THE LEAVES BY MARCI PURCELL All the leaves crumble under the weight of me.LeavesleavingcrumblecrumblingweightwaitingundermeThe leavers crumble under the weight of me.TheycrumbleundertheweightandleavemeThey are leaving and I crumble under the weight.Crumblingundertheweightof all theleavingI leave,…
I WELCOME THE FALL BY DANIELLE ORR LISTEN TO THE AUTHOR READING: The doves and hummingbirds sang their songs to me all summer long, sharing their secrets and knowledge, and…
THIS WORLD BY REBECCA COHEN Riverbank refuge, where nobody says I don’t belong. Where there are no words at all. My ears rest into rustling leaves, flowing water, crickets. Into the…
THE KEY TO ME BY JEAN WIDNER I was given a key. A meaningless key that opens a door, or a box, or a house, but I do not know…
MORNING COFFEEAT WIT'S END BY KATHLEEN SHEA KIRSTEIN I painted Morning Coffee at Wit’s End in 2001. Wit’s End was my happy place. I felt a deep peace there. I…
FUZZY BY HANNAH ANDREWS Lisbeth knew better. She’d been warned a thousand times. “Never, ” Mama had said. “Don’t you ever,” Papa said, and their never-evers echoed endlessly inside her head…
TREE OF LIFE BY ELISA NICKERSON My biological father is married to a lovely woman named Pat. She is his second wife and is shy and pretty and a bit…
RED GALOSHES BY JULIE MAE PIGOTT I’ve been looking in mirrors. Searching for reflections of belonging. Begging for someone to teach me the undecipherable code of family roots. I look…
FINE BY AUDREY B Do answers change, maturemonotonous clarifying statements pressed onto skin that somehow visibly invited …“Your parents must be saints!”“Are you adopted?”“What are you?”“Do you want to find your real parents?” ……
SHOCKWAVES BY JULIAN WASHIO-COLLETTE LISTEN TO THE AUTHOR READING: My wife, Lisa, and I recently moved from a wilderness setting to the suburbs, from a highly structured environment to a…