Category: Poetry

Hiding from a Hailstorm

Eloisa Perez-Lozano

Parking lot lights illuminate sheets of wind and rain as they slam down from sky onto city. I didn’t leave my car in time and now I must wait until the barrage of elements ends. Hail bounces off my roof a thousand icy kernels popping all at once. Though I’m Read more

Eloisa Perez-Lozano

Eloísa Pérez-Lozano writes poems and essays about Mexican-American identity, women’s issues, and motherhood. She graduated from Iowa State University with a B.S. in psychology and an M.S. in journalism and mass communications. A 2016 Sundress Publications Best of the Net nominee, her work has been featured in “The Texas Observer,” “Houston Chronicle,” and “Poets Reading the News,” among others. She lives with her family in Houston, Texas.

bling terms

Kiki Dranias

any core desire or need one may have, we must trust is exactly that: core and with no need to adapt. this thing is inherent of us; why on earth would we set out to adjust something that is such. perfection is flawed. i am going to keep this idea—tattooed in Read more

Kiki Dranias

KIKI DRANIAS is a multi award-winning Hellenic-Canadian poet, playwright, director & producer living in Montreal. Kiki’s debut play GOING UP, an immersive and site-specific theatrical presentation, was performed live for 14 shows in November 2019, on board Elevator #1 at LE 5800 St. Denis, in Montreal. Winning three of the categories, including Outstanding New Text, Outstanding Emerging Playwright & Producer, Outstanding Independent Production, this sold-out inaugural production received in total seven nominations at the 2020 Montreal English Theatre Awards. This playwright’s second theatrical work WHERE IS ANTON is a 40-minute piece that Kiki wrote, produced and also directed. The show was performed live at the 30th Montreal Fringe Festival in June 2021, for six sold-out shows at MainLine Theatre. With primary support from Canada Council for the Arts, Kiki wrote and produced her third play THE LOVE TRIAL, a 75-minute modern Greek tragedy. This hybrid type and immersive theatrical presentation was performed live in front of 500 audience members in December 2021, for seven shows at the Masonic Temple Hall in Montreal. As a poet, Kiki has also authored BLOOD IS BLUE, a well-received poetry collection. To showcase her work and the work of others, this woman artist works under the Purple Divine producing and publishing banner.

The Perfect Reverie

Z. M. Wise

We wandered once in this Zen garden, absorbing every color of sound we could hear with synesthesia as our guide. Twin flames were put out by the electric ocean we conducted out of thin air sighs, synchronizing with the galloping stampede…gliding through wind without cares. We wandered, but only once. Read more

Z. M. Wise

Z.M. Wise is a proud Illinois native from Chicago, poet, essayist, occasional playwright, seldom screenwriter, co-editor and arts activist, writing since his first steps as a child. He is co-owner and co-editor of Transcendent Zero Press https://transcendentzeropress.org/ , an independent publishing house for poetry that produces an international quarterly journal known as Harbinger Asylum. He is the author of seven books and chapbooks of published poetry and a play, including: Take Me Back, Kingswood Clock! (MavLit Press, 2013); The Wandering Poet (Transcendent Zero Press, 2014); Wolf: An Epic & Other Poems (Weasel Press, 2015); Cuentos de Amor (Red Ferret Press, 2015); Kosmish and the Horned Ones (Weasel Press, 2018); Illinois Infinitarium (Cherry House Press, 2020); and The Nightmare Mask (TBD). His debut play, Bottles of Emerald for the Demon Queen (Transcendent Zero Press, 2019), was published in late December of 2019. His most recent chapbook of poetry, the mini-epic known as The Nightmare Mask, is searching for a brand new home. Other than these books, his poems, lyrics, essays, and book reviews have been published in various journals, magazines, and anthologies. Besides poetry and other forms of writing, his other passions/interests include professional voice acting, singing/lyricism/songwriting, playing a few instruments, fitness, and reading.

Weathered Beliefs

Margret Avery

There is help on the way for those who step on weathered beliefs in instigating shades of abusive rhetoric for the vulnerable and gracious minded souls who seek comfort and answers instead of a whirlpool of subtle gaslit phrases to keep all guessing their worth in their pool of doubt Read more

Margret Avery

Margret Avery expresses her talents through being a singer / songwriter / actor / writer and poet. She has also worked as a freelance makeup artist with her work gracing the pages of many editorial and commercial publications. The passion to express through song led to her writing and continues to grow with equal tenacity. Margret has contributed as a writer to Suite101, Women’s Voices for Change and now proudly for Feminine Collective. Margret’s writing is included in Feminine Collective: Raw and Unfiltered Vol 1 and that makes her smile on a daily basis. Her music can be heard on Spotify, Pandora, CDbaby, Soundcloud, Reverbnation and NumberoneMusic.

Letter to My Frozen Embryos

Rebecca Lee

I’m sorry I left you there waiting in suspended animation your crystal cradles safely ensconced (or so I pray) in stainless steel under blankets of liquid nitrogen 2 XY + 3 double-X I tallied your perfect chromosomes 46 times just to be sure We lost so many others before Day Read more

Rebecca Lee

Rebecca Lee is a public interest lawyer by day and writer of poetry and prose by night. A queer writer of color, she is a graduate of Yale College and UC Berkeley School of Law, where she was Senior Articles Editor of the California Law Review and co-Editor-in-Chief of the Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice. Her poetry is forthcoming in Dispatches from Quarantine. She lives in San Francisco with her fiancé and their Goldendoodle, Justice.

Dancing with Da D

Jacquie Prebich

death will dance with anyone anytime at any fuckin’ place it doesn’t discriminate or differentiate, it is not racist sexist or homophobe I have kissed it death is not a woman, I know it reeks of fetid sorrows gloomed motel rooms seeking sad numb unsuspecting souls it comforts human hearts Read more

Jacquie Prebich

Jacquie Prebich was raised in New York City and currently resides in Los Angeles. She started ballet at age five and danced until her first pregnancy. Jacquie loves writing, producing, and directing. She created Ballet Theatre in 2006, a new performance concept combining classical ballet with acting, singing, and live music. Jacquie began writing poetry after undergoing rehab for prescription pain pills— an addiction that developed as a result of dance injuries. Jacquie lives in a scenic canyon with her family and rescue animals. She is currently working on her first poetry book. Follow Jacquie on Twitter @JwPrebich

Dissolution

Alexandra Meehan

Having lined up her affairs, Skin smooth in oil, preserved her Ancient perfume resonates— Disperses its silky depths, I dream Of her incinerating baggage; Replacing it with pockets. Unanchored she leaves— Sails the Mediterranean Blue as newborn eyes, free as infancy To float to the edge of the ocean & Read more

Alexandra Meehan

Alexandra Meehan is a neurodivergent poet and poetry editor residing in Gainesville, Florida. Alexandra earned her BA in English from the University of South Florida in Creative Writing.She has mentored lyricists and has worked as a professional writer and as a creative director. Alexandra enjoys watching foreign films, cultivating carnivorous plants, and painting. She is enamored by wordplay and has a lifelong obsession with Emily Dickinson. Alex's work has appeared in Feminine Collective and Rhythm & Bones Lit. She has a forthcoming poetry book. Follow Alexandra on Twitter @LexMeehan

cause & effect

Anne Leigh Parrish

tell her she’s a witch, she’ll cast a spell say she’s a queen, she’ll rule the roost call her ugly, she’ll lie in bed praise her beauty, she’ll dare the sun whisper she’s stupid & she’ll flunk the test insult her limp & she’ll stand still call her temptress, she’ll Read more

Anne Leigh Parrish

Award-winning writer Anne Leigh Parrish’s next novel, an open door, will be published in October 2022 by Unsolicited Press. Recent titles from Unsolicited Press are the moon won’t be dared, a poetry collection, October 2021, and a winter night, a novel, released in March 2021. She is the author of seven other books. She has recently ventured into the art of photography and lives in the South Sound Region of Washington State. Find her online at her website, Twitter, Facebook, Medium, Instagram, Linked In, and Goodreads.