles, reviews, and drawings can be found in a variety of publications. Rachel is passionate about immigrant rights, teacher support, and empowering other artists. She is a Writers’ Hour prize winner and Best-of-the-Net nominee. Her photography appears on a few magazine covers. Rachel runs the popular online reading series Poetry (in Brief). She is on staff at Bare Back Magazine with her monthly column Friday Night in the Suburbs. She reads for The Los Angeles Review.
Website: turneytalks.com | Instagram: @turneytalks | Bluesky: rachelturney
Books coming 2026:
Record Player Life with The Poetry Lighthouse
Retired Wannabe Club Kid with Parlyaree Press
To Be (a Woman) with Red Rose Thorns
Women Making Soup Together with Vinegar Press
taken in from a studio made of a cargo container perched on the hill.
Slices of cheese melt in the sun, flies land on the abandoned charcuterie
as we make love in the pink hues of sunset.
In the morning, we watch yachts make their way to Monaco.
(I don’t really like Monaco, but maybe I would if I had a yacht.)
I like rosé and silence.
I like apricot clafoutis
and narrow cobblestone streets.
I like long walks through small towns
and red wine afternoons drawn out with
chats about nothing and everything.
I like practicing pareidolia and stillness.
We walk along the coast and dip our toes in the cold water.
I cling to you because I am so cold and your skin is hot from the sun.
I am like a starfish and you are a pier. I spread my tentacles
i m
a b
k o
in an embrace of love and trust in the Ligurian Sea.
Poetry in this post: © Rachel Turney
Published with the permission of Rachel Turney