Tag: shame

Judging Rights

Judith Staff

Nestling together, blame and judgement let’s talk about that. Were you there? Were you wearing her clothes? You know, the ones she asked him not to pull off? Did you feel her heart accelerating? While her soul wept in fear of what was to come? Were you witness to all 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.

That Night

MJ Garcia

Struggling to recollect a certain time of your life; that night, in particular, is somewhat like glancing through a photo collection. The photos appear to be taken by a child. Seeking to capture the entire world as they viewed it, shaking the pictures before they can develop, eager to view Read more

MJ Garcia

MJ Garcia (she/her) is an aspiring author focusing on Creative Non-Fiction. Through her writing, she shares her personal experiences and worldviews from a neurodivergent woman's perspective. MJ has a passion for connecting with others and sharing the human experience. She believes that the world can use more honesty and empathy and practices those traits daily in her personal life and writings. When MJ is not reading, writing, or working on her education, she spends time with her family (furry and four-legged and the human ones alike) and friends. She can be found enjoying game nights and working on her bucket list of must-see concerts.

Are you my mother?

Catherine Zickgraf

—cried the hatchling, beginning to exhibit seeking behavior. Its mother gone silent because father— Was I, tongue-dry, just dreaming that time she pledged to leave me at the train station if I darted quick for the water fountain? He pronounced me dead in the punishment of banishment, declared they would Read more

Catherine Zickgraf

Catherine Zickgraf has performed her poetry in Madrid, San Juan, and three dozen other cities—yet homeschooling her autistic youngest inspires her the most. Her writing has appeared in Journal of the American Medical Association, [Pank], Victorian Violet Press, and The Grief Diaries.

Shame On You

Judith Staff

“Drunk. Hot. Easy. A cocktease….“ No. Fuck that. Fuck them. Do not bathe in the steam rising off sordid pools they lured you into, those filled with twisted recollections of reality. Coveting your butterfly touch and those sexy, soft eyes as coat hooks on which to hang their cloaks of 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.

The Hair There

Eris Gentle

The hair there keeps coming back, pushing through, endlessly, as if there is a message they have been trying to get to you, years now. But you’re good at your job of pulling out and cutting down. Wouldn’t it be a shame to quit? Suppose in some strange rebellious moment Read more

Eris Gentle

Eris Gentle is a writer, mother, visual artist, and activist living in a windy valley near Austin, Texas, where nature is her muse and meditation is her medicine. She received her BA in creative writing from Louisiana State University. You can glimpse her life on Instagram or her website Erisgentle.com.

BODY / IMAG(INE) – a poem in four parts

Carly Zee

PART ONE/ BODY She dressed Hastily Alone Averting her eyes As loose flesh rolled Over her frame   And by squeezing And shimmering Her frolicking hips She pulled the bathing suit on [that damned swimsuit on]                     — gasping for air, she Pledged allegiance To the salad buffet, but Read more

Carly Zee

Carly Zee is a poet and writer and lover of the finer things in life — like good wines, dark chocolate, and erotica. She finds myself seeking pleasure over reason on far too many occasions, and will, in all likelihood, continue to do so. To come along for the ride, you can connect with Carly through https://carlyzee.wordpress.com/

Mr. Hamilton

Jennifer M. Smith

He was hip. He wore crisp shirts and wide neckties. He had a Seventies mustache and Burt Reynolds hair. His right hand almost always held chalk. His left hand was usually in his front pocket. His Levis were so tight that to remove his hand from his pocket he had Read more

Jennifer M. Smith

Jennifer M. Smith is an author and an adventurer. Together with her husband, she has sailed over 40,000 miles around the world on their sailboat Green Ghost and she has plenty of stories to tell. She is working on a book about her ocean voyages but she is frequently distracted by other creative non-fiction short stories and micro-fiction stories that pop into her head and make a lot of noise until they are released through her pen or her keyboard.

My Body is a Poem

Loren Kleinman

I’m beautiful. I say it under the dim bathroom light: I. Am. Beautiful. I take solace in the light on my face. I take solace in the light on my skin, on the fat that creases and bulges. I hold my stomach in my hands, squish and squash my love Read more

Loren Kleinman

Loren Kleinman’s poetry has appeared in journals such ADANNA, Drunken Boat, The Moth, Domestic Cherry, Blue Lake Review, Catch & Release (Columbia University), LEVURE LITTÉRAIRE, Nimrod, Wilderness House Literary Review, Narrative Northeast, Writer’s Bloc, Journal of New Jersey Poets, Paterson Literary Review (PLR), Resurgence (UK), HerCircleEzine and Aesthetica Annual. Her interviews appeared in IndieReader, USA Today, and The Huffington Post. She’s also published essays in Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping and Seventeen Magazine. She is the author of Flamenco Sketches and Indie Authors Naked, which was an Amazon Top 100 bestseller in Journalism in the UK and USA. Kleinman’s The Dark Cave Between My Ribs was named one the best poetry book of 2014 by Entropy Magazine. Her third collection of poetry Breakable Things released via Winter Goose Publishing in March 2015. Her first novel This Way to Forever just released via Evatopia Press.