Tag: abusive relationships

Sex with Strangers

Julie Anderson

It was a dare, oh yes it was I was young crazy and in lust. You were dangerous. The right kind of madness had arrived just in time. We were in the city, the one where anything goes where no one tells private secrets laced with lies. Your lack of 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.

I Feel Pretty with Makeup On

Richard DeFino

I haven’t felt comfortable in my skin since I was a teenager. And this is odd to me, because when I was a teenager, I was disgusted by my reflection. Horrified and sickened, I would gag at the sight of myself in the mirror. I’m far from being a kid Read more

Richard DeFino

Ricky De Fino grew up in New York City and currently resides in Buffalo NY. When he isn’t writing about his anxiety and his crazy Bronx upbringing, he enjoys watching countless hours of television with his wife Andrea, cat Bebe and dog Zeke. Two years sober, good coffee and veganism keeps him sane. His work can be found in Two Cities Review, tNY Press, Purple Pig Lit, Dialougal and Cycatrix Press.

An Accident of Love

Nan Byrne

Once when I was young, I read a story in the newspaper. A man had gone on a picnic with his wife and children. They spent the day by the lake, playing in the water, throwing a football, and doing all the typical things that families do. At the lake, Read more

Nan Byrne

Nan Byrne is a feminist poet and television writer. The author of two books, her poems have appeared in a variety of feminist journals including Phoebe: A Feminist Quarterly, Canadian Woman Studies, Earth’s Daughters, Critical Matrix: Princeton Journal of Women, Gender, and Culture, Poemmemoirstory, So To Speak, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of grants from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Vermont Studio Center, and is currently at work on a documentary about Margaret Fuller, an early feminist and the first woman journalist.

How to Lose All of Your Friends in 5 Minutes

Richard DeFino

So how does one lose all their friends in 5 minutes? Well, it’s not that hard actually. Just tell them the truth, that’s it.But please don’t be fooled, this is easier said than done and it will, of course, have its consequences. I myself have yet to do this, but Read more

Richard DeFino

Ricky De Fino grew up in New York City and currently resides in Buffalo NY. When he isn’t writing about his anxiety and his crazy Bronx upbringing, he enjoys watching countless hours of television with his wife Andrea, cat Bebe and dog Zeke. Two years sober, good coffee and veganism keeps him sane. His work can be found in Two Cities Review, tNY Press, Purple Pig Lit, Dialougal and Cycatrix Press.

The Fat Girl’s Guide to (not) Getting Pregnant

Amye Archer

Step One: Want it. For years, I imagined Emily following me around with a blanket in her arms like Linus from the Charlie Brown cartoons.  Her hair would fall into black ringlets that dripped to her shoulders like water.  She would never grow over two feet tall in my mind. Read more

Mustang

Julie Anderson

Tethered to madness she will not drink Provoked, prodded and ridiculed she will not eat Emotional blinders tightly strapped darken her path Precarious steps she is lead away The bit firmly in place, splits her lips Reigns taunt her neck strained She must always look to the past foam gathers 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.

Resolution

Catherine Zickgraf

You, sterile survivor, once hid my beauty in your power— but now I see you pretend to be whole. And you, stone statue, with an eroded smile, can only pretend you’re content. So you puddle like a tide pool on my island— though once I sunk like a pebble into Read more

Catherine Zickgraf

Catherine Zickgraf has performed her poetry in Madrid, San Juan, and three dozen other cities—yet homeschooling her autistic youngest inspires her the most. Her writing has appeared in Journal of the American Medical Association, [Pank], Victorian Violet Press, and The Grief Diaries.