Misfit

Young and full of new answers, I remember wanting a pair of red shoes so much I thought half a size smaller wouldn’t matter too much, until a blister made of burning lava told me not to settle for tormenting strolls anymore. But, I still had to learn that slow Read more

Susan Shea

Susan Shea is a retired school psychologist who was born in New York City, and now lives in a forest in Pennsylvania. She feels like she is coming alive again, able to return to writing poetry. Susan has been published in Plainsongs, Pudding, The Bluebird Word, and The Agape Review. Recently Susan has had poems accepted for Last Stanza Poetry Journal, The Bookends Review, Exstasis, Poetry Breakfast, and four anthologies by The Moonstone Arts Center:The Weight of Motherhood, by Wingless Dreamer: Darkness Within Me, by Pure Slush Books: Lifespan Series:Achievement, and by Poet’s Choice: Nostalgia.

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.

This Just Happens Sometimes

The 8-week appointment couldn’t be scheduled at eight weeks because of Thanksgiving. Instead, I was asked to come in the following week, a few days shy of my 35th birthday. I remembered a friend going to the doctor for a pregnancy confirmation a few months earlier and asked her how 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.

The Privilege of being a woman in America, as seen through the eyes of the women of Tanzania

As a 21-year-old woman raised in America, I often felt vindicated. Once I entered the progressive world of college, I preached the idea that life was unfair for women, especially when compared to our counterparts – both the bane and the desire of my existence – men. I was unhappy Read more

BODY JUSTICE 1977

The university doctor examined me. Then all of his students examined me. “As you can see,” he explained, “the uterus is tipped, making bringing a fetus to term unlikely.” After I had dressed and sitting in his office we had a conversation. “The risk of miscarriage is high.” “I’ve already 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.

Bleeding by the Bayou: A Story of Cycles

I’m in the bathtub at Marie Laveaux’s Annex in New Orleans and I’m about to reach orgasmic bliss. Finally. After all of these years searching for ways to feel connected to the source of my sexual energy, it only makes sense that I am on the verge of explosion, inside Read more

Erin Murphy

Erin Murphy works as a waitress at a historical hotel in Asheville, North Carolina. Since she can remember, she has been shining her flashlight at the moon. The beautiful complexity of human connection is what interests Erin most. But she also enjoys dancing and playing darts.

bling terms

any core desire or need one may have, we must trust is exactly that: core and with no need to adapt. this thing is inherent of us; why on earth would we set out to adjust something that is such. perfection is flawed. i am going to keep this idea—tattooed in Read more

Kiki Dranias

KIKI DRANIAS is a multi award-winning Hellenic-Canadian poet, playwright, director & producer living in Montreal. Kiki’s debut play GOING UP, an immersive and site-specific theatrical presentation, was performed live for 14 shows in November 2019, on board Elevator #1 at LE 5800 St. Denis, in Montreal. Winning three of the categories, including Outstanding New Text, Outstanding Emerging Playwright & Producer, Outstanding Independent Production, this sold-out inaugural production received in total seven nominations at the 2020 Montreal English Theatre Awards. This playwright’s second theatrical work WHERE IS ANTON is a 40-minute piece that Kiki wrote, produced and also directed. The show was performed live at the 30th Montreal Fringe Festival in June 2021, for six sold-out shows at MainLine Theatre. With primary support from Canada Council for the Arts, Kiki wrote and produced her third play THE LOVE TRIAL, a 75-minute modern Greek tragedy. This hybrid type and immersive theatrical presentation was performed live in front of 500 audience members in December 2021, for seven shows at the Masonic Temple Hall in Montreal. As a poet, Kiki has also authored BLOOD IS BLUE, a well-received poetry collection. To showcase her work and the work of others, this woman artist works under the Purple Divine producing and publishing banner.

Letter to My Frozen Embryos

I’m sorry I left you there waiting in suspended animation your crystal cradles safely ensconced (or so I pray) in stainless steel under blankets of liquid nitrogen 2 XY + 3 double-X I tallied your perfect chromosomes 46 times just to be sure We lost so many others before Day Read more

Rebecca Lee

Rebecca Lee is a public interest lawyer by day and writer of poetry and prose by night. A queer writer of color, she is a graduate of Yale College and UC Berkeley School of Law, where she was Senior Articles Editor of the California Law Review and co-Editor-in-Chief of the Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice. Her poetry is forthcoming in Dispatches from Quarantine. She lives in San Francisco with her fiancé and their Goldendoodle, Justice.