Samantha Rivas is a poet from Lakewood, California, who feeds her toddler with her right hand while scribbling poems onto coloring books with her left. In addition to being a poet and mother, she is a fourth-grade teacher during the week. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in English- Creative Writing from Cal State Long Beach University with a minor in Women’s Gender, Sex, and Sexuality. Samantha also holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Portland State University. Her work has been published in Flies, Cockroaches & Poets, Sin Cesar Magazine (formally Dryland Literary Journal), and The Penn Review.