Selected Poems:
2025:
ONE ART, Three Poems
HAD, “Footnotes to My First Diary, Sixth Grade, Lock and Key”
Diode, Two Poems
Asterales, “An Old Friend Posts His Mother’s Death”
Villain Era Lit, Three Poems
The Account, “Found: Lines from My Mother’s Emails, 2002-2012”
2024:
The Account, “Unhook Myself from Old Definitions” (nominated for a Pushcart and Best of the Net)
HAD, “To the Man Seated Next to Us at This Basketball Game”
HAD, “Soundtrack”
Public School Poetry, Four poems
Harbor Review, “Not-Mother Ghazal”
Rogue Agent, “Easter Pantoum”
Porcupine Lit: Two poems
Shō Poetry Journal, “I Got off the Plane and Everyone Was Dead” (nominated for a Pushcart Prize)
2023:
DIAGRAM, “Abecedarian for the Nude Scene in Lovely & Amazing”
HAD, Two poems
Elysium Review, “How Dare Anyone Say I Don’t Know Love” (nominated for Best of the Net)
Whale Road Review, “Imposter Syndrome”
West Trade Review, “Abecedarian at My Father’s Deathbed”
Major 7th Magazine, “River”
SWWIM, “Midlife Abecedarian” (nominated for a Pushcart Prize)
Rejection Letters, “This Is the Poem in Which I Retire from Poetry”
Rise Up Review, “The Preacher with My Father’s Name”
HAD, “My Students Read My Chart to Me” and “I Was Not Prepared for This Val Kilmer Documentary”
Drunk Monkeys, “When Macaulay Culkin Was the World’s Biggest Star”
Ploughshares, “Speechless” (nominated for a Pushcart Prize) and “A Man I Didn’t Sleep with Asked What Word Defined Me”
2022:
The Ilanot Review, Two poems (one of which was nominated for the Orison Anthology)
2021:
West Trestle Review, “Duplex for My Future Self”
Rogue Agent, “It’s Not My Mother’s Fault”
Drunk Monkeys: “For Felicity” and “Mother Sestina”
2020:
Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, “Karaoke Night, JB’s Bar and Grill”
Pleiades, “AA Abecedarian”
SWWIM, “Abecedarian for My Neighbor, Whose Name I Still Don’t Know” (nominated for the Orison Anthology)
2019:
Sidereal, “From My Parked Car, I Stare at the Snow”
One, “Trying to Pray”
2018:
Whale Road Review, “Elegy for Slasher Movie Victims”
Broadsided Press, “Neighbors” (nominated for Best of the Net)
Rise Up Review, “New Billboard in Winston-Salem Proclaims ‘Real Men Provide, Real Women Appreciate It’”
2017:
Broadsided Press, “Backyard” (winner of the 2017 Switcheroo)
Rattle, “The Woman and the Wolf” (winner of the April 2017 Ekphrastic Challenge: Artist’s Choice)
2016:
Whale Road Review, “Donating My Eggs”
3Elements Review, “Watching Casablanca at Oma and Opa’s House” (nominated for Best of the Net)
Valparaiso Poetry Review, “Being Human”
Rust + Moth, “A Postcard to My Husband While I Vacation in California”
Press:
Adroit, A Conversation Between Melissa Fite Johnson and Leah Umansky
The Notebooks Collective, In Coversation: Leah Umansky & Melissa Fite Johnson
Courtney LeBlanc, EIC of Riot in Your Throat, 2nd Interview
Riot in Your Throat, Announcement
Rob McLennan, 20 Questions with Melissa Fite Johnson
Gabino Iglesias, PANK, Review of Green
Courtney LeBlanc, EIC of Riot in Your Throat, Interview
Riot in Your Throat, Announcement
Julie Ramon, Guest Blogger for Poetry Matters, Interview
Chris Rice Cooper, Creator of the Backstory of the Poem Series, Interview
Miranda Ericsson, Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library Page, Review and Interview
Broadsides to Books, Review of A Crooked Door Cut into the Sky
River City Poetry, Review of A Crooked Door Cut into the Sky
Paper Nautilus Press, “Announcing the 2017 Chapbook Contest Winners”
2017 Kansas Notable Books
2016 Kansas Notable Books
Andra Bryan Stefanoni, The Joplin Globe, “A Tale of Two Writers”
Andra Bryan Stefanoni, The Joplin Globe, “Ghost Signs Abound in Pittsburg”
J.T. Knoll, The Morning Sun, “Ghost Sign: Words on the Walls of Time”
Michael Stavola, The Morning Sun, “Pittsburg Author Recognized”
Jesse Brown, The Morning Sun, “PHS Teacher Wins Poetry Award”
Megan Munger, The Booster Redux, “While the Kettle’s On: Johnson Publishes First Poetry Book”
Melissa Fite Johnson 