In Conversation: Lisa Allen & Melissa Fite Johnson

Two poets who have crossed paths in readings and at conferences and have found that they are writing about something that shows up differently for each of them — maternal estrangement. This conversation will cover how our work evolves as we age and how writing such a viscerally personal experience can also be universal.

Lisa writes: “We both write about maternal estrangement–and though our lived experiences are different, that burning desire of what brings us to the page feels very familiar.” And Melissa adds, “…so many of them poems now in [Lisa’s] beautiful book, spoke to a subject I was only just starting to write about, a subject that feels like it’s all I write about now: maternal estrangement. When Lisa asked if I would pair with her for this conversation, I couldn’t say yes quickly enough. We have so much to say. “

Lisa Allen

Lisa Allen’s (she/her) first book, It’s What I Have Left, will be published February 2026 by Lily Poetry Press. Her work can be found in Pinch, December Magazine, Anti-Heroin Chic, Bear Review and MER, among others. She has received multiple Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations and was a 2022 Best of the Net finalist for her poem “Prolapse: Etymology,” published by South 85 Journal. Lisa holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction and an MFA in Poetry, both from the Solstice Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing Program at Lasell University, where she was a Michael Steinberg fellow. With Poet Rebecca Connors, she co-founded and co-directs the online creative space The Notebooks Collective.

Photo credit: Kelly Sime Photography

Melissa Fite Johnson

Melissa Fite Johnson is the author of three full-length collections, most recently Midlife Abecedarian (Riot in Your Throat, 2024). Her poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Pleiades, HAD, Whale Road Review, SWWIM, and elsewhere. Melissa, a high school English teacher, is a poetry editor for The Weight, a journal for high school students, and Porcupine Lit, a journal for and by teachers. She and her husband live with their dogs in Lawrence, KS, where she co-hosts the Volta reading series at the Replay Lounge.