By Christina Hennemann We rest on this earth where they once ploughed, the sweat and laughs formed freckles under the sun and soil sloppy on shoelaces; my mother stumbled over a rock, stitches on cheek, her needle and thread that sewed my socks, my curtains, shade from the blazing truth out there, we’re invading our [...]
By Mandira Pattnaik Warning: domestic violence Because you’re the moon, Mother thinks you’re full of circles and spots, and never consistent — rebellious and sulking, often hiding in hoodie jackets, known to break china even with a sponge scrubber, and mostly saying what is best avoided, making mistakes. Sister is better. She poses no troubles, hangs [...]
By Holly A. Stovall Until the paper that Joelle Cantrell wrote made it to the top of my stack of To Kill a Mockingbird essays to grade for sophomore English at Jackson High, I had been eating clean and feeling good. I was slouching deep into the couch, a pint of Clean Cream sugar-free-non-fat frozen balanced [...]
By Phyllis Klein “There are so many fragile things, after all. People break so easily, and so do dreams and hearts.” – Neil Gaiman, Fragile Things Breaking: Buzz of a bone fractured, burst of a bowl hitting the floor, boom of a heart splitting. Please like me. A dream as it shatters. Please think [...]
By Ruth Nolan It was your favorite story, the one you most loved to tell me, from the days when you were the star of your high school football team, MVP, you'd say: It's important to go limp after throwing a pass because you know you're going to get hit and that way you're less likely [...]
