Tag: childhood

On Newman Road

Paula R. Hilton

Here, I bottle-feed an orphaned lamb for the farmer next door. Feel maternal at nine. I dodge spider webs in our garden while picking tomatoes to grind into Mom’s Sunday dinner sauce. I run beneath our neighbor’s trellises. The only girl. Play War with Donny and Danny among the vines. Read more

Paula R. Hilton

Paula R. Hilton explores the immediacy of memory and how our most important relationships define us. Her work has been nominated for Best Small Fictions and has appeared in The Feminine Collective, The Sunlight Press, Writing In A Woman’s Voice, Dear Damsels, The Tulane Review, and elsewhere. Her novel, Little Miss Chaos, was selected as a Best Indie Teen Read by Kirkus, and her first poetry collection, At Any Given Second, received a Kirkus star. She holds an MFA from the University of New Orleans.

Aleppo at Christmas 2016

Merima Trako

The age of miracles pretending to be this wonderful illusion wanting to see our hearts depths and story lines wanting to leave the eyes and trips stuck in our throats wanting to achieve endless motion, desire to believe in our human sacrifice wanting a reprieve from monsters hiding wanting to Read more

Merima Trako

Merima was born and raised in Bosnia-Herzegovina (former Yugoslavia). Sudden nationalistic divide in the early nineties, leads to a bloody war where a three percent of Bosnian population (mainly Muslims) is killed. Merima and her family escape ethnic cleansing in Banja Luka (where she was born) and settle in Travnik. Her story continues with her move to the USA to study engineering and mathematics, her “other love”, where she lives now. She is a mother, a refugee, an engineer and a woman passionate about creating literary awareness about world issues, social injustices and her life experiences, consisting of complex topics, from religion to non-spiritual events. Her work is available for readers on her website www.worldaccordingtoblam.com. Most recently she published two short stories and two poems in the collection of prose and poetry of the No Name Writing Group from Washington Depot, CT in their anthology titled “This One Has No Name”.

Lamenting with Blue Jays

Merima Trako

Blue sparkles in the twist of cold branches tangle vivid stories inside those black eyes darting around spotting me looking, casting glow of wind and thought and sorrow inside creating a new world, solid ground, tide of my ancestors following this path I took, past, present, collide on the blue Read more

Merima Trako

Merima was born and raised in Bosnia-Herzegovina (former Yugoslavia). Sudden nationalistic divide in the early nineties, leads to a bloody war where a three percent of Bosnian population (mainly Muslims) is killed. Merima and her family escape ethnic cleansing in Banja Luka (where she was born) and settle in Travnik. Her story continues with her move to the USA to study engineering and mathematics, her “other love”, where she lives now. She is a mother, a refugee, an engineer and a woman passionate about creating literary awareness about world issues, social injustices and her life experiences, consisting of complex topics, from religion to non-spiritual events. Her work is available for readers on her website www.worldaccordingtoblam.com. Most recently she published two short stories and two poems in the collection of prose and poetry of the No Name Writing Group from Washington Depot, CT in their anthology titled “This One Has No Name”.

Kids

Richard DeFino

Before the realization of our mortality came into play, before panicking was a daily routine, life just wasn’t taken as seriously as kids. Everything was peaches. And upon the realization that we would one day die, you could either rebel in the streets or hide under your mother’s skirt, awaiting 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.

Secret Life of Nimu

Suman Rathore Shah

A story of grief, healing and hope. The essay traces a woman’s trip to her hometown after the death of her husband. The traditions that aid the process of grieving and a daughter’s realization about her mother’s resilience and watching her claim herself back. “She has a pacemaker; you cannot Read more

Suman Rathore Shah

About the Author – Suman’s first love as a child was photography and the classics. Encouraged to write at a young age, she’s been previously published in print in the Newport Life Magazine, Times of India, and Mid-Day. After almost 20 years in the advertising and publishing industry she’s going back to her first loves, writing and photography. As an evolving writer, she’s been honing her skills at Grub Street, Boston. Growing up bi-coastal in India, she never really put down roots until she landed in Boston almost 18 years ago. Now she lives bi-continental, and Boston is her karma bhumi, the place where she does her life’s work. She chronicles her stories on her blog, www.forkonaroad.com where she writes about all things that nourish life.

Pies On The Sidewalk: A Gift Of Confidence From A Mother to Her Daughters

Dianne Blomberg, Ph.D.

My mom never knew she had actually prepared me the best way possible. She died thinking she had failed as a parent who should have protected her daughter. Because of her, I guarded myself and my daughters from a future of abuse, failure, and lost dreams. As a single mom, I didn’t have much to give my girls, but I gave them the confidence to become strong, determined women who have the courage to leave pies on the sidewalk when that’s the only option.

Dianne Blomberg, Ph.D.

Dianne Blomberg is an author/speaker living in Colorado. She’s published in HerStry, Feminine Collective, Across the Margin, Button Eye Review, Alpha Female Society, Dove Tales-Abrazos, Volney Road Review, Krazines, American Writer’s Review, and more. Her essays are in “Best Of” publications and anthologies, she’s authored two children’s books. She is the former President of the Denver Woman’s Press Club. Her work is featured on podcasts. Dianne’s relationship research is cited in Good Housekeeping, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Family Life, Newsday-New York, The Denver Post and more. Dianne is working on a book of essays, What Else You Got, Girl? And co-writing a sitcom TV-pilot, “Happy Landing.”

Dad, I Forgive You

Dave Pasquel

Raise your hand. Who’s had a perfect childhood? Who has perfect parents? Who has the perfect family? Unfortunately, most of us experienced a less than perfect childhood. Most of use have a less than perfect family. Most of us have less than perfect parents. After decades of being angry, disappointed, Read more

Being A Father

Bert Woodson

I’m fortunate enough to call myself Father to two kids. I’m sure at times, they’ve had other words to call me, and probably well deserved. I did hope for fatherhood perfection, but I don’t think I came close to the mark. I wanted to be the ideal father. I knew Read more

Bert Woodson

Bert Woodson currently lives on Florida’s Gulf Coast in Cortez, with his Rhodesian Ridgeback, Colt, and Colt’s kitty Woof. (Yes, he named him.)