“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.

A Gurney for Me

Two nights ago I argued with a man tall as the ceiling, jagged teeth filthy and piercing, standing over my son intent on stealing his breath racing his heart, charring his fevered brain. The man seeped into my blood while I fought him and clutched my gut crawling to the Read more

Melissa Mulvihill

Melissa writes from northeast Ohio where she lives with her husband and sons, 18 and 22. She has been published in multiple issues of The Blue Nib Literary Magazine, Intermission E-Zine, The Write Launch Literary Magazine, Poet's Haven Digest, Strange Land Anthology, The Distance Between Insanity and Genius Anthology, and It Was a Dark and Stormy Night Anthology. Her poem, Your Phone Call, appeared in The Blue Nib 2017 Anthology. She writes about homeschooling and growing kids during a decade long battle with stage 4 Endometriosis and she shares stories that demand to be told from her childhood in Danville, Illinois. She writes for the same reason's she reads poetry-because it's crowded in her head and heart.

a person alone, under a blanket of “friends”

And still you longed for someone To give you the kind of love they show in movies The one that doesn’t end with an empty text, One which flows through flowers and Wine bottles pouring at dinner parties. One which sings through tears, Birthed together in our very own refuge. Read more

Paakhi Bhatnagar

Paakhi Bhatnagar is a student from India and an avid reader of historical fiction. She is a passionate feminist and blogs about current politics and feminist issues. She also possess the uncanny ability of turning everything into a debate.

Lavender

Do you understand I destroy every fragment of lavender I touch? I swallow lavender—soak my wrists in lavender. I take the tiny bulbs. I slice them with a wooden blade. I toss them in the bell. I throw them in each pot. I breathe lavender. Exude—elude you with lavender. I Read more

Kari A Flickinger

Kari A. Flickinger's poetry has been published in or is forthcoming from Written Here: The Community of Writers Poetry Review, Iron Horse Literary Review, Burning House Press, Door Is A Jar, Isacoustic, Ghost City Review, Eunoia Review, and Riddled with Arrows, among others. She is an alumna of UC Berkeley. When she is not writing, she can be found playing guitar and singing to her unreasonably large Highlander cat, as well as obsessively over-analyzing the details of neighboring trees.

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.

Just a Second

The washer is full of clothes I need to hang up The dryer is broken They need to be hung up before they smell I’ve washed the same load 3 days in a row I said this time would be the last But I’m tired because The dishes are overflowing Read more

Tiffany Meuret

Tiffany is a writer, mother, and OCD sufferer from Phoenix, Arizona. Her work has been published or is forthcoming with Shoreline of Infinity, MoonPark Review, Collective Unrest, Ellipsis Zine, and others. Find her on Twitter @TMeuretBooks. Talking points are good coffee and small dogs.

Bed Alarm

I don’t tremble, but they assume I’m Katherine Hepburn’s kind. We share our Parkinson’s frozen mask, expressionless, involuntary deceit of emotion. My shuffling gait halts while I calibrate my balance, refusing my wife’s arm even as my committee of limbs won’t comply. Stiffening, my six-foot body cracks against the shower Read more

Laura Owens

Laura Owens is a writer living in Orlando, Florida. Her focus is on raw truths, social commentary and wellness. You can find her work on Huffington Post, Purple Clover, Motherwell, Psych Central, Scary Mommy and Whole Life Times.

The Fight

I am torn between my head and my heart In my head, the right choice is to remain To go on, unsatisfied and unhappy Living in a world where acceptance means too much Love meaning nothing if it is not a perfect picture. Being too scared, feeling trapped and too Read more

Karen Ebersole

Karen Ebersole resides in Ohio with her teenage daughter and her emotional support dog, Daisy. She is an online marketer, but her true passion has always been writing. She has studied Fiction Writing at Southern New Hampshire University and is currently taking a Romance Writing course at Four County Career Center.