Jennifer Harman: When parents turn children into weapons, everybody loses
Domestic abuse can involve one parent using a child as a weapon against the other parent, which harms the child in immense ways. My research has identified how these dynamics play out and examines the damage.
Michael Simms: Portrait of Unknown Couple
He sketched in charcoal
the arch of a shoulder
the movement of a hand
the woman’s head
turned and tilted slightly
toward the man
Bill Blum: Welcome to the New Era of Rightwing Judicial Supremacy
The U.S. Supreme Court has entered a legal fantasy world: advancing a regressive political agenda free from democratic accountability.
Michael Simms: Mary Jo and Aline
Mornings they loved best
sitting over long breakfast
light slanting over them
Bhikshuni Sama: Without Argument
When I was young, my mother told me that I would find true happiness only in marriage.
Edison Jennings: Homebound
it wasn’t death that did them part
(that came later), but the lifeguard
at the public pool who parted them
quite easily
Megan Merchant / Luke Johnson: Origin Story (An Epistolary Dialogue)
From our window, grosbeaks
and buntings tangle into flight. The hours count
earlier now, because of the way they are lit.
Alison Luterman: A Woman Speaks of Marriages
I’ve known marriages like Niagaras, that splashed and thundered,
whose couples careened down them bravely, wearing only barrels.
Dawn Potter: Now that I’m old
now that I don’t have sex every night or carry two fat boys,
one on each hip, up small mountains,
I have to go to exercise class
Danielle DeTiberus: In the Middle of Fucking You, I Pause
Twenty years together and yet
You were new to me again.
Jessica Temple: A Study of Conjugation in Medias Res
And suddenly I wonder exactly how many times this had to happen
for both of us to be exactly here, exactly now.
Jefferson Carter: Life Partner
For convenience, I & my life partner
(the woman formerly known as my wife)
have numbered our arguments.
Video: The Spiritual Exercises
What risks of the heart are worth taking? This is a story of love prevailing against all odds.
Elizabeth Romero: Album
Here are my two sons in 1968
In their father’s arms.
He looks harmless.
They look doubtful and uneasy.
Vox Populi 