I thought I would teach you

It’s not easy to admit that they fell a few more millimeters. That’s what I think when I get out of the shower and face my entire body. I don’t accept counting in centimeters as long as that mirror is mine. As if that would reverse or delay this accursed Read more

Marcelo Candido de Melo

Marcelo Candido de Melo, 57 years old, is Brazilian and lives in São Paulo, the most cosmopolitan city in South America. He had a marketing career in big companies before starting his own publishing house. He realized he was a writer after spending over a decade editing books and telling authors how challenging it was to make a living from literary talent, especially in Brazil, where educational issues have always kept people away from reading. He unintentionally started as a ghostwriter, and projects began to appear, sometimes as a ghostwriter, sometimes telling the story of a person, a family or a company. His first novel was a critical success and was adapted for the theater, but just as production was about to begin, the country entered a new crisis. He is currently working on completing his second novel. In addition to the first one, he has already written 17 other books and publishes two little texts on Instagram every Wednesday. He has two no more children: one is a screenwriter and writer who moved to California, and the other is a university student still eager to discover the secrets of life. He is married to a visual artist and also an amateur actor. Culture is deeply embedded in his life! His inspiration comes from a curiosity about human beings and all complexity of their existence.

Lies

Most people don’t notice that I’m constantly ready to run. That my shoulders are tense. My eyes watching for danger. My breath shallow. My brain working on overdrive. What do I do next? Am I saying the wrong thing? Are people looking at me? Do I look okay? Does everyone Read more

Myrna CG Mibus

Myrna CG Mibus is a writer and bookseller who lives in Northfield, Minnesota. She writes articles on topics ranging from aviation to afternoon tea and essays on family, motherhood, and life. Her essays and articles have been published in a variety of publications including Feminine Collective, Grown & Flown, Minneapolis StarTribune and Wanderlust Journal. When she’s not writing, Myrna enjoys baking, bicycling, gardening, reading and being mom to her two young adult children.

Body Image and Me: Accepting Myself Even Though The Dress Doesn’t Fit Anymore

The dress is navy blue. Navy blue with cream color trim around the neck and armholes. It is a size small. I bought it to wear for an Easter Sunday; I don’t remember the year. The dress is one of the few pieces of clothing in my closet that doesn’t Read more

female socialisation

let her deal with it but give her some gauze some booze for wounds to rub with burning and catch the colours of her face as her blood betrays her for a gratuity and watch as they find an in beneath a nail and widen the wound with their lips. Read more

Jennifer Wilson

Jennifer Wilson lives in Somerset, England, with her husband and spends her days as a faceless retail drone. Her work has previously appeared in Awkward Mermaid, Chaleur, and Molotov Cocktail, and is forthcoming in Elephants Never and the YANYR anthology from Rhythm & Bones Lit.

Hiding Below

You commented on the bags under my eyes I said “thank you, they’re designer” And I meant it Because I designed them myself With sleepless nights And a starving soul (my body might be starving a little too) And I did it because I just wanted The outside to match Read more

Olivia Stirton

Hello, my name is Olivia. I’m 20 years old and currently working at a bookstore. Being surrounded by books quickly developed a new hobby for me of first reading, and then writing. I enjoy so many different genres of books, but I always love reading and writing poetry more than anything else. I’ve always struggled with various mental health issues, and I find that writing and turning my thoughts into poetry helps me tremendously. I hope that in the future, I can publish a poetry book of my own for the world to see. In the meantime, I hope everyone enjoys these bits and pieces of my writing. It always has, and always will, come from the heart.

GIRL-6

She finds her resolve upstairs, in a built-in cupboard in her bedroom, a cool black nook between eaves. She empties the house of herself, in a way – she can’t see anything, and in the wood, a sacredness and functionality must aid the process of unadulterated, unfleshed thought. Having strewn Read more

Georgina Dorothy Evans

Georgina Dorothy Evans is an Australian/Canadian. After studying Fine Art in London UK, she completed a writing mentorship at University of Toronto with Eulogy author Ken Murray. Coming from a family of four females, she now lives in Toronto, Ontario with her husband and son.

How Do You Like Me Now?

We live in the dirty, digital age of Celebrity wannabe where everyone, including me, overshares everything. At the gym today, I was listening to Ryan Seacrest who is literally…EVERY PLACE… EVERYWHERE in our psyche, and exhausting our subconscious. He was talking about how North West loves to play with makeup, Read more

Jacqueline Cioffa

A retired, international model, and celebrity makeup artist. Co-Author of Model Citi Zen, the guide. Founder of http://modelcitizenmakeup.blogspot.com/. Author of numerous prose pieces in various literary magazines. Most recently published in Little Episodes Brainstorms the anthology, among esteemed artists Sadie Frost, Melvin Burgess and Todd Swift.

The Hair There

The hair there keeps coming back, pushing through, endlessly, as if there is a message they have been trying to get to you, years now. But you’re good at your job of pulling out and cutting down. Wouldn’t it be a shame to quit? Suppose in some strange rebellious moment Read more

Eris Gentle

Eris Gentle is a writer, mother, visual artist, and activist living in a windy valley near Austin, Texas, where nature is her muse and meditation is her medicine. She received her BA in creative writing from Louisiana State University. You can glimpse her life on Instagram or her website Erisgentle.com.