In a Laundry Room on Virgin Gorda

I was on Virgin Gorda, ashore at 8:00 a.m. doing my last loads of laundry before the trip south. Out of the wash and into the dryers, I was waiting to start folding. In came the cleaning lady, an older black woman, local, probably in her late sixties. “Good morning,” Read more

Jennifer M. Smith

Jennifer M. Smith is an author and an adventurer. Together with her husband, she has sailed over 40,000 miles around the world on their sailboat Green Ghost and she has plenty of stories to tell. She is working on a book about her ocean voyages but she is frequently distracted by other creative non-fiction short stories and micro-fiction stories that pop into her head and make a lot of noise until they are released through her pen or her keyboard.

The Male Psyche: Trying To Not Be a Dick

So, after some serious introspection, I’m beginning to figure out a few things about myself that I need to work on. I have a tendency to avoid dealing with things that are bothering me. I let things build and build until I lose it and turn into a total dick, 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.)

Five Year Gap

Five-year gap It could have been ten, I was so young then Just sixteen, you were just ‘old’ Policing my youth, like you always knew better Me and Molly, your mall rats We partied late into the night and brought you coffee at sunrise You scolded our morning-after-those Wildberry Vodka Read more

Judith Staff

Judith Staff’s background is in teaching and early years education. She still teaches occasionally, though now her main focus is in child welfare and safeguarding children. Her work includes delivering training, presenting at conferences, and engaging in collaborative projects with schools around child abuse awareness and sexual violence prevention. She enjoys writing blogs and poetry on topics she feels passionate about. Judith loves running, gym classes and karate. She is married to an art lecturer and they live in Northamptonshire, England with their three free-spirited children, a 12- year-old son, and daughters aged 11 and 9.

Sister of My Soul

Excuse me, do I know you? I vaguely remember your face We were friends once, the very best friends We were tight, so very close Secrets were shared, tears cried, belly laughs burned and drunken nights felt never ending Even faded rock star blue jeans with holes in the knees 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 Fencing War

When I hear the term passive-aggressive, I immediately think of my wife. Don’t get me wrong; she’s not callous, cruel or confrontational by any means. However, if you piss her off, she certainly won’t ignore it – she’ll retaliate. Although she won’t whoop you upside yo head (as she is Read more

The Two-Faced Friend

“We’re not even friends anymore” The two-faced bitch, says, and I’m not sure who exactly she means. I am certainly trying, so hard, to stay friends with her, even when I can feel her bad decisions crushing down on me. She has yet to realize that you are who you Read more

Anna Kaye-Rogers

Previous work has been published in Illinois Valley Community College River Currents 2015. Studies English, Creative Writing, and Professional Communications at Northern Illinois University. Currently raising one human and three animal girls with the help of a wonderful boyfriend.

Graciela and Abuela

I am who I am because of Graciela and her bright red sash and because of her Abuela, the old woman with the melted candlestick. The old woman who used to braid her granddaughter’s hair in log rope twists and drags the candle down the aisle at the old Spanish Read more

Tiffani Burnett-Velez

Tiffani has been a freelance writer since 1996. Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in Toe Good Poetry, Nicean Magazine, and St. Anthony Messenger. Her nonfiction essays and narrative journalism have been published in Pennsylvania Magazine, Yahoo! News, Country Discoveries, The Times-News, and many other magazines and newspapers across the US. She is the author of three novels, Budapest (featured at the NY Book Festival), A Berlin Story (a #1 Kindle Free Book), and All This Time (featured in The Big Thrill magazine). She holds a BA in Cognitive Science and has studied English and American Literature at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. She is currently completing her MFA in Writing at Lindenwood University.

47 Trips Around the Sun

One of the signs of passing youth is the birth of a sense of fellowship with other human beings as we take our place among them. -Virginia Woolf On January 16th, I will be celebrating another trip around the sun. I never dreamed I would pass over onto the other 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.