A Snapshot of Dylan Harrington

Dylan Harrington has a six-piece wine-red Gretsch Catalina kit (maple shells), Meinl cymbals, and Gibraltar hardware. He's currently grieving a miscarriage. He drives a silver 2003 Chrysler Town & Country, which is falling apart at any given time. He used to judge parents that took early miscarriages to heart but has been humbled. 

He married Ana VanderVelde in 2023—3 years and 1 day. His favorite color is purple. A boy cycles through his mind. He thinks it's more "girly" to not like a color just because it's "girly" than to like a "girly" color. He loves his kids but currently feels guilty over the thought, there was supposed to be four. 

He played in a mediocre death metal band in high school, Murder Fixation. He's been sensitive about anything to do with kids since seeing a boy on a bicycle die in the Middle East in 2014 and choosing to be a passive observer. He's written a lot about that, you can check it out if you want.

In addition to drumming, he spends time gardening, picking his skin, playing disc golf, deep-breathing, walking in the woods, trying not to think, psilocybin, and spending time with his wife and kids. Some of his favorite artists include: Greyhaven, Radiohead, Chastisement, J. Cole, Cannibal Corpse, and Deftones.

He is described as "volatile" and "difficult to work with" by OPEN: Journal of Art & Letters, "the first and only writer on our blacklist."

Since July 2025, he has advocated for the survivors of the North Fox Island abuse ring in the form of a physical memorial which is now pending installation—the plaque was written by a survivor himself.

He is in the slow process of forming The Open Sores Project, an aspiring not-for-profit that aims to amplify the voices of individuals with trauma and/or disabilities. 

He runs a Facebook for it but not a Twitter or Bluesky; his goal is to penetrate the minds of the ignorant and oblivious rather than entertain the snobby and pretentious. You can learn more about him and that, here: https://dylanharrington91.github.io

He has a Great Pyrenees, Pączki, who he is fond of and a poodle, Wilbur, who he's still not sold on. 

He’s proud to be a member of the golden bear community at Concordia University of St. Paul Global and be honored with the guidance of writers like Adam Shaw and Paul Dickinson.

He descends from a line largely consisting of farmers, military men, law enforcement officials, and machinists.

He is a 100% disabled Operation Inherent Resolve Navy veteran and served aboard the USS O'Kane (DDG-77) from 2012–2015. Sailors commonly refer to it as the Hulk'ane. Dylan is diagnosed with C-PTSD, MDD, and CID. His former psychiatrist routinely noted BPD traits. 

He laughs instead of crying (because of the headaches, not the mess) and rebels against suicidality by staying alive.

He’d like to thank you for reading this by offering this piece of fiction inaccessible everywhere but here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v3O_wtha5kC_p2Txj8tTq5081qYbdj4O/view?usp=drivesdk

Note: we believe mr. Harrington is a great example of a poet marrying visual art and poetry into works that are more than their individual parts, and because we do click here for another one of these marriages (published in this issue’s POETRY section!