FEMININE COLLECTIVE – Page 35 – Humanity: Raw & Unfiltered

Not Magic

March 11, 2020July 9, 2020 Krystal Beatriz Galvis

She is a hurricane, Not a woman from the sea. She is the opposite of a mermaid. She is not magic; she is a disaster. Her hair does not flow with the wind as she comes out of the water with seashells in her hands. That is a mermaid and Read more

Ode to the Girl with the Mermaid Hair

March 11, 2020March 11, 2020 Sophie Winik

That girl, She was young, caring, kind, but naive. She was shy, hair as long as a mermaid, eyes filled with hope for the future. She was fifteen, beginning the process of figuring herself out, the person she wants to be. He was one year older, Dirty-blonde hair, blue eyes, Read more

Kissing the Patriarch Goodbye

February 26, 2020February 26, 2020 Karin Swann-Rubenstein

It’s been over six years now, since I last spoke to my father: mid-summer, July 15th, 2014. I was in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and he was lying on a gurney at a funeral home — dead as a doornail. To hide the incisions of his autopsy, the back Read more

POSTSCRIPT TO MY HUSBAND’S MISTRESS [ANNE]

February 25, 2020May 26, 2023 Dori Owen

Who uses the word mistress Outdated. Antiquated. A state of old. Like you. Why not choose someone younger than me This I might deem justifiable. Sort of If such a thing exists in all things betrayal I’m not so much older than you What if justifiable was a Trophy Wife Read more

400 Cans to Lunch

February 2, 2020August 28, 2021 James Paraskevas

I don’t whine about hunger the wayother kids do when they’re given an apple, or told to wait until dinner, or told to waitwhen they’re stomping their feet while mommy and daddy examine the Halloween candies for razor blades and cyanide:I fucking whine. Everyday it’s deviled ham with mayonnaise—with mayonnaise, mayonnaise, mayonnaise—enough goddamn mayonnaise to make Read more

The Wrong James

February 2, 2020August 13, 2021 Judith Staff

I was about 21 years old when I began studying for a degree. Disinterested in furthering my education, it was not my wish, but my mother convinced me I would be a failure in life if I didn’t study. As I already believed I was a failure, going to university Read more

WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHILE WE WATCH THE HANDMAID’S TALE

January 23, 2020 Anne Leigh Parrish

What if my dystopia is your heaven, my utopia your hell?We’re not on the same page, darlingMay I still call you that?You said it could never happen hereIsn’t that what the Germans said of Hitler?Where did they think his anti-semantic rants would lead?Darling, I know in your heart the idea Read more

speaking of stardust

January 23, 2020 Katie Simpson

i know the day hard words crashed like a meteor against your heart now you hide your edgesafraid they’ll catch the light this is the coldthe distanceof space if only i could breathe hereand speak of the stardust in your bones if only i could peel past my skinto show you my scars living Read more