lost mail packages

I discover kernels, in poems. The shell breaks open to a singed blossom of hair. Before I spit the weirdness out, I savor it a reeling storm in my nose and mouth. For a split second, I see a topiary. I awake to dreams, perhaps they are catchers to my Read more

Kashiana Singh

Kashiana Singh is a management professional by job classification and a work practitioner by personal preference. Kashiana’s TEDx talk was dedicated to Work as Worship. Her poetry collection, Shelling Peanuts and Stringing Words presents her voice as a participant and an observer. She dips into very vulnerable and personal contexts but also explores the shifting tectonic plates of the world around her. She is from India, now lives in Chicago and bridges the miles by regularly etching her thoughts. She is a regular contributor to different poetry platforms like OnMogul, Literary Yard, Best Poems, Narrow Mag, Modern Literature, SikhNet, Women’s Web, Tuck Magazine, Spillwords, Visual Verse. She is in the process of gathering her second collection of poems. Facebook: KashianaSinghAuthor/facebook Twitter: @Kashianasingh

Learning to Walk

at 19 Wearing a red sundress, walking out of Grand Central into the heavy air of August, my reflection on so many glossy windows, doors, walls. Walking through millions of myself, each one flashing past. And on the sidewalk, so many male eyes—a gaze that seems it should feel better Read more

Savannah Carlin

Savannah Carlin is a poet and essayist who graduated in 2016 from Babson College with a degree in business. She works as a designer in New York. Her work has been published in JuxtaProse magazine and Sunspot Lit.

“he and she and all of them”

I’ve fell in love with one hundred different people for one hundred different reasons. I knew no matter what they would be there for me how selfish that I loved that the sound of their voice made me cry, and they who never broke a gaze. how appealing that I Read more

Lauren Anders

Lauren Anders is originally from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma where she graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Oklahoma City University. She recently completed a master's program at the New York Academy of Art and now lives and works in Manhattan pursuing various artistic practices.

Are you my mother?

—cried the hatchling, beginning to exhibit seeking behavior. Its mother gone silent because father— Was I, tongue-dry, just dreaming that time she pledged to leave me at the train station if I darted quick for the water fountain? He pronounced me dead in the punishment of banishment, declared they would Read more

Catherine Zickgraf

Catherine Zickgraf has performed her poetry in Madrid, San Juan, and three dozen other cities—yet homeschooling her autistic youngest inspires her the most. Her writing has appeared in Journal of the American Medical Association, [Pank], Victorian Violet Press, and The Grief Diaries.

The Bliss of Solitude

I am in Santa Monica. It is a sunny April day. The temperature is 80 degrees. Perfect beach culture weather. Near the Pier and down Ocean Avenue, the beautiful Pacific view is overrun by the homeless. Mostly men, dressed in t-shirts, jeans, and slipshod sneakers. They hold half-crushed coffee cups Read more

Gessy Alvarez

Gessy Alvarez is a writer, editor, and publisher who loves literature, art, photography, and this dysfunctional world. She writes stories, poems, and essays about the middle of things. Her prose has appeared in Hobart, Asteri(x), Lunch Ticket, Volume One Brooklyn, and other publications. She shares her love of art and culture as well as some of her offbeat observations on her podcast, Digging Through with Gessy Alvarez. She earned her MFA from Columbia University. She is the Editor-in-chief of the literary and arts journal, Digging Through The Fat, and the publisher Digging Press Chapbook Series.

THE VOID

You’re so much better than The words echoing in your mind. Those lies were put there long Before you had a say in the matter. Trust me, love, scatter those words To the sky. Just let them go. Let them escape to the void, And embrace the truth that is Read more

K. A. Truax

Kat was born in the US and has traveled throughout the world. Trained from childhood in the art of dance, she developed a passion for self expression not only through dance but also through writing and photography. Following college, she began her career in healthcare where she gained priceless insight through the lives of those that she had the privilege to serve. However, like the moon pulling the tides, her true calling led her home again to words. A born story teller, Kat began writing poetry and prose at the tender age of ten. She began sharing her words publicly in 2016. Kat's poetry and prose has been published in the Spillwords Press, a home for those who live and breathe words. Her first book of poetry, "Midnight Echoes: Elements of Love" was released in February 2018.

My Good Name

“Except my name. I’ll give up all that other stuff, but only if I get to keep my name. I’ve worked too hard for it, your honor.” ~ Tina Turner My mother married Ron Good when I was in kindergarten. Shortly thereafter, he started sexually abusing me. In the second Read more

Crystal Good

Crystal Good is hard to put in just one box. She prefers: artist, advocate and entrepreneur. She is a member of the Affrilachian (African American Appalachian) Poets, a group of writers and artists whose creations and existence combat the erasure of African American identity in the Appalachian region, an Irene McKinney Scholar, and the author of Valley Girl. She is the founder and CEO of Mixxed Media , a government relations consulting firm that leverages social & media engagement strategies for mission-driven organizations. Crystal holds the completely made up but totally real office of "Social Media Senator" for the Digital District Of West Virginia whose platform encourages digital and political literacy. Artist::Advocate:: crystalgood.net Entrepreneur:: themixxedmedia.com

Loving and Leaving an Alcoholic: Am I Self Centered?

The day after spending Christmas with family, I received a text message from a close relative. You are a self-centered piece of crap. Good riddance. You’re not welcome here ever again. Period. Everything was planned at our expense. What the fuck did I plan? What the fuck is everything? I Read more

Dave Pasquel

After living under a rock for nearly 25 years, Dave had his eyes opened wide to the world in 2010 after marrying his crazy cat lady wife. Intrigued by controversy, culture, lifestyle, current events and history, Dave has traveled to 41 states and a handful of foreign countries. Defined as ‘metro’ by his three kids, you will often find him cleaning the house instead of working out in the yard. In his spare time, Dave likes to write sappy love songs but will be the first to admit that he can’t carry a tune.