Caleb Jagoda…

talks in aphorisms until those closest to him demand he stop—but hey, you know what they say: Buy the ticket, take the ride. Caleb is a poet, journalist, and lord of the living room who uses real names at false hotels. He graduated from the University of New Hampshire’s MFA poetry program in December 2025, where he also received his BA, in English and journalism, in 2021. As an undergrad, he learned under poet-professor Mekeel McBride, who wrote his favorite poem about potatoes (she has several), and continues to inspire him to live a full, feeling, creative life (thank you Mekeel).

Previously, Caleb has worked as assistant editor at New Hampshire Magazine, and reported for America’s Test Kitchen’s “Proof” podcast, Down East Magazine, and Beer & Weed Magazine. He’s published poetry in Blue Earth Review; The Shore; Y2K Quarterly; South Florida Poetry Journal; Gigantic Tentacles Magazine; Qu; Santa Clara Review; FOLIO Literary Journal; Shadowplay; Inscape Journal; Puerto Del Sol; and The Queens Review, among other places. His debut chapbook, Hunting, was published by Bottlecap Press in 2025. And – one last thing, I swear – he and his pals started a creative collective (called Neon Snooze) that publishes a magazine every now and again.

This is a list of odd jobs Caleb picked up while in grad school, in order of preference: independent bookstore clerk (go to Sheafe Street Books in Portsmouth and tell Kenny that Caleb sent ya); wedding bartender; landscaper; exterior painter; waiter; fry cook (he is not envious of Mr. Squarepants, but he did feel like a character in The Bear, which has its perks). He also received a Teaching Assistantship, teaching three sections of Introductory Writing (rhetorically analyze this) and two sections of Intro to Poetry (one of the best experiences of his life).

With respect to brevity, the following is a list of things Caleb loves, in no particular order: Richard Linklater flicks (but especially Dazed and Confused); a good negroni; quoting Vince Vaughn at random; pick-up basketball; “The Man” by Roc Marciano; shooting the breeze; and, whenever in South Coast Massachusetts, where he grew up, a linguiça cheese roll. His favorite writers include Jan Zwicky, Helen Oyeyemi, Ross Gay, Jesse Nathan, Mekeel McBride, Bob Kaufman, Robert Hass, billy woods, and Yusef Komunyakaa. When he isn’t holding court at a dimly-lit watering hole or embracing his youth (or what little of it he has left), you can find Caleb out on the town, digging the scene.