Category: Poetry

Italiano

Joan Mazza

An Italian heart is an artichoke,prickly-petaled, not inviting to eat. Every leaf ends in a little nail, a claw that forces you to navigate your way to tenderness, discover a taste that lingers, on your tongue and fingertips, embedded in the mushrooms, rice, chicken simmered with it. A platter of Read more

Joan Mazza

Joan Mazza has worked as a medical microbiologist, psychotherapist, seminar leader, and has been a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. She is the author of six books, including Dreaming Your Real Self (Penguin/Putnam), and her poetry has appeared in Rattle, Whitefish Review, Off the Coast, Kestrel, Slipstream, American Journal of Nursing, The MacGuffin, Mezzo Cammin, and The Nation. She ran away from the hurricanes of South Florida to be surprised by the earthquakes and tornadoes of rural central Virginia, where she writes poetry and does fabric and paper art.

Just Do It

Giulia Catani

Leave, sweet spirit. Follow the light, wherever you go. Drink a glass of water, and don’t forget to kiss your parents, before you go. Look at what surrounds you; you won’t see it again anytime soon. Take a deep breath and pray. Look at the sky while you’re doing it, Read more

Giulia Catani

I'm Giulia Catani, an Italian writer, journalist, and traveller. I have been passionate about literature since I was young, I find that playing with words is the best way to express my feelings and my thoughts. I have been collecting my poems since 2008. Most of my poems are written Italian, I have recently started to translate them English. I hope one day to be able to publish an entire book of my poetry. I'm collaborating with a few Art and Life Style magazines and I'm now living in New York City, after travelling for the last 4 years.

This Mask I Wear

SA Smith

I see the morning light coming through the window. I roll over, not wanting to get up. Not wanting to face another day, just like the last. How do I go on? Why do I go on? Everyone seems to be fine, seems to be moving forward. But I’m not. Read more

SA Smith

SA Smith has always loved the magical life. She is the bestselling Amazon author of FOREVER, her four part young adult paranormal romance series. She is an advocate for women of all shapes and sizes. Believing that we are all enough just as we are, and needing to spread that word far and wide. Having been diagnosed with CRPS over 12 years ago, SA also uses her writing to increase social awareness of the disease. Writing is her passion. She often tells friends that writing is a journey for her. It’s like spending time with friends. "I just follow my characters along on their adventures, like a fly on the wall, and see where they take me." SA currently lives in Florida with her best friend/husband and their one son.

You Rise

Kim Sisto Robinson

(For my dear sister, Kay, I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you.) Your face is fading. I see shadows of chin, cheekbone, childhood inside my mind. Orange Kool-Aid, baloney sandwiches, Aunt Carol’s peonies like colossal, pink faces thrill us. He loves me, he loves me not. You tell me you Read more

Kim Sisto Robinson

Kim Sisto Robinson is a mother, lover, poet, writer, educator, obsessive blogger, lover of cats, cheese puffs, chocolate chips cookies, Sylvia Plath, addicted to books, women’s stories, walking with audio books ( Lolita was off the charts!), and powerful, transformative words. Her work has appeared in Scary Mommy, Bella On Line, Glass Woman, Migrations, Rebelle Society, and Feminine Collective. She created her blog, My Inner Chick, to honor her sister, Kay, whom was murdered by her estranged husband in 2010. Her mission is to give “Voice” to all women without one. She was honored the "Men As Peacemaker's Award" in 2015 for her work with domestic violence.

Drano Love

Rebecca Charlotte

If only you could drown the heart in Drano, unclogging the feelings stuck in your chest. Feelings that will never find words effective enough for containment. These words need not be heavy, since the sensation of danger is a strength in and of itself. But they need to be colorful, Read more

Rebecca Charlotte

Rebecca Charlotte is a recent graduate of Westfield State University, a small liberal arts school in New England, where she majored in English with a concentration in literature. Currently, she works at two libraries. By day, Rebecca is a nerdy librarian, by night she is a nerdy librarian who devours books and superhero shows. Her work has appeared in BUST, elephant journal, Her Campus, and will be included in the upcoming issue of Doll Hospital Journal.

White Picket Fence

Julie Anderson

Material possessions are worth nothing. It is love and family that counts for everything. Before the after, I tried to have it all. Long days added up to years of lonely rambling, came to a stop when I found my first true love. He was it. He was special. He Read more

Julie Anderson

Julie Anderson is the Creator and Publisher of Feminine Collective. Julie was inspired to create this safe place for women to share their secrets, desires, triumphs and pain as the antithesis of what mainstream media offers women today. In her column Pursuit of Perfection, she explores the importance of rectifying the balance of inner and outer beauty through essays, poems and articles on self-esteem, shame, family, and self- acceptance.

My Addiction

F.K. Jadoon

You are my addiction, so sweet and tempting, like the aroma of my favorite meal, that I cannot resist, or taste. My path to self-destruction. Like an alcoholic doomed to die, yet, he continues on drinking, knowing that it’s death in itself. My very personal alluring hell, that I cannot Read more

F.K. Jadoon

F.K. Jadoon is a girl who likes to dream and her dream is to become a recognised writer someday. She has recently done her Honours in English Literature. She's an avid reader of literature and is most likely to be found with her nose in one book or another or just writing away in her little diary which is always kept close to her heart. In a society where creative writing is mostly not considered a serious enough field, she has battled her way through a fair amount of grumbling, disappointment and being taken lightly. And yet, she has never let her inner fire die as she keeps on pouring the gasoline of passion and determination on the dying embers of her inner voice. She has succeeded so far and hopes to do so in future.

Absolution

Clementine Heath

Emotions methylated, Her dreams syncopated. Quietened by the slumber, A virgin flame burns. And then at once she understood… Through the veil of denial she had betrayed herself. Beyond the reaches of her sanity, Drowned out the girl she once knew. Awakened from the melancholy madness, A constant whisper delivers Read more

Clementine Heath

Clementine Heath is an actress of stage and screen and a creative developer/writer for film and TV. She was born in Sydney, Australia, and relocated to Los Angeles 7 years ago. She has been writing poetry and short stories since she was a young teenager and had some of her poems published anonymously. Clementine is currently developing several series for digital and cable networks, along with her feature film projects. 'Mistress Desire and the Lonely Flame' is Clementine's first adult poetry series - a collection of short poems to be released sequentially, exclusively for Feminine Collective.