Toi Derricotte: My great teacher, Galway Kinnell, taught me: “Speak the unspeakable.”
My father taught me:
You have to break the bones
To get to the heart
Barbara Crooker: Diorama
Mother stands by the stove, waiting
to serve. Father has tamped down
his anger for the night.
Tony Gloeggler: Some of the Things
Bean once told me, he never
hit a woman, as if it was a big
accomplishment.
Rebecca Gordon: The Hamster Wheel of War
On Ending Dreams of Revenge in Israel, Palestine, and Elsewhere
Corrine Clegg Hales: Her Husband Wants Her Back
Marge has run again, hiding out
at one neon motel after another
with her three small children.
Amy Small-McKinney: Neighborhood
What do I know?
Anna with red wings that opened for me and hovered over the houses of bullies.
She is dead now too.
Joy Gaines-Friedler: Domestic Violence
When she said,
this wasn’t supposed to happen to me,
a tray crashed—I heard someone laugh
(at my own failed marriage?)
Jennifer Johnson: A Haunting Novel of Childhood Trauma
The novel takes a hard look at how children who endure growing up in dysfunctional families, suffer dire consequences and are left to a lifetime of personal struggles.
Video: Balcony
In a neighbourhood rife with racial tension, a local girl falls for a recent immigrant who is the victim of prejudice and shame.
Diane K. Martin: Love Before Breakfast
He would give her something to cry about.
If she knew what was good for her,
she would do something with her hair.
Video: My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes
Was my father’s leftover stuff the key to who he really was?
Sandra McPherson: Drunkard’s Path
From the table I selected a Big Book:
“The more hopeless he feels, the better.”
Lindsey Royce: No Winner Winner Chicken Dinner
You opted for the straight fuck, lust with no intimacy & mind-game mystery, even though you tried to please. I loved dearly the illusion you were, mannish boy as John … Continue reading
Molly Fisk: On the Disinclination to Scream
If I had been a ten year old stranger
and you had tripped me in a dark alley, say,
downtown, instead of our mutual living room
I’m sure I would have screamed.
