Category: Poetry

Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved me

Stephanie Ortez

This story is old, but it goes on. Last night she dreamt somebody loved her, The walls she built came tumbling down, One by one Her chains were broken, Revealing this famished heart aching to be free If only he could see all she wants is to be adored. She Read more

Stephanie Ortez

Stephanie is a highly caffeinated mother of two wonderful boys. She is hopelessly addicted to non-fiction books and literature that moves her to tears. She is an admissions advisor for George Washington University online where she assists homeschooled students internationally. Stephanie lives with Bipolar Disorder, PTSD, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. She is a passionate mental health advocate, member of Stigma Fighters. Her writing has been featured on The Elephant Journal, The Mighty, The Organic Coffee Haphazardly and Feminine Collective.

Grandma Josephine

Joan Mazza

My godmother tells me stories of my mother’s mother, her aunt, called Pepina. In her forties, she climbed into a dumpster in the Bronx to scrounge for food, discovered a case of celery, but not before the dumpster was hooked up to be carted off, stopped by her screams. Grandma’s 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.

Camera Cracks

Rebecca Charlotte

She wants to turn on the camera. Needs to turn on the camera. Must not turn on the camera. But feels compelled to hide behind her mask of peacock feathers and rage. And dance, dance for nameless, blameless faces, who fill her up with money. The closest thing to love 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.

Dibs

Paakhi Bhatnagar

I stand there, crazy. No space ships waiting or begging me to clean up dust. Stars away stare into me like fire, encroaching. Single files blocking any desire left in me. Carefree and free was bound to be a slave. A worker in a field had a plate-gruel and a 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.

The Revealing

John Michael Antonio

along the road of differences precious stones of similarities are deliciously found so please take your time you are worth the wait slowly and surely for the rest of our lives reveal yourself to me as I reveal myself to you I want to see everything hear everything feel everything Read more

John Michael Antonio

John Michael Antonio is a freelance writer, photographer, poet and screenwriter. He claims his Midwestern roots while at the same time admitting his incurable and insatiable love and addiction for all things New York City. He has been the husband to his wife, the love of his life, for almost thirty years and is a father of three wonderful children. He is an unapologetic male feminist as well as a passionate lover of fashion, art, movies and music from all eras and genres. An endless dreamer, John Michael is also an avid historian, ex-punk rocker and a legendary Internet surfer who sleeps, on average, about four hours a day. His work has also been featured on The Good Men Project.

Pink Dreams

Giulia Catani

Golden mist in silver light. Known certainties fall, to make room for unknown thoughts, that shake my skin. His heaven eyes intoxicate my mind, as frantic waves. The wind blows bully in my heart, raising sand clouds that obscure the view of everything. I walk unfamiliar streets. I do not 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.

Telling the Maverick Good-bye

Sharon Svendsen

I rattled in dull blue uncertainty until low-tread Maverick tires threatened to blow and the rims were almost ready to fall off. I fed water to the radiator on every trip. Finally got the thing re-cored. The timing belt broke on the way to Salem, Oregon. Aligning the wheels would Read more

Sharon Svendsen

Sharon E. Svendsen's work has been published in Bellowing Ark, Innisfree, The Long Story, Atrocity, Byline, and many other periodicals and anthologies. In the past, she ran the First Friday Reading Series in Bremerton, Washington, and the Writers’ Haven Reading Series at the Jewel Box Theater in Poulsbo. Sharon was publisher and poetry editor of HA! a humor magazine, and head of Writers’ Haven Press which published two poetry collections and several booklets of winners from Writers’ Haven contests.

Hero

Natasha Alexander

The walls never scared you, you knew breaking them down was never an option. You didn’t come with armour or fancy words Instead you came bare, only you, and you climbed my wall brick by brick. You moved so slowly, I never even saw you coming Once you were in, Read more

Natasha Alexander

Writer, always Wife and Mother first. Perfect is overrated, I am flawed and yet loved. Now that I don’t chase perfection, I can chase my dreams. I have completed a "Write a Novel" course in 2015 through S.A. Writers’ College and passed with a distinction. I also completed the Copy-Editing and Proof-reading course through them in March 2016. My first Manuscript of 60 000 words has been written and currently seeking a publisher. I have been writing poetry since I was 14 and the reason/inspiration behind all my writing is a stand against women abuse. It is a cause that I hold close to heart. Something that started as an outlet for feelings too ghastly to speak about has turned into my passion.