Daybreak

These words won’t come easy to me Even though they’re all I see I’m frightened and all alone in my head Chained like a prisoner to my own bed I struggle with each and every line I can’t possibly keep up with time When will my strength return? When will Read more

Rebecca Lombardo

My name is Rebecca Lombardo. I'm 44 years old and I've been happily married for 15 years. At age 19 I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and I've struggled with mental illness ever since. Since I was in elementary school I wanted to be a writer, but unfortunately my mental illness made it difficult for me for many years. I've recently published a memoir and have begun writing poetry again.

Love in the Time of Dementia

My mom desires a closeness with me now that she never did when I was young. I’d long suspected my mother didn’t embrace parenting in that fervent, born-for-this way that some of us do. Still, I was stunned the day she actually confirmed just how trapped she’d felt in the Read more

Mary Novaria

Mary Novaria's is a two-time Writer's Digest award winner whose work has been featured in Oprah Daily, Washington Post, Spirituality & Health, Cosmopolitan, Feminine Collective, FF2 Media, HuffPost, and elsewhere. She and her husband are empty nesters who live in the mountains of Colorado with their rescue dog, Rooney. She is currently working on a novel.

Seeking Full-Time Depression

I am seeking a confidant, a loser like me. My pre-requisites are simple. I desire a lack of ambition. I am looking for self-loathing. This depressant-applicant should come pre-equipped with a heart that is worn and long faded away like a hundred shipwrecks. His or her life shall be in 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.

After Death of Birth

I found my death when I gave a life, but life played a trick on me. She brought back my ghost to live in a body that talks and thinks, of skeletons that breathe; a body that can not make sense of what I say, then collapses in the exhaustion, Read more

Kundai Muringi

Kundai Muringi is a Zimbabwean, who loves nature, words, and soul. Her heart is in humanitarian work, having previously worked with female domestic violence survivors. Currently, she is volunteering with a support group for perinatal mental health, in Port Elizabeth- South Africa, raising awareness about conditions that are still terribly sidelined. She enjoys spending time with her amazing husband and their three beautiful children. Kundai best expresses her creative thoughts and ardent views in poetry.

Music Makes The World Go Round

A Simon and Garfunkel record plays in the background as the clock announces that it is past midnight. I am not tired at all. It must have been all that coffee I drank earlier or perhaps – like any other parent – I stay up late because this is only 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.

Here Inside the Mirror

There comes an age when screwing up is not cute anymore. You know that, because people are constantly telling you. It’s not cute anymore, Raleigh. My name is Raleigh, by the way; Raleigh of Boston, Massachusetts. Although to be fair, my mother is from Raleigh the actual city, so it Read more

Beatriz L. Seelaender

Beatriz L. Seelaender was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1998. In 2016, she published her first novel "De Volta ao Vazio" (a good translation would be "Emptiness, Revisited"), in Brazilian Portuguese. Seelaender's work in English has been featured in websites such as the Manifest-Station, and she currently studies Literature and Languages in the University of Sao Paulo.

Misplaced Words

Silence after silence sets my mood. I circled the roots of life stumbling again only to be resurrected by a brand new day hoping the sunlight will amend my woes. A rare sweet hot December air fills the room, rare indeed. Enter the chilling sensation of the routine, because without 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.

Grief in Edinburgh

Butterflies stopped visiting the meadow the year your light went out. Daffodils were joyless and sadness weighed down the Barn owl’s flight. The sun struggled to do it’s yellow best, the moon simmered in shock. One hundred fireworks refused to shower the night sky with color, rain was colder and Read more

Tabatha Stirling

I recently signed with Unbound, the literary crowdfunding publisher, for my book about maid abuse in Singapore called "Blood On The Banana Leaf." Funding stands at a revved up 40 percent so if you felt like pledging for some really excellent rewards and my unfettered love, please visit this link: https://unbound.com/books/blood-on-the-banana-leaf When I’m not writing or baking cupcakes, I am thinking about writing, reading, studying for my MLitt in Creative Writing at Glasgow University, designing book covers, gaming or watching dark, blood-splattered dramas like the Walking Dead, Ray Donavon, and Sons of Anarchy. I am totally prepared for a zombie apocalypse!