Irisa Teng loves a good physics metaphor. A young poet from the Pacific Northwest, their work appears or is forthcoming in Lucky Jefferson, The Cloudscent Journal, Same Faces Collective, Sophon Lit, Frighten the Horses, Evanescent Magazine, and others. They are a 2025 Adroit Journal mentee in poetry. They are an alumnus of the 2024 SUNHOUSE Literary Mentorship, the Kenyon Young Writers' Online Workshops, and Iowa Young Writers' Studio Online. They are a winner of the Seattle Pride Youth Voices Award, and their work has been recognized by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, Lucky Jefferson, the Nebraska Poetry Society, Young Writers' Journal, matcha house, Speech and Debate, and the Reflections Art Program. Beyond writing, they can be found playing Tetris, scarfing down peaches, and musing about the ever-expanding universe.

poetry

2025"our birth charts say we should be perfect for each other" - The Cloudscent Journal"[with venus in the sky]" - Same Faces Collective"doomscrolling" - Lucky Jefferson 365 Collection2024"Self-Portrait as Codependent Clouds," "On Necklaces, Et Merda" - Pen&Quill Magazine"withdrawal symptoms of a teenager in love, Polarized 2024" - Kairosclerosis Summer Poetry Contest"MIAMI TIME-TRAVEL" - Seattle Pride Magazine"the tale of the mouse and the caterpillar" - matcha house"Why?" - Young Writers Journal (reprint)"pick-me-nots" - Frighten the Horses"For now," "i didn't fact check this, but" - Sophon Lit"the orange slices to the skin" - Purely Liminal Magazine"Self-Portrait as SEA-PHX Plane," "to: earth" - The Looking Glass Review"garrulous" - Catheartic Magazine"Method Living" - The Eyre Magazine"sophomore september," "Why?" - Evanescent Magazine

performances

2024"A Robot is Just a Human Corpse" - The Poet Rabble"CATS & DOGS" - SUNHOUSE Literary Mentee Folio

essays

2024"America's Younger Voice" - The Progressive Teen2023"Climate Anxiety Reaches High Tide" - The Progressive Teen"Hot McDonald's Coffee and the Power Dynamic of SLAPP Suits" - The Progressive Teen"跑在路上" - Qianjiang Evening News

features

"Announcing Seattle Pride's First-Ever Writing Contest Winners" - Seattle Pride Magazine

experience

The Hyperbolic Review, Managing Editor (Nov '24 - )Knightlife, Feature Editor (Sep '24 - )The Beaulieu Gazette, Editor (Jun '24 - Sep '24 )Bardics Anonymous, Layout Editor and Designer (Apr '24 - )The Progressive Teen, Reporter (Sep '23 - )

mentorships

Adroit Journal Summer Mentorship, Poetry under Rob Macaisa Colgate (2025)Kenyon Young Writers' Summer Residential Workshop (2025)SUNHOUSE Summer Writing Mentorship, Spoken Word under Katherine Oung (2024)Summer Research Camp, Writing About International Affairs: The Vietnam War under Bill Berkeley (2024)Iowa Young Writers' Studio, Sense of Witness: Poetry Writing with Danielle Wheeler (2024)Kenyon Young Writers' Online Summer Workshop under Crystal Salas (2024)

media i sobbed to

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)Turning Red (2022)Heathers (1988)The Story of Yanxi Palace (2018)The Last Of Us (2023)BEEF (2023)Andor (2022)

books i marked up

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia NagamatsuOn Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean VuongThe Leavers by Lisa KoThe Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth OzekiThis is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone