So the Sadness Could Not Hurt

Ruth Towne is the author of Resurrection of the Mannequins (Kelsay Books, 2025). She is a graduate of the University of Southern Maine's Stonecoast MFA. Her poetry has appeared in Holy Gossip, The Lily Poetry Review, Decadent Review, New Feathers Anthology, Coffin Bell Journal, New Note Poetry, In Parentheses, and the Stonecoast Review's Staff Spotlight. Her poetry has also appeared in Stanford's Mantis: A Journal of Poetry, Criticism, and Translation.Her poem "So the Sadness Could Not Hurt" received the second-place Grantchester Award from The Orchards Poetry Journal. Her poem "S@lv@d degreesr D@l!'s Mannequin," published in BAM Quarterly Issue III, was nominated for the 2025 Best of the Net Anthology.