What Can a Writer Say When Words No Longer Have Meaning? by Santi Elijah Holley
“It’s my duty to keep a vigilant watch… to the veracity of what is being said”
Autobiography in Eight Hairstyles by Susan Vespoli
“more toxic than chemical exposure, is the act of not owning your thoughts or speaking your mind”
Letter from Spain, July 2018 by Emily Rapp Black
“This is not an argument with God or about God or for God”
Earth is the Mother of Metal by Jane Gregorie
“Metal is autumn and grief and weeping and the color white and the mother of Water.”
Dear Gramps, You Short Angry Bastard by Tom Griffen
“You slipped into a childhood brogue and cried your little green eyes out like a baby.”
On the Creation of Family Lore by Christina Yoseph
“They shared the commonalities of language and home”
Obsessed with Obsession by Vanessa Salemi
“The stove needs to be checked thirty more times, or your mother will artlessly burst into flames.”
Body Positivity (Ish): Thoughts on a Movement by Emily Rapp Black
“I don’t love my body, and this makes me feel like I’m failing”
Larf by Hobie Anthony
“The end results of human endeavors don’t often live up to expectations”
My New Friend by Jessica Wadleigh
“The anxiety that I felt over my gender identity was always latent, ready to present itself at a moment’s notice.”
His Name Was Abe by Joanna Rose
“I was 19, thought I was in love, knew I was in over my head”
Origin Story by Abby Mims
“in the end coming into this world and leaving it is all bodies and blood, constricting, releasing, changing”
Soil by Karleigh Frisbie
“the way girls play war, with mysteries and clues and some magic.”
A Bipolar Child by Pamela Carter
“I was seen as an exceptionally bright but difficult child rather than one with a treatable mental illness”
In My Here, In My Now, In My Body by Christie Tate
“This was goodbye to the tethers of repression and approval and virtue.”