FROM THE LIFE OF IRIS ORIGO

(a cento, mostly) “The days go by waiting for better times.” I Day after day we sat in the library of our isolated country house, listening to the voices on the radio with an increasing sense of doom — Hitler and Dolfuss, Eden and Chamberlain, schoolchildren and soldiers singing Fascist Read more

Anne Whitehouse

Anne Whitehouse is the author of six poetry collections, most recently Meteor Shower (Dos Madres Press, 2016). She has also written a novel, Fall Love, which is now available in Spanish translation as Amigos y amantes by Compton Press. Recent honors include: 2018 Prize Americana for Prose, 2017 Adelaide Literary Award in Fiction, 2016 Songs of Eretz Poetry Prize, 2016 Common Good Books’ Poems of Gratitude Contest, 2016 RhymeOn! Poetry Prize, 2016 F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum Poetry Prize. She lives in New York City. www.annewhitehouse.com

The Girl with Her Heart in a Box

There once was a girl who kept her heart in a box. She met a man and wanted to show him her heart. She opened the box, and took out her heart, piece by piece, laying it on the floor for him to see. You see, another man had once 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.

Loving a Dangerous Man

I read in a magazine that women fall in love for three reasons. We fall in love with the Hero, the Entertainer, or the Caregiver. So, was he the football hero, the clown at the party, or the guy who offered to carry your groceries? I fell in love with Read more

Tanya Elizabeth Egeness Epp Schmid

Tanya Elizabeth Egeness Epp Schmid was a Doctor of Oriental Medicine until 2014 when she started a permaculture farm. Her work has appeared in Valparaiso Fiction Review, Sky Island Journal, Canary Literary Magazine, Whistling Shade Literary Magazine, Flash Fiction Magazine, and others. Tanya was long-listed in Pulp Literature’s 2021 Flash Fiction Contest, and her work has appeared in two anthologies: Poet’s Choice Global Warming Anthology, and Quillkeeper’s Summer Solstice Anthology 2021. She is a teacher of Kyudo (Zen archery) and the author of “Tanya’s Collection of Zen Stories” (2018).

Blank Slate

I want to tell you about the times I fell in love with you. I should say hi, First. So, hi. The first time You opened A slim door; you said, come anytime, Show me your insides. I wanted to tell you about the times I wanted to marry you. Read more

Elisabeth Horan

Elisabeth Horan is a poet mother student lover of kind people and animals, homesteading in Vermont with her tolerant partner and two young sons. She writes to survive and survives to write - We are all battling something. Let's support each other. Elisabeth enjoys riding horses and caring for her cats, chickens, goats and children (not necessarily in that order). She teaches at River Valley Community College in New Hampshire.

Because Nice Guys

She was always ready to cry on my shoulder and accept my help, my affection, my favours. ‘Cause nice guys finish last. But one kiss and she doesn’t want to ‘ruin the friendship’. ‘Cause nice guys finish last. I bought her dinner and drinks but only got a kiss at Read more

Tanita Cree

Australian born and raised, it was only in the last few years that Tanita transitioned from the sunny shores of Tweed Heads in NSW to the seasonal beauty of Canada. A graduate of Griffith University, Tanita has a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and Literature. While earning her degree, she also worked as a Production Manager to help create the arts television series Put Some Colour In Your Life. When not working, writing or reading, she has a tendency to spend ludicrous amounts of money on Funko POP figurines, books and tattoos. Not necessarily in that order.

one more time

I stoppedbelievinghopingsearchingdreamingpleading for one more time memories lingerbittersweet pain of thepastprayers offereddesire lastingwishing foranother true lovestill longing for one more time invocations answeredyou stepped into mylifeeuphoric,my heartthrobbed withpassion one more time my dream weavermy second chance lovermy last forever goodbye one more time Photo ©Julie Anderson All Rights Reserved Julie 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.

Crushed

It was a desperate perfect storm kind of love affair. Sudden but not without warning. Fragile and doomed from the beginning. Yet with so much hope. Feeding off each other’s heightened force. Taking one’s breath away, unable to get it back. Blind to obvious obstacles. To the REAL dangers in Read more

Kelly Kirkpatrick

I am a new writer but a very old soul. I am a 54 year old, white, ex-catholic, divorced, mother of two, and a woman who loves women. A year ago I decided to end my 11+ year marriage to my wife. This last year has been one of reflection, soul searching, honest internal inquiry, and a lot of writing. The majority of my other writings are short stories filled with universal questions and self reflection, with a nod to the psychodynamic world of psychology. I am a licensed Psychotherapist in Los Angeles and see most things through one or two lenses, namely the soul or true nature of a person and how our relationships to our pasts impact our capacities to function each and everyday.