When Anne first approached us to do a segment, she write, “Gifted Underachiever, that label fits me, right against the skin. I might have used it at different times to beat myself up, believing as I tried to get different efforts off the ground that I wasn’t living up to my potential. I sometimes thought, if I could just find the right co-conspirators I could do great things. Turns out there was some truth to this idea. For the first time, one of my big ideas is becoming a reality.”
That big idea is the poetry collection on loss and grief Made from Midnight: A Requiem.
In our conversation, Pat and James learned how to riff off of others until good ideas become great, the challenges of being a gatekeeper as a publisher, and the terms—new to Pat and James—neuro spicy, the rizz, and low aura. Basically, the Gifted Underachievers learned lots of new stuff while having a really fun conversation with Anne.
More about Anne:
Anne Ramallo is a writer, editor and mom living in Los Angeles. Her poetry and short fiction has been published in literary journals, zines, and anthologies and awarded in competitions by Reedsy, the Royal City Literary Arts Society, and Uncharted Magazine. She placed third in the national Pen Parentis 2026 Fellowship for parent writers with a creepy flash story on mom cloning. Anne is a co-founder of the micro press and creative collective Poets in the Pines, whose first anthology, Made From Midnight: a requiem, was released November of 2025.
Links for Further Exploration:
Poets in the Pines is now open for submissions for the second volume in the Made from Midnight anthologyseries! Now including flash fiction, hybrid prose, original artwork, and experimental structures, both emerging and established writers (and artists) are encouraged to submit unpublished works for Made from Midnight: delirium. Contributors will receive one free pdf copy of the anthology. A portion of proceeds goes to charity. The deadline for submissions is January 16, 2026: https://poetsinthepines.com/call-for-submissions.
Made From Midnight - A Poetry Reading
No One is Alone – Musical Performance:
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