A Poem for International Women’s Day

Lilith, goddess guardian, first one to raise arms and plant feet downward. Enheduanna, I pay tribute to you. Golden signatures trickle down on miscellaneous temple hymns in honor of their presence. No time but now to salvage remains, original calligraphy to support descendants. Sappho, you underrated Greek beauty, as ancient 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.

We DID Overcome

It started with a sea of “Pink Pussy Hats” in cities across the United States. There were nonbelievers. Unsustainable, the right opined. Some even laughed and said none of the marches would ever make a difference on election day. But the anger and frustration of women appalled at the Trump 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.

Hit Like a Girl

I am proud to be a woman. I’m proud to “fuss” over small details, like my eyebrows, or the way you drive. I’m proud of the woman who came before me. The one who refused to lie down, refused to stay down despite how often she was pushed there. What 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.

FEMININITY

Tick tock The hands on a clock Move slower for the worker For the female Who gets paid lower Wages upon checkbook pages I spend all my time Just to earn a 9 pennies and Two dimes Less than the average man Women Shouldn’t have to carry brass knuckles And Read more

Rayanne Esparza

My name is Rayanne Esparza, and I am 21 years old. As I grew older, I developed an interest in women's rights, mental illness, and being an advocate for people that have no voice, and I chose to express my opinion in poetic form. As societal issues become more prominent, I will rise up, and shine through in my poetry.

HAPPY WOMEN’S HERSTORY MONTH!

This is the month that we celebrate strong, independent women. It’s a special month because women are special. They are women of history, women of science, women of mathematics, suffragettes, feminists, and women who refused to ride at the back of the bus. These women are you. These women are 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.

Things I Wish I’d Known

As a little girl raised in a liberal Jewish household, I never knew that, for most people, only men could be Rabbis. Likewise, I had no idea that in most households, the women were those taking care of most cleaning, cooking, and childcare. I certainly didn’t know that most moms Read more

Mikhal Weiner

Mikhal Weiner is an Israeli-born alternative indie artist living and creating in Brooklyn, NY. She studied composition and songwriting at Rimon College in Tel Aviv, completing her degree at Berklee College of Music in 2014 with honors. Her works, whether text or music, are deeply influenced by her experiences as a middle-eastern gay woman and her love of poetry and all genres of music. Her published essays include 'What the World Needs Now', and 'Changing our Stripes: Why Women Artists may be Like Saber-Tooth Tigers'. She recently released her debut LP, Daughter of the Sea, in May 2017, and is currently co-producing events for Salomé ArtHaus, a community centered art-sharing venue in Brooklyn, as well as performing with her band around the East Coast.

The Warriors

Time, a robber disguised, rubbed the edges of her tenet, eroding the pillars of confidence that she adhered to, ones that she constantly held- against daily attacks on her spirit. She is naked while dreaming. She is naked, living in a land of ‘It never was this way before’ She 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.