Featured – Page 31 – FEMININE COLLECTIVE

JOLENE

September 22, 2019September 22, 2019 Courtney LeBlanc

“And I could easily understand how you could take my man but you don’t know what he means to me.”–Dolly Parton, “Jolene” We were over by then, completely finished. We’d both been through the five stages of grief but I circled back to depression. You asked what you could do Read more

A Letter To The Little Girls

September 20, 2019September 20, 2019 Kim Sisto Robinson

When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about… there is a field. I will meet you there -Rumi How can I possibly begin this letter? I have so much to say, so many words inside, which are crammed, arguing, scratching one another, Read more

Self-Portrait

September 19, 2019September 19, 2019 Lidy Wilks

History and media says it knows me. But how can they know when they’ve never walked in my Jordans. I am not barrel-bottom tar, I am black gold. I am not just black hoodies, I am also treasure. I am not your indentured servant or slave or breeding hoe. I Read more

Final Exam

September 18, 2019November 2, 2019 Krystal Beatriz Galvis

You should leave him because: (Choose one of the following answers) A) He’s like the fucking sun. He burns you with his hands, his lips, his eyes. B) You hate him because he’s like the fucking sun. He doesn’t care if he leaves you in ashes. C) He brought your demons back into your Read more

Dear Active Shooter

September 13, 2019September 15, 2019 Elizabeth Regen

Dear Active Shooter, Hi. It’s me. You don’t know me. I don’t think you do, anyway. No- you don’t know me. But somehow- some way – here we are. We are here. You have a loaded war weapon, and I’m here shopping or dancing or praying or well… just living Read more

Women Warriors

September 11, 2019September 11, 2019 Megan Coleman

We are women warriors, whether it is grocery lines or picket lines, we are fighting the patriarchy just by standing up and being present in our lives. Using our intuition, crying together, picking each other up, lifting each other up from the ground that burns to swallow us whole, giving Read more

Just the Other Stuff

September 10, 2019October 24, 2019 Melissa Mulvihill

When I ran away for the first time I hid in my closet in my bedroom with Judy Blume and a flashlight until my dad found me and brought me home. Matter seemed so solid and still then. The second time I skipped town I hopped on my red ten-speed Read more

The Portrait of a Poet

September 10, 2019September 10, 2019 Paakhi Bhatnagar

White walls of an insomniac closing in on the cold malice of human emptiness. I sit alone and wonder- The only callous of a life lived is the constant ache, for even change isn’t constant. Many nights I have sat on my bed and emptied the wells of my being Read more