
arushi (aera) rege
forthcoming publications
ghost stories (half mystic press)
goa (incandescent review blog post)
secret of youth (persephone's fruit)
signed letters of love (persephone's fruit)
saturday mornings (filter coffee zine)
publications
poetry
2023
- in which my greatest fear is to fail (stone of madness press)
- everything is more beautiful because we are doomed (stone of madness press)
- fusion (full house lit)
- on the topic of modern domesticity (RECESSES Zine)
- falesia (The Expressionist Lit Mag)
- this is healing (The Afterpast Review)
- exploration of woman as a horror antagonist (thin veil press)
- blood bones and butter (vulnerary magazine)
- dust storm season (full house lit)
- heatwave warning (gastropoda lit)
- the garden of eden's calling (fifth wheel press)
2024
- mama says she wants her body back darling (en*gendered lit)
- red rock & snow (londemere lit)
- twin exit wounds & a love song (garden party collective)
- bloodspit (ode to dionysus)
- mom says i'm a manic pixie dream girl (ode to dionysus)
- desert salvation (don't submit)
- ode to hozier's francesca (periwinkle pelican)
- lifecycle & love (periwinkle pelican)
- the year i fell in love, i remembered the desert (periwinkle pelican)
- mulberry wine (juste literary)
- the six things i heard after being slutshamed by my friend for the first time (incandescent blog post)
- diet cherry coke (queer poets collective)
- alien blues - vundarbar (originally: HAUNTING OF THE BODY) (major 7th mag)
- machinery of the body / underyoume (healthline zine)
- u r my sunshine (memezine)
- IDIOSYNCRATIC TIMELINE (corporeal lit)
- sidewalk chalk (corporeal lit)
- skeleton flowers in the rain tell me (lincs & ink)
- what to do after an especially bad morning of pain (genrepunk mag)
- some days, the brown girl dares to dream of love (funicular lit)
- luyten's star (londomere lit)
- imprecise victories (anti-heroin chic)
- threes (eunoia review)
- ghazal for ghost town (eunoia review)
- time-old wounds (eunoia review)
- to love is to drown (ad infinitum lit)
- tunnel vision symptoms (ad infinitum lit)
- joint pain obituary (wishbone words)
- we're playing a game, you & i (wishbone words)
- i write love | like men dream about sex (brawl lit)
2025
- i deserve to be angry i just want to be more (querencia press)
- catfight (burn book zine, CIRCUS Collective)
- i want to be wanted is that a sin (paper crane journal)
- romantic tragedies (the bk & paper crane journal)
- mama wants her body back darling (reprint) (the bk)
- lifecycle & love (reprint) (zinnia journal)
- skeleton flowers in the rain tell me (reprint) (zinnia journal)
- how to love a forest on fire (zinnia journal)
- kiss me before you kill me (circus collective)
- list of all the things i did before the hard drive in me failed (fifth wheel press)
- ode to goa (the tide rises, the tide falls)
prose + other
2023
- you, as the seasons change (Do Geese See God? Lit) - prose poem
- tangerines (fifth wheel press) - cnf
- time's lament (the serulian) - prose poem
- two truths and a lie (partially shy lit mag) - prose poem
2024
- 50 words that mean arizona (lincs & ink) - prose poem
- congressional inception meets tournament of champions (beestung mag) - hybrid / experimental
- but baby, i love the heat (underscore mag) - prose poem
- high school speech and debate (zero readers) - hybrid / experimental
- twin exit wound & a love song (fifth wheel press) (reprint) - prose poem
- conversation with my mom in which i discuss a "normal amount" of pain (livina press) - CNF
- ethereality (londomere lit) - photograph
- self-portrait as suburban sunset (the bk) - photograph
2025
- this is not a poem. (DOGTEETH) - prose poem
- kissing dreams (the enging (idling) - cnf
- medial prefrontal cortex (the cloudscent) - cnf
- scooby-doo mystery incorporated could've taken place here, too (fifth wheel press) - prose poem
- suburban suicides (the metaworker) - flash fiction
- little mercies (the metaworker) - flash fiction
- nuclear winter, burning planet (ALOCASIA) - prose poem
- cactus metaphors (ALOCASIA) - prose poem
Collections
| Title | press | year | format |
|---|---|---|---|
| exit wound (no point of entry) | kith books | 2024 | poetry |
| Brown Girl Epiphany | fifth wheel press | 2025 | poetry |
| suburban suicides | garden party collective | 2025 | poetry / hybrid |
awards & nominations
Best Small Fictions 2023 (tangerines / fifth wheel press)
Garden party Collective Flyover States Competition Winner (twin exit wounds & a love song)
garden party collective chapbook contest finalist (myths untold)
National society of arts and letters arizona chapter 2023/2024 poetry contest winner (dust storm season / full house literary)
davidson fellowship mention
scholastic young writer's awardee (two gold keys, one honorable mention)
national students poet program semifinalist (top 45/38000)
pushcart prize nomination 2025 (but baby, i love the heat / underscore_mag)
pushcart prize nomination 2025 (congressional inception meets tournament of champions / beestung mag)
pushcart prize nomination 2025 (what to do after an especially bad morning of pain / genrepunk mag)
National society of arts and letters arizona chapter 2024/2025 poetry contest winner (twin exit wound & a love song / garden party collective & fifth wheel press)
garden party collective 2024-2025 chapbook contest winner
pushcart prize nomination 2026 (the last winter before atlantis sunk / fifth wheel press)
best of the net nomination 2026 (congressional inception meets tournament of champions / beestung mag)
genrepunk award for disabled creatives nomination 2026 (but baby i love the heat / underscore_mag)
best microfiction 2026 (ALOCASIA mag)
best small fictions 2026 (ALOCASIA mag)
masthead & guest editing
ink&ivy lit mag (EIC + founder)
bus talk lit (co-eic + founder)
the cloudscent journal (poetry editor)
fifth wheel press (community manager)
garden party collective (masthead, 2026 chapbook contest judge)
the incandescent review (writer) (2023-2026)
the afterpast review (editor) (2023-2025)
fifth wheel press (blog series editor: tragic-romantic) (april 2025)
press
contact

about
Arushi (Aera) Rege is a queer, MadCrip, Indian-American poet from Arizona. In their free time, they can be found reading good books, listening to whatever music they like that week, and watching sports. They tweet occasionally @academic (underscore) core and face the perils of instagram @aera._writes. They are the proud authors of BROWN GIRL EPIPHANY, exit wound (no point of entry), and suburban suicides. They are the EIC of ink & ivy lit and Bus Talk. They are the winner of the NSAL AZ's High School Poetry Prize (2x), Garden Party Collective's Flyover States Contest and Chapbook Contest. Their works have been recognized with nominations to the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, Best Small Fictions, Best microfiction, the Genrepunk Award for Disabled Creatives the Scholastic Young Writer's Award with two Gold Keys and one honorable mention, as well as the Davidson Fellowship. You can find their website right here.