I don’t tell my story for you.

I don’t tell my story for you. A myth of struggle, the absolute vulnerability that comes with cracking myself wide open, a specimen placed under a microscope, suddenly splayed out for everyone’s opinions. I never asked for your judgment, nor did I ask for your pity. Does it make you Read more

Gretchen Corsillo

Gretchen Corsillo is a librarian and writer from the greater NYC area. She holds a B.A. in Literature with a concentration in Creative Writing from Ramapo College and a Masters in Library & Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh. Gretchen is the author of a bimonthly column for Public Libraries Magazine, and her work has also appeared in Salon and the American Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Blog. She is currently working on a novel. Learn more about her at gretchenkaser.com.

Why I Can’t Stop Buying Things

As I looked down at the near-full perfume bottles, Shoes I haven’t worn since high school, Shirts that stopped fitting ten pounds ago, And dozens of pairs of panties, socks, and ripped hosiery, I realized why I can’t stop buying things—I don’t like myself very much. Paying for color analyses, Read more

Hannah Bagley

Hannah Bagley is a poet and recent graduate from Southern Appalachia. She is also published in The Chestatee Review and As It Ought To Be Magazine. Bagley draws inspiration from her upbringing in the mountains, nature, and the human experience through a feminist lens.

For the Girl in Row 5

It’s easy money. Walk slowly, hands behind your back, checking no one is cheating. Up and down the rows of desks, quietly handing out tissues, pens. For a teacher of 5 year olds, exam invigilation with 16 year olds is a breeze. Some children look anxious, one girl is biting 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.

I thought I would teach you

It’s not easy to admit that they fell a few more millimeters. That’s what I think when I get out of the shower and face my entire body. I don’t accept counting in centimeters as long as that mirror is mine. As if that would reverse or delay this accursed Read more

Marcelo Candido de Melo

Marcelo Candido de Melo, 57 years old, is Brazilian and lives in São Paulo, the most cosmopolitan city in South America. He had a marketing career in big companies before starting his own publishing house. He realized he was a writer after spending over a decade editing books and telling authors how challenging it was to make a living from literary talent, especially in Brazil, where educational issues have always kept people away from reading. He unintentionally started as a ghostwriter, and projects began to appear, sometimes as a ghostwriter, sometimes telling the story of a person, a family or a company. His first novel was a critical success and was adapted for the theater, but just as production was about to begin, the country entered a new crisis. He is currently working on completing his second novel. In addition to the first one, he has already written 17 other books and publishes two little texts on Instagram every Wednesday. He has two no more children: one is a screenwriter and writer who moved to California, and the other is a university student still eager to discover the secrets of life. He is married to a visual artist and also an amateur actor. Culture is deeply embedded in his life! His inspiration comes from a curiosity about human beings and all complexity of their existence.

MOI

Who is MOI? Me, Only, and I Born from icky lives and pounding bassoons Feathered with lights and crawling beauties Raped by hierarchy filled with droughts and wide crowns Crafted into idols throughout unmarked time and shapeless space Bathed in oceans of rage and melting sand Cured by infinite memes Read more

Yvy Niyom

Writing has always been my passion, but speaking multiple languages never helped me as I could never be fully immersed in one language. Having learned English last, I have felt more comfortable but also more insecure about writing. My education is diverse, and so are my work experiences. I am currently finishing my thesis in Counselling Psychology. I have a college degree in sciences, a first bachelor's degree in Psychology and Sociology, and a second bachelor's degree in Adult Education. Personal favorite saying: Love Life, Mysterious, Unpredictable

Trapped Tears

It’s back, that distantly familiar swell under my ribs, a bitter sensation, like crying which is desperate to escape. Is it my trapped tears, all alone inside my chest? Or the hollow itself that they inhabit, which hurts? The aching makes me inhale, throbbing intensifies. Perhaps because my sorrow is 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.

Every single night

My brain is a place of deep concern to me. My brain is a place of butterflies and octopi. You haven’t seen a place such as this and I am so happy for you. You tell me to smile and chock it all up to my negative attitude – that Read more

Elisabeth Horan

Elisabeth Horan is a poet mother student lover of kind people and animals, homesteading in Vermont with her tolerant partner and two young sons. She writes to survive and survives to write - We are all battling something. Let's support each other. Elisabeth enjoys riding horses and caring for her cats, chickens, goats and children (not necessarily in that order). She teaches at River Valley Community College in New Hampshire.

LEGISLATING SEX 

Teenagers in Texas can no longer get birth control on their own.  The logic of this escapes me just as it did when I was a teenager and my step-father stole my birth control pills out of my purse.  He did not want the shame of a pregnant teenage daughter, Read more

Katherine West

Katherine West lives in Southwest New Mexico, near Silver City. She has written three collections of poetry: The Bone Train, Scimitar Dreams, and Riddle, as well as one novel, Lion Tamer. Her poetry has appeared in journals such as Writing in a Woman's Voice, Lalitamba, Bombay Gin, New Verse News, Tanka Journal, Splash!, Eucalypt, Writers Resist, Feminine Collective and Southwest Word Fiesta. New Verse News nominated her poem And Then the Sky for a Pushcart Prize in 2019. In addition she has had poetry appear as part of art exhibitions at the Light Art Space gallery in Silver City, New Mexico, the Windsor Museum in Windsor, Colorado, and the Tombaugh Gallery in Las Cruces, New Mexico. She is also an artist.