Category: Featured

JOLENE

Courtney LeBlanc

“And I could easily understand how you could take my man but you don’t know what he means to me.”–Dolly Parton, “Jolene” We were over by then, completely finished. We’d both been through the five stages of grief but I circled back to depression. You asked what you could do Read more

Courtney LeBlanc

Courtney LeBlanc is the author of Beautiful & Full of Monsters (forthcoming from Vegetarian Alcoholic Press), chapbooks All in the Family (Bottlecap Press) and The Violence Within (Flutter Press), and a Pushcart Prize nominee. She has her MBA from University of Baltimore and her MFA from Queens University of Charlotte. She loves nail polish, wine, and tattoos. Read her publications on her blog: www.wordperv.com. Follow her on twitter: @wordperv, and IG: @wordperv79.

A Letter To The Little Girls

Kim Sisto Robinson

When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about… there is a field. I will meet you there -Rumi How can I possibly begin this letter? I have so much to say, so many words inside, which are crammed, arguing, scratching one another, 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.

Self-Portrait

Lidy Wilks

History and media says it knows me. But how can they know when they’ve never walked in my Jordans. I am not barrel-bottom tar, I am black gold. I am not just black hoodies, I am also treasure. I am not your indentured servant or slave or breeding hoe. I 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.

Final Exam

Krystal Beatriz Galvis

You should leave him because: (Choose one of the following answers) A) He’s like the fucking sun. He burns you with his hands, his lips, his eyes. B) You hate him because he’s like the fucking sun. He doesn’t care if he leaves you in ashes. C) He brought your demons back into your 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.

Dear Active Shooter

Elizabeth Regen

Dear Active Shooter, Hi. It’s me. You don’t know me. I don’t think you do, anyway. No- you don’t know me. But somehow- some way – here we are. We are here. You have a loaded war weapon, and I’m here shopping or dancing or praying or well… just living Read more

Women Warriors

Megan Coleman

We are women warriors, whether it is grocery lines or picket lines, we are fighting the patriarchy just by standing up and being present in our lives. Using our intuition, crying together, picking each other up, lifting each other up from the ground that burns to swallow us whole, giving Read more

Megan Coleman

Megan Coleman has been writing from the womb and is an emerging poet in Chattanooga, TN. Five of her poems appear in Elephant Journal (2017), and she is featured in Ordinary Madness Magazine (2017), Vocal Magazine (2017), finalist in the Fortnight Eyewear contest (2017), Visera (2012), and the winner in poetry in Chattanooga Writer's Guild contests in 2003 and 2004. She has given readings at Barking Legs and Mudpie Cafe in Chattanooga. She also has a B.A. in Women's Studies.

Just the Other Stuff

Melissa Mulvihill

When I ran away for the first time I hid in my closet in my bedroom with Judy Blume and a flashlight until my dad found me and brought me home. Matter seemed so solid and still then. The second time I skipped town I hopped on my red ten-speed 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.

The Portrait of a Poet

Paakhi Bhatnagar

White walls of an insomniac closing in on the cold malice of human emptiness. I sit alone and wonder- The only callous of a life lived is the constant ache, for even change isn’t constant. Many nights I have sat on my bed and emptied the wells of my being 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.