Stuart Watson's debut collection, Death is the Dismount (The Poetry Box Publishers, July 2026), is the work of a writer who has spent decades writing across contexts and genres…

Part surrealist mystery, part feminist odyssey, Nelly’s Version explores the complicated nature of identity and fate, as well as the implacable pressure of our social programming.

This year, the editorial team at Abraxas Review nominated twelve exceptional pieces for inclusion in the annual Best of the Net anthology.

Craft is just about the worst thing you can do to a poem. 

When I am selecting pieces for Abraxas Review, there are a few qualities that capture my attention right away—candor, intellectual curiosity, and neo-Romantic themes.

Steeped in the innocence and self-focus that is characteristic of children, I naturally assumed that I must be the cause of my parents’ suffering.

It’s true, you can go to the “Cowboy Club Bar and Grille” in Sedona, Arizona and order prickly pear cactus fries.

When I set out to write Pure Pursuit, my main objective was to write a romantic story without romance and a love story without any love.

Like most of my poetry and short stories, I had not set out to write about what eventually formulated on the page. But unintended threads often turn out to be the ones most worth following.

I’ve always been a fast reader, apt to gulp pages whole. But engaging in this practice of copywork—with a gaze like my children’s, eagerly soaking up every brushstroke—forces me to slow down.

“The first stanza of “Parable” is true. I heard this line—“Where you live is more important than where you die”—and couldn’t put it aside. It struck me as one of those punch lines that are the end result of a life story, a parable.”

“The Coat on the Rack” is not entirely fictional; it grew out of my real life. My daughter is a devoted Harry Potter fan. She not only read the entire series but also watched every movie again and again. When she was five years old, after watching the films, especially the scenes with the Dementors, she became too frightened to sleep at night.