“a plea”

maybe you will want to love another more than you could love me. so i ask of you, please do not let her name be written at the end of your list. don’t let her fall to the back burner, or at the very least, let her sit on the Read more

Lauren Anders

Lauren Anders is originally from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma where she graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Oklahoma City University. She recently completed a master's program at the New York Academy of Art and now lives and works in Manhattan pursuing various artistic practices.

Vestal Valentine

What love I’ve known I found on knees, by chance between iniquities. Fingers confined a backwards prayer, cutaneous chants without my underwear. Vestments, red wine a rosary, entwined lithe wrists you lead to liturgy, to genuflect before an altar, bare, a deity I wed in collar, chestnut hair. Services sworn in ballet veil, Read more

Kristin Garth

Kristin Garth is a poet from Pensacola, Florida. She is a knee sock aficionado and a sonnet stalker. Her sonnets have stalked the pages of Luna Luna, Occulum, Anti-Heroin Chic, Ghost City Review, Drunk Monkeys, TERSE, Journal and many other publications. Her chapbook Pink Plastic House is available through maverickduckpress.com

Wild Side

Two nocturnal rebels in the ephemeral 2 AM stillness drinking the moment against the backdrop of evaporation street lights trickling through the blinds us feeling and traversing the fleshy highways of our destinations we find each other and unbreakable love underneath the sheets in each other’s arms   Photo Credit: 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.

French Faux-pas: Valentine’s Day, Crockery, Louboutin, and a Priceless Smile

I once made the faux-pas to surprise my lovely wife with a state-of-the-art crockpot for Valentine’s Day. (That was last week.) I don’t anticipate it will be forgotten unless I make amends and it appears that even the shiny red bounty she found under the Festivus pole a few weeks Read more

Michel Bordeau

My name is Michel Bordeau, aka Area Frenchman. I am a Therapist and an Education Coach in private practice in Atlanta. Born in France, I have spent half my life in the US. I am culturally French and academically American, so you can safely assume that I know a thing or two about love (gender respectful, validating, unconditional, non-threatening) and the pleasures of life (many friends, much cheese, little w(h)ine). When I don't blog about mansplaining, teen assertiveness, guru shaming, toxic work environments and toxic people, motherhood, mindful parenting, immigrant entrepreneurs, bipolar disorder and body dysmorphic disorder, I dedicate my time speaking about the lessons I have learned as a therapist and a coach. I am the host of Le Kindness Couch on Youtube. I created this channel to demonstrate that today's therapeutic modalities are kind, validating, and solution-focused. We don't read mind or blame your mom for everything.

Valentine’s Day Schmalentine’s Day

Other than a New Year’s Eve kiss at midnight, on what other date is so much pressure placed on being a couple? Yes, it is different for girls. Valentine shamed when no large vase of long-stemmed red roses appears on your desk at work–the horror of glaring singleton status on Read more

Dori Owen

Dori Owen is a storyteller, writing from small town Arizona, after living a few decades in California as an LA Wild Child, with a brief stop in Reno. She settled into grownup life as a project manager, collecting an MBA and a few husbands along the way. She is a shown artist and her favorite pastime is upcycling old furniture and decor she finds from thrift stores. She lives with the cat who came to visit but stayed. The love of her life is her grown son who lives in Portland, Oregon. Her essays and poems have been published in RAW&UNFILTERED VOL I, StigmaFighters Vol 2, and Love Notes From Humanity. Her blogs have been featured on The Lithium Chronicles, Open Thought Vortex, Sudden Denouement, and The Mighty.

10 Love Songs that will Stop Your Heart

We all know the effect that music has over us. A song can lift our spirits or bring us to our knees with melancholy.  Much to the chagrin of my inner circle, I fantasize about the music career that I did not have. Fantasy carries me along with every lyric 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.