Tag: poetry

Put a Bandaid on It

Ani Keaten

Diagnosed during cardio kick semester. Thrice weekly high kicks and lunges, crying, burning vagina-wound. My options limited: tell the professor tell my advisor tell the doctor I portion absences like war rations, panic when I have no more, beg my advisor for an out. I’m bleeding these days. His hands Read more

Ani Keaten

Ani Keaten is a poet grown in the desert mountains of Idaho. She writes about daily life and her experience with chronic illness. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys creating art with oil pastels, looking at rare rocks, and seeking out high places from which to take pictures.

love. (lost?)

Wendy C Garfinkle

i remember you. when first we met i, barely more than a child you, already touched by war. two different worlds converging. you overcame my shyness with your admiration for my writing skills. we talked and exchanged numbers. though we lived in the same town, rarely met face-to-face hours would Read more

Wendy C Garfinkle

Wendy is a writer and editor who holds multiple degrees from several universities, including MA and MFA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University. She's the author of SERPENT ON A CROSS, a Jewish Medieval Fantasy, and a poet. She has served as a copy editor and panel reader for Hippocampus Magazine, as a reader for the James Jones First Novel Fellowship, and as an editor and proofreader for Booktrope and its Gravity Imprint. Wendy's most recent venture is her freelance editing business, Grammar Goddess Editing. In her day job, Wendy is a crime analyst for a sheriff's office. Her hobbies include writing, reading,and traveling. She lives in South Florida with her teenage son.

These Are the Times

John Michael Antonio

these are the times when I love you the most when the darkness arrives and the sun seemingly disappears you shine with a precious luminosity brightening our early morning kitchen manifestos and raging battle plans yes… with you my fellow warrior my indelible lover my equal I am ready to Read more

John Michael Antonio

John Michael Antonio is a freelance writer, photographer, poet and screenwriter. He claims his Midwestern roots while at the same time admitting his incurable and insatiable love and addiction for all things New York City. He has been the husband to his wife, the love of his life, for almost thirty years and is a father of three wonderful children. He is an unapologetic male feminist as well as a passionate lover of fashion, art, movies and music from all eras and genres. An endless dreamer, John Michael is also an avid historian, ex-punk rocker and a legendary Internet surfer who sleeps, on average, about four hours a day. His work has also been featured on The Good Men Project.

Bare Bones Of It

Tabatha Stirling

‘Don’t throw me to the wolves’, I said but cancer had your brain by then. Along with bone, and skin and hair. I have things to tell you that I couldn’t. I am a late starter, lost my virginity at 18 to the video repair man, in the spare bedroom 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!

In Murky Water

M.L. Flickinger

Beneath the murky water, she stares up at me. Her deceptive comfort lures me in. It’s all become so difficult, I scream. Tears forcing from the corners of my eyes. I know, she whispers, Let it out. Everything I’ve bottled up; held it deep down inside it burns in my Read more

M.L. Flickinger

Aside from writing, Melissa is an advocate for mental health and wellness - fighting against the stigma of mental illness. Focusing on mindfulness, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, OCD, eating disorders, ADHD, addiction, PTSD, emotional abuse, domestic violence, trauma, and recovery. She has a slight (okay, huge) obsession with coffee and all things pumpkin.

Shadow People

Jacqueline Cioffa

The majestic trees stand silent as their burnt leaves free-fall to the ground. The short season to live and die is upon us. There is no wind to make the journey playful, less somber. The leaves will be stomped on, trampled or simply shriveled into paper-thin nothingness. Some say autumn 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.

EXECRABLE EXCRESCENCE

Susan P. Blevins

Rising cases of cancer in our society are cause for great concern and many questions. What is the source of cancer? Why such an epidemic right now? Could it be that the illness itself is evidence of the cancer eating away at our society? Could it be a physical manifestation of Read more

Susan P. Blevins

Susan P. Blevins was born in England, and escaped at age twenty on her life quest, moving first to Italy for 26 years, and then to the USA, where she now lives. The older she gets, the more passionately involved she becomes in the world, and the more she wants to make a personal contribution. She believes that we can all make a difference, one hug, and one smile at a time.