Michelle Moncayo

Michelle Moncayo is a Dominican/Ecuadorian poet in New Jersey. Her work explores diaspora, queer identity, and mental/physical illness. She graduated with her MFA from Randolph College in 2024. She received a 2020 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She has received fellowships from SPACE at Ryder Farm, Vermont Studio Center, Sundress Academy for the Arts, CantoMundo, and VONA. Her poetry has appeared in Até Mais: An Anthology of Latinx Futurisms, Broadsided Press, No Tender Fences: An Anthology of Immigrant & First-Generation American Poetry, Palette Poetry, and Ninth Letter. Michelle has been a featured reader for Of Restless Gardens — Poetry & Environmental Justice, presented by CantoMundo in collaboration with the Poetry Coalition, The Muse Writers Center: Hispanic Heritage Month Reading, Don’t Touch My Hair Reading Series, and Everyday We Get More Illegal: Presented by Emotive Fruition & CantoMundo. You can find her at michellemoncayoart.net, and @mmon1392. She wrote this poem in memory of her lifelong best friend Denisa, who passed away from Ewing’s Sarcoma.