Final Exam

You should leave him because: (Choose one of the following answers) A) He’s like the fucking sun. He burns you with his hands, his lips, his eyes. B) You hate him because he’s like the fucking sun. He doesn’t care if he leaves you in ashes. C) He brought your demons back into your Read more

Krystal Beatriz Galvis

Krystal Beatriz Galvis, born and raised in San Diego, California, is a writer fascinated with magic, fantasy, and darkness. She is a MFA graduate student at San Diego State University studying creative writing. Outside from writing short stories, she researches any Latinx fables or myths and writes small poems on her Instagram page under the hashtag #krystalg.

Lessons

In the beginning, you will feel like you’ve landed in a world completely different to anything you have ever known or imagined, almost as though a tornado struck and whisked you off to another land. As you begin this journey you will feel like a modern-day princess. You will be Read more

Melanie Jones

Melanie Jones has embraced writing as a way to heals and as a way to help empower and inspire women of all ages. Hers is a journey that has been a blessing; full of heart ache and heart-warming experiences. She believes that all women need to listen their inner voice and to trust their instincts.

This City Knows Our Name

She was the closest I had ever felt to home. Her breath, her smile, The way she danced. Her laugh alone Lit me up for days. That infinite wonder That never got old. And just like my home, I am going to leave her. She is both my summertime breeze, Read more

Jamie Sawczyszyn

Jamie has been writing all of her life, and went to school for 3 years to study professional writing. Though she just began submitting to publications more recently, she has hosted several slam poetry events for herself and other writers to perform their works of art. Writing is more of an artistic outlet for her, and mainly focuses on raw nonfiction prose and poetry. She is in the works of writing a nonfiction book, which will focus on the psychological impact that her childhood had on her as she grew into an adult, and overcoming her anxiety disorder. She hopes that her book, like most of her works of poetry, will help any of her readers who are struggling with mental illness or going through a rough time in thier lives.

Sometimes He Sang

Sometimes he sang— head thrown back, the pearl of his throat offered up to his sometimes queen, passion spilling from his mouth like blood. Sometimes she laughed— with her eyes as well as her mouth, amused by how he dove headfirst into the music, into the wine, into her with Read more

Lisa L. Weber

I think a lot, about everything. I want to learn a lot, about everything. My mind, heart, and soul are hungry.

To the Ones Who Think Friendship is Easy

The concept of “friendship” is hard to define. But I’ll tell you one thing. It’s anything but easy. Some do it right and cross that long bridge to meet a friend at the center so they can jump down into the ocean waiting below. Together. Others do it wrong and Read more

Catarina Chung

I am a writer who attends a magnet high school focused on STEM. I am in the Medical academy at Bergen County Academies, but I write in my free time. Some of my work has won a gold medal from the Scholastic Art and Writing competition, and some have been published in Bergen Community College's magazine, "The Pegasus."

Question of the Green Light Infidelity: An Epistolary Essay

Dear Slightly Self-Conscious Self, I am about to present you with a tale of juvenile hilarity and intrigue. Feel free to read this whenever your life’s sunlight begins to dim a few shades darker than usual. Although this is your first attempt at an epistolary essay, it is not your Read more

Z. M. Wise

Z.M. Wise is a proud Illinois native from Chicago, poet, essayist, occasional playwright, seldom screenwriter, co-editor and arts activist, writing since his first steps as a child. He is co-owner and co-editor of Transcendent Zero Press https://transcendentzeropress.org/ , an independent publishing house for poetry that produces an international quarterly journal known as Harbinger Asylum. He is the author of seven books and chapbooks of published poetry and a play, including: Take Me Back, Kingswood Clock! (MavLit Press, 2013); The Wandering Poet (Transcendent Zero Press, 2014); Wolf: An Epic & Other Poems (Weasel Press, 2015); Cuentos de Amor (Red Ferret Press, 2015); Kosmish and the Horned Ones (Weasel Press, 2018); Illinois Infinitarium (Cherry House Press, 2020); and The Nightmare Mask (TBD). His debut play, Bottles of Emerald for the Demon Queen (Transcendent Zero Press, 2019), was published in late December of 2019. His most recent chapbook of poetry, the mini-epic known as The Nightmare Mask, is searching for a brand new home. Other than these books, his poems, lyrics, essays, and book reviews have been published in various journals, magazines, and anthologies. Besides poetry and other forms of writing, his other passions/interests include professional voice acting, singing/lyricism/songwriting, playing a few instruments, fitness, and reading.

Leaving

I pull up to the stop sign Will I change my mind? I have done this before And returned once more I sit for a while and stare Remembering the care You so seldom gave You were always so angry Time and time again I made excuses back then Hateful Read more

Mary Penner

Mary Penner has written poetry since the age of ten. She has always enjoyed telling human interest stories through rhyme and has recently begun writing stories in prose form. For twenty-five, Mary was a social worker and educator specializing in family and school counseling. She taught in elementary schools and in universities where she designed and facilitated the Program Planning Course. Mary's poems have been published in three anthologies: including two of Polar Expressions Collections of Canadian Poetry: Let's Fly Away, in 2017; Overture, in 2016. Mary is also a contributing Author in We are the Wordsmiths: A Collection of Short Stories and Poetry, 2017 (Albatross Publishing). Also in 2017, Mary was one of the adjudicators of the South Simcoe Arts Council's Creative Works Writing Contest. Most recently, Mary wast the Audience Prompter in the play Saving Grace: A Victorian Melodrama by a fellow Wordsmith member.