speaking of stardust

i know the day hard words crashed like a meteor against your heart now you hide your edgesafraid they’ll catch the light  this is the coldthe distanceof space if only i could breathe hereand speak of the stardust in your bones if only i could peel past my skinto show you my scars living Read more

Katie Simpson

Katie Simpson is a writer and photographer based in San Francisco. Her work has been featured in 24hr Neon Mag, Chaleur Magazine, Entropy Magazine, HitRecord's Body Book, Quiet Lightning, and THAT literary review.. When not writing, she loves traveling and people watching. Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/honest_creative.

Lessons in Language

We seem to be speaking two languages.  My NOgets lost in your translation and you hear, “Yes!” My NOhas embeddedin your headas “Yes, Yes,Take Me Now!”So you doas you thinkI wish. You take melike little boyswith their action figures.Pose my handsand feetto leap and fly,then crash brokenat your feet. You play and playand play, eyesand Read more

Lidy Wilks

Lidy Wilks is the author of the poetry chapbook "Can You Catch My Flow?" Another chapbook and a full length poetry collection is in the works. Poetry is not the only genre she writes in, currently she writing a contemporary romance and a young adult supernatural novel. She's a member of Write by the Rails. And lives in Virginia with her husband and two children When Lidy Wilks is not writing, she refills her creative well and binges on the storytelling of anime. Books, manga and Asian dramas. And relaxes by listening to good music. Eating milk chocolate candies. And or with a glass of Cabernet or Riesling wine. You can visit her at: https://pavingmyauthorsroad.wordpress.com.

Yo también

No. Do you want to hear in it Spanish?             No. My clothes             mi ropa My words             mis palabras My lips             mis labios And my looks             y mis aspectos does not mean you can touch,             grab,             pull me like a desirable toy at a playground. To take my body and treat Read more

Krystal Beatriz Galvis

Krystal Beatriz Galvis, born and raised in San Diego, California, is a writer fascinated with magic, fantasy, and darkness. She is a MFA graduate student at San Diego State University studying creative writing. Outside from writing short stories, she researches any Latinx fables or myths and writes small poems on her Instagram page under the hashtag #krystalg.

My String of Lights

V1This string of lights I hold in my hands always looks so prettySo bright, so perfect and hangs just soEach bulb is where it is meant to beThere are no knots in the wireOr broken filaments And each part hangs just where I want itAll making sense way up high on Read more

Emily Algar

Emily Frances Algar is a journalist and writer. She has experience in the music industry working as the A&R on the Grammy Nominated Album (Best Folk Album) Front Porch by artist Joy Williams. Emily has been published in a number of print and digital publications including Atwood Magazine, American Songwriter, and Record Collector magazine. She specializes in both long and short-form features as well as interviews and reviews. She has written pieces ranging from the commercialization of feminism and feminism in popular culture, critiques surrounding freedom of speech and the #MeToo movement as well as recently interviewing refugees from Iran. Emily has a Masters in International Security from Oxford Brookes University. Her thesis looked at the extent to which the media shaped public opinion during the Vietnam and Iraq (2003) wars.

I wasn’t here.

You didn’t see me.I wasn’t saying anything.You didn’t hear me.The time passed.So much of it good-Quality.But I wasn’t present…Lives created, grown and graduated- Inside of me.Through me-From me- But I had nothing to do with it.Because…I wasn’t here.You can’t see me in photos.That wasn’t me.Skinny.Blonde.West Coat.I’m rounder now.Dark hair.And East Coast by Read more

Fault Line

Don’t cross the fault lineYou will trip and stub your toeAnd plunge into the deep abyss belowIt will swallow you wholeAnd leave your demons exposedYou will never bare your flaccid spineDon’t cross the fault line Don’t rouse the earth’s quakeAnd bare the dark secrets you must ownIt will expose your 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.

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

yes mother

Behind every mother, there is despair and strength. Behind every mother, there are tears of joy and pride. Behind every mother, trash bins wait to be emptied, mountains of dirty laundry to be washed, and meals cooked. It is a dirty, thankless job being a yes mother. Twenty-four hours is Read more

Jacqueline Cioffa

A retired, international model, and celebrity makeup artist. Co-Author of Model Citi Zen, the guide. Founder of http://modelcitizenmakeup.blogspot.com/. Author of numerous prose pieces in various literary magazines. Most recently published in Little Episodes Brainstorms the anthology, among esteemed artists Sadie Frost, Melvin Burgess and Todd Swift.